Le Roux Smith Le Roux

Le Roux Smith Le Roux (1914–1963), sometimes rendered LeRoux Smith LeRoux, was a South African artist, actor, broadcaster, art critic and art dealer, considered to be the most distinguished specialist muralist the country has produced. Le Roux was infamous for his involvement in the Great Tate Affair.

Early life and career Le Roux Smith Le Roux was born in Cape Town, the son of Johannes Anthonie Smith (1886–1954), journalist, painter and art critic, who had joined the Ossewabrandwag, a pro-Nazi movement, during the Second World War and became its leader in the Cape Province. Le Roux's brother Anthonie Smith, was an architect, primarily of Dutch Reformed Church buildings. They collaborated when Le Roux did paintings for one of the churches in Ladismith in 1942.

In 1930 Le Roux matriculated from a prominent Afrikaans school in Cape Town, Jan van Riebeeck High School. Le Roux displayed precocious talent, completing his degree at the University of Cape Town Michaelis School under John Wheatley at the age of 17. Later in that year, the two artists received a commission to provide murals for the Cunard Liner Queen Elizabeth.

On his return to South Africa, he joined the New Group of artists and busied himself with several large commissions in Cape Town and Johannesburg, most notably the murals of the Mutual Building in Darling Street, Cape Town, completed in 1942.

Between 1943 and 1949 he was Director of the Pretoria Art Center and curator of the Pretoria Art Collection. He served on the War Art Advisory Committee and was a member of the International Art Club, South Africa.

Le Roux Smith Le Roux immediately embarked on a campaign to effect the ouster of Rothenstein as Director. He used his access to archival material to find and leak information that would put the director in a bad light, among other misdemeanours, allowing the sale of a Renoir from the Courtauld Fund without proper procedures being followed. It was, however, his neglect of important European art movements like Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism and Surrealism that raised the ire of collectors like Douglas Cooper, an art historian and collector of Cubist works. Cooper's close friend Graham Sutherland, the painter, was a Trustee of the Tate and supported Le Roux.

Le Roux found another ally in Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, whose newspapers, Evening Standard and Daily Express published his leaks. As a public servant, Rothenstein was unable to comment on the press reports. With allegations left unanswered, Le Roux's campaign gained support from scholars (Denis Mahon), art critics (Denys Sutton of the Financial Times), members of parliament, and the press (Kingsley Martin of the New Statesman).