Painter, draughtsman, printmaker, designer, performance artist and teacher, born in Berlin, Germany, who emigrated to England in 1938. Schmidt was a thoughtful, versatile artist, his work ranging from abstract programme paintings, based on systems, to a series of later delicate landscapes and still lifes. After internment on the Isle of Wight in 1940, he became a British subject in 1945, starting to paint in 1947. Following National Service, 1949–51, Schmidt studied at Goldsmiths’ College, 1951–3; then at the Slade School of Fine Art, 1953–7; with an Abbey Minor Scholarship in Sicily, 1957–8. Began teaching at Watford School of Art, 1959–60, establishing the foundation course there, 1962, the year that BBC Television made a film, Departure, about Schmidt’s and Ian Stephenson’s work.
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Schmidt held a first solo show at Beaux Arts Gallery in 1961, another at Curwen Gallery in 1966. In 1967 Schmidt was involved in a number of performances including sound, among the venues ICA and Bristol Arts Centre; in 1968 he was musical adviser at the ICA’s Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition at Critici Kiezen Grafiek (Holland Festival); and in 1969 assembled the Electronic Soupmixes performance at Curwen Gallery, Filmsoundmixes at ICA featuring an animated film. Schmidt was involved in a number of projects with Brian Eno, including the Taking Tiger Mountain sleeve design in 1974 and Before and After Science, 1977. He had several showings of his work at Lisson Gallery, including Programmed Paintings in 1968 and Autobiographical Monoprints, 1970. Schmidt died on a painting holiday in Tenerife in 1980, the year of a retrospective, including works by Eno, at The Paul Ide Gallery, Brussels. The retrospective Remembered Images took place at Watford Museum in 1987.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)
