Eric Anthony Smit (1939 - 2016) - Sunbathing at the Beach. oil on canvas, minor blemishes: loss of color in a few ...

Eric Anthony Smit (1939 - 2016) - Sunbathing at the Beach. oil on canvas, minor blemishes: loss of color in a few places, mold stains on the bottom, unsigned, unframed, dimensions: 66x76 cm. * Eric Anthony Smith was an Israeli stage designer, puppeteer, painter, sculptor, and graphic artist. He was born in Pretoria, South Africa. As a youth in South Africa he founded the White Angel Theater with John Wright. He studied at the Pretoria Academy of Art. Smith met Israeli actor Yossi Garber while the latter was performing in South Africa. They both arrived in Israel in 1964, when Smith started working as a designer for the IDF exhibition, thanks to Yosef Hermelin, head of the Shin Bet at the time and Gerber's sister's husband. In 1970 he designed the set for Giora Godik's play Butterflies are Free, developing a successful career as a stage designer. In 1973 he founded together with his partner, Yossi Garber a puppet theatre named Eric's Wooden Puppets, where Smith created the puppets, and wrote and directed the plays. In 1983, the Orna Porat Theatre stopped supporting him and Erik's puppet theater closed. In 1987, the theater began to operate again in the framework of the Dohl Auditorium in Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood, combining artistic activity and educational activity for the neighborhood's children. Peter and the Wolf, Carnival of the Animals and The Nightingale were staged at the theatre.

In addition, Smith worked as a stage designer for the Haifa Municipal Theater, the Cameri Theater, the Bat-Sheva Dance Company and the Bat-Dor Dance Company.

In 1994 he was awarded the Rosenblum Prize for Performing Arts by the Tel Aviv Municipality for his unique and long-standing contribution to puppetry. Smith died of cancer in 2016 at the age of 76. His brother and sister donated the puppets, parts of the scenery and the archival materials that Smith left for the Holon Puppet Theater.