FRANK SMITH was driven to paint his life story both by his creative urge and the need to come to terms with the trauma of an emotionally gruelling life. His work is increasingly admired for its raw vitality, its portrayals of moments of emotional significance and its vivid details of little known byways of social history.

Frank was born in the Thanet Union workhouse in 1928, just when that oppresive system was ending. He never knew who his father was and was raised in a children's home, while his mother remianed in the workhouse. He was a wartime evacuee. After eight years in the Army, he spent his working life in car factories. His wife a schizophrenic, died from lithium poisoning after being steadily overdosed by her hospital. His son also a schizophrenic, comminted suicide by throwing himself from a block of flats.

The paintings reflect the sorrows of his life; but they also reflect other aspects of his character. He has retained a child like zest and rare ability to remember joyful times. Miraculously, he early developed a sturdy individualism that enabled him to come through crisis with rancour. He is one of life's survivors.