Smith was born in Halifax and trained at Manchester School of Art and the Slade School. He spent the years 1910-12 in Paris where he attended Matisse's school and in 1914 took a studio in Fitzroy Street near Tottenham Court Road. Smith became one of the most distinguished British colourists of his day and this powerful still life reveals his debt to Matisse and the Fauves. Margaret Davies purchased this work in 1961.