LE ROUX, Le Roux Smith

Artist

He was the younger brother of the architect JA SMITH. His name and surname are sometimes written as LeRoux Smith LeRoux. He graduated at the Michaelis School of Fine Art and thereafter studied at art schools in London, Rome and Athens. He was awarded a travel grant to Europe by the SA Government for special training in murals.

He painted murals for South Africa House in London (together with Eleanor Esmonde-White) 1935-1937, the SA Mutual Building in Cape Town 1939, the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Ladismith of which his brother was the architect in 1942, and the new Law Courts in Johannesburg. He also painted murals for the interiors of the ocean liners SS Queen Elizabeth, SS Pretoria Castle, and SS Jagersfontein.

He was the Director of the Pretoria Art Centre and Curator of the Pretoria Art Collection from 1943-1949. He then moved to London in 1950, and was, amongst other positions, the Deputy Keeper (1950-1955) of the Tate Art Gallery, Assistant Director of the National Gallery and a well-known BBC and SABC broadcaster. He passed away in London in 1963. See Wikipedia

(Lila Komnick, September 2024)

List of projects

With photographs
With notes

Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk: 1942. Ladismith, Western Cape - Artist

SA Mutual Life Assurance Society Building - Mutual Heights: 1934-1936 : 2004-2005. Cape Town, Western Cape - Artist 1939

Books citing LE ROUX

Ogilvie, Grania & Graff, Carol. 1988. Dictionary of South African painters and sculptors, including Namibia. Johannesburg: Everard Read. pp 374-5