Sculptor in various materials and teacher, son of barrister Percival Frere-Smith, born in London, whose initial education at a small Quaker school excited an interest in painting and drawing. After Sutton Valence School he joined the Royal Navy, 1941–7, training at Dartmouth Naval College and holding commissioned rank. Frere-Smith studied at Wimbledon College of Art, 1947, then sculpture at Royal College of Art, 1949–52, graduating top of his year. In 1950 he married Patricia Ryall, a dress design student at Wimbledon; although they separated in 1972 and eventually divorced, they had 12 children, several pursuing artistic careers. He started teaching at Burslem College of Art, 1952, other posts including part-time at Norwich School of Art, Yarmouth College of Art and finally full-time at Lowestoft College.
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Having worked with a stonemason on church restoration in the 1950s, in the 1960s Frere-Smith’s sculpture developed into abstract and geometric forms using metal and wire. In 1959, he started making drawings based on impossible geometry “as part of research into the creation of lightweight, mobile, airborne, multi-dimensional expressive forms.” Worked with the architect Ernö Goldfinger on the 1960s Elephant and Castle redevelopment. He won an international sculpture competition in Milan, Italy, 1974. Latterly, after ill-health had hindered hand-eye co-ordination, Frere-Smith’s work became more figurative and he turned to ceramics and mosaics. Transcendental meditation, mysticism and the cultures and beliefs of primitive societies were important to him. He showed internationally, solo exhibitions including King’s Lynn Festival, 1962; Drian Galleries, from 1965; Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich, 1987; Burnham Overy, 1997; and a retrospective at Buckenham Galleries, Southwold, 2003. Frere-Smith completed sculptures for many public buildings, churches and shopping centres and has work in the Sainsbury Centre at University of East Anglia. He lived in Briston, Norfolk.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)
