Violin maker Kitty Smith – the right timbre

This image shows violin maker Kitty Smith checking a piece of timber to ensure its quality before commencing work on a new violin. Kitty was the daughter of Arthur Edward Smith MBE (1880-1976), Australia’s best known and most respected violin maker. She grew up hanging around her father’s workshop and decided to concentrate on making violins rather than playing them. Kitty always used traditional imported woods such as European maple which she believed gave the best results. Kitty made her first violin in 1933 at the age of 21. In the 1930s this was a very unusual occupation for a woman.

This photograph dates from the 1940s. It is one of a series of photographic prints given to the Museum when we purchased a string quartet (two violins, a viola and a cello) made by Kitty Smith.

Post by Lynne McNairn

Photographer unknown
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Tags: Australian makers, Kit Smith, Kitty Smith, musical instruments, Violin making, violin workshop, Violins, women

The Powerhouse Museum's Photo of the Day blog features a new image each day, chosen from the Powerhouse Photo Library.

The majority of these images have been taken by Museum photographers for a variety of purposes such as for exhibitions, of objects in our collection, events, behind-the-scenes and location shots. We also feature many images taken by our Flickr community and from our visitors. We hope you enjoy the photographs and stories.

The licensing of each image varies however we are trying to release as many as possible under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 license.