Henry Smith

Henry Smith AGAvA is an award-winning British artist and Associate Member of the Guild of Aviation Artists. His work has received a number of major accolades, including the Aces High Aviation Painting of the Year Award in 2026 and the RAF Museum Award in 2025. He has exhibited with the Guild at both the Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden, and the Imperial War Museum Duxford, while his work has also appeared in publications including Airliner World.

Born in Oxford in 1982, Henry developed an interest in art from an early age and began painting seriously in his teens. Largely self-taught, his early influences ranged from painters such as Corot, Monet, Cézanne and Canaletto to leading aviation artists including Frank Wootton, Robert Taylor, Michael Turner and Wilfred Hardy. After a period away from painting while working across the UK and Europe in property restoration and specialist plasterwork, a visit to France in 2010 inspired him to return to art with renewed focus.

Henry initially worked extensively in watercolour and acrylic before concentrating increasingly on oils, a medium that allows him to achieve the level of detail, atmosphere and finish he seeks in his work. His paintings span aviation and other subjects, combining technical precision with a strong interest in light, composition and mood, with each piece approached according to the character of the subject itself.