Jori Smith was born on January 1, 1907. A well-known Canadian painter, her work spaned several decades. In the 1930s, she lived in Charlevoix County, documenting her experiences there in her book “Charlevoix County, 1930”. Her portraits of children and documentation of rural Québec life from that period have been much-appreciated. She is animportant ethnographer of the people that she observed keenly, painting them with sensitivity - knowing that she was capturing a people whose lives would change drastically in the years to come.

Although primarily associated with Montreal, her evolution as a parallels the founding and growth of the Canadian Group of painters and the Contemporary Art Society. Smith is best known for her stunning and frank portraits of children and for her lively landscapes. I was happy to be a very good friend of Jori's in her later years, assisting in organizing exhibitions, and documenting her life in a series of oral-history interviews. She passed away in November of 2005. - Andrew Princz