Sam Smith III

A last post for now on Sam Smith, and this time it is his wonderful hand illustrated boxes made to house those hand made toys and automata, quirky, strange and fun.

Sam Smith II

" As I get older I get less interested in the way a thing looks and more interested in the spirit that hides within it; so that the things I make are meant to be looked into, rather than looked at." Sam Smith

Kissing by Sam Smith

At the weekend I went to the Scottish Fisheries Museum at  Anstruther purposefully to see the exhibition of Sam Smith's work. The Scottish Fisheries Museum is just fantastic, a maze of wonderful machinery, boats and social history and well worth a visit at any time.

This is the first of a few posts dedicated to Sam Smith who struck me very much as being one of those exceptional eccentric creative figures like Ivor Cutler, Spike Miligan and George Wyllie an older generation of artists have gone. Sam Smith (1908-1983) made automata's and toys that were for adult enjoyment as much as children's. His work is rich with imagination and reminds me of ancient fair grounds populated by strange people, events and shows. The bottom image is of a gondolier kissing an imaginary woman and above that are his sketches for various kissing automata.