Kirin Beer from the Homage to Andy Portfolio, 1988

Rupert Jasen Smith  

Rupert Jasen Smith was born in 1953 in New Jersey. He grew up in Palm Beach, Florida. Smith received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the Pratt Institute, New York City in 1973, in painting and printmaking. Soon after, he was offered the job of master printer at the Tamarind Institute in Los Angeles, but refused, deciding to work independently in New York. Smith had spent most of his childhood intrigued by the tropical and lush native Florida environment and began painting and studying with American landscape painter AE Bakus. Surface quality became an important aspect of his paintings and he experimented with the lighting of a dimensional source inside and above his canvases, eventually leading to the application of diamond dust particles on its surfaces to improve the prismatic properties of light and color.

In 1974, Smith met Andy Warhol and helped him with his hand-painted flower editions. Mr Smith established a close relationship with Warhol over 15 years ago and was appointed his master engraver and artistic director in 1977 - just four years after graduating from the Pratt Institute - when he collaborated with Warhol on Hammer and Sickle painting and silkscreen prints. Warhol was so pleased with the master printer's work that the artist authorized Mr. Smith's printer's stamp alongside the signature "Andy Warhol" on all of their works.

The works of Warhol bearing the mark of Mr. Smith include his portraits of Princess Grace of Monaco, Ingrid Bergman, Mickey Mouse and Edward Kennedy, as well as works known as Reigning Queens - 1985, Endangered Species - 1983 and Shoes - 1980 and all the private commissioned work that Warhol did in the last 10 years of his life. Rupert Jasen Smith, in addition to being Andy Warhol's printer and an important contributor to Warhol in his later years, was an artist in his own right.

Some critics say that without Psaier and his colleague Rupert Jasen Smith in the background, Warhol would never have been able to produce and maintain the production of Factory's commercial release, but with dignity and style, the two chose not to take the star of Warhol. Mr. Smith was also a renowned artist and was acclaimed for his portrayal and portfolio of Greta Garbo. His work is represented by Gallery Sho in Tokyo, Gallerie Borjeson in Sweden and Hokin Galleries in Chicago, Miami and Palm Beach, as well as the Fred Dorfman Gallery in New York. Mr. Smith's printer's stamp also appears on many works by Larry Rivers, Keith Haring, Kenny Scarf and photographer Francesco Scavullo. A native of New Hope whose grandfather was New Hope's “country doctor" for 50 years, Mr. Smith himself has become something of a legend in Bucks County. Not only were his achievements deeply admired, but his home aroused great fascination: it stood inside the remains of a late 18th-century five-story silk mill on Sugan Road.

He designed and printed unique color serigraphs for the introduction to Keith Haring and William Burroughs' portfolio of prints and writings titled "Apocalypse", published in 1988. A partial list of private collectors of his work before his death included: Julie Christie, Halston, Jenkins, Mick Jagger, Grace Jones, John Lennon, Rauchenberg and Warhol. Rupert Jasen Smith died in 1989 in North Ridge, Florida from AIDS.