Campbell Smith
Sydney Campbell Smith MNZM (25 February 1925 – 13 July 2015), generally known as Campbell Smith, was a New Zealand playwright, poet, wood engraver and arts administrator.
Also recorded as Sydney Campbell Smith
Campbell Smith
- Name
- Campbell Smith
- Birth Name
- Sydney Campbell Smith
- Born
- 25 February 1925
- Birthplace
- Masterton, New Zealand
- Died
- 13 July 2015
- Place of death
- Tairua, New Zealand
- Full name
- Sydney Campbell Smith.
- Nationality
- New Zealand.
- Occupation
- playwright, poet and engraver.
- Education
- University of Canterbury and University of Waikato.
- Honours
- honorary doctor of the University of Waikato.
- Languages
- English.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Sydney Campbell Smith MNZM (25 February 1925 – 13 July 2015), generally known as Campbell Smith, was a New Zealand playwright, poet, wood engraver and arts administrator.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Campbell Smith. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Born In · outgoing
Masterton
Place
Citizen Of · outgoing
New Zealand
Place
Educated At · outgoing
University of Canterbury
Organisation
Own work
Educated At · outgoing
University of Waikato
Organisation
Originally from en.wikipedia ; description page is (was) here 04:35, 4 June 2006 Mohammed Al-Mushawer 800x600 (532,825 bytes) (A picture taken for the Academy of Performing Arts in the University of W
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
gnd · 1272909557 · wikidata · Q20808902
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Campbell Smith • Honorific Suffix — MNZM • Birth Name — Sydney Campbell Smith • Born — 25 February 1925 • Birthplace — Masterton, New Zealand • Died — 13 July 2015 • Place of death — Tairua, New Zealand
Biography
Biography
Born in Masterton in 1925, Smith was the son of Annie and Syd Smith, a signwriter. He served a trade apprenticeship, and then studied at Canterbury University College, graduating with a Diploma of Fine Arts in 1952, and then spent a year at Auckland Teachers' Training College. He married Esme Dunbar in 1953. After a period in London, the couple returned to New Zealand in 1956. Smith taught at Waihi College and then, from 1961, Fairfield College in Hamilton. Smith was a wood engraver and printmaker, focusing on the life and culture of New Zealand. Subjects including rugby, farming, gum digging and Māori culture. His work is held in public collections, including those of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Waikato Museum. As a playwright, Smith wrote 24 plays, many of which are about notable New Zealanders, including Through Dark Clouds Shining about Ettie Rout; Mabel, based on the life of Mabel Howard; Frances Hodgkins: Painter about Frances Hodgkins; and This Green Land: Margot Philips - Painter, based on the life of Margot Philips. He was also a poet, and penned The Journey, a nativity story in verse, written in 1958 but not published until 2010, and which is illustrated with his own wood engravings. Smith served as president of the New Zealand Federation of Film Societies between 1965 and 1966, president of the Waikato Society of Arts from 1965 to 1967 and director of the Waikato Art Gallery from 1971. Smith was made a life member of the Waikato Society of Arts in 1994. In the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the arts, and in 2012 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Waikato. He died at Tairua on 13 July 2015.
Identity
Identity
Campbell Smith is recorded as having received honorary doctor of the University of Waikato.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1925
Campbell Smith born at Masterton.
2015
Campbell Smith died at Tairua.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Masterton.
Birth place
Tairua.
Death place
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Studied at
1- University of CanterburyOrganisation
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Prints
4,138 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Camille PissarroEngraver
- Camille Van CampEngraver
- Camillo GrafficoEngraver
- Camillo TintiEngraver
- Carel DakeEngraver
- Carel Nicolaas Storm van 's-GravesandeEngraver
- Carl Abraham ArfwedsonEngraver
- Carl August LebschéeEngraver
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Campbell Smith?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.