Artist's life's work celebrated and sold

Phil Bowman with some of Allen Smith's portraits being sold off in the exhibition

A 10-day retrospective exhibition for an artist who died in 2024 has been a "fantastic success", according to one of his close friends.

Allen Smith, who lived in Lincoln most of his life, had made no plans for the future of his paintings and his collection is being sold off.

Mr Smith taught graphic design at Lincoln College of Art and Design for 24 years and former students and colleagues gathered in the city to pay tribute to him.

The exhibition was at St Martin's Gallery on Hungate from 13 - 23 February.

Allen Smith 1942-1924 was inspired by the Lincolnshire coastline

Mr Allen's painting style was influenced by the Impressionists and he loved to capture the Lincolnshire landscape and beach scenes at Cleethorpes, where he was from.

The artist was also known for his portraits. Mr Smith had a studio in Castle Square, where he invited people to sit for him. He would paint two copies of the portrait, and give one to the sitter for their time.

Phil Bowman, a friend and colleague, said that Mr Smith, who was 82, was a quiet man with a small circle of friends.

"He didn't shout about his talent, but he wasn't afraid to show his work and talk about his work. But he should have been known better than he is."

Mr Bowman, the owner of the gallery, agreed to put on the retrospective exhibition of his work, which is being sold off by Allen Smith's executors.

He added that many fond memories and humorous stories had been shared, a lot of his work had been sold, and it had been a wonderful 10 days and a great tribute to the artist.

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