David Unwin
Our friendship with Edwin Smith dates from the years immediately before his death. We had dug ourselves a swimming pool in the garden and we needed a changing-room. We envisaged a classical rotunda ; a temple - to the naiads ? - reflected in the water. The dome was the problem. How did we build it? Edwin showed us.
He understood exactly what we were after and his plans for a pavilion were at once harmonious and totally practical. We were amazed. Here were our ideas transformed! Studying Edwin's drawings, we saw that he had given us multum in parvo: far more than we had considered feasible. The work was put in hand and he visited us throughout the sunny summer of 1970; soothing and enthusing the builders ; watching over and photographing his creation as it took shape at the end of our pool. And our friendship flowered simultaneously - how could it fail to? - as we fell under the spell of his charm, his skill and his enthusiasm.
What a rare person he was. What a privilege for us to have had this opportunity to know and to love him.
From the catalogue produced
to accompany the exhibition
'Aspects of the Art of Edwin Smith' at The
Minories,
Colchester in 1974.
