Frank Percy Smith (1880 - 1945) was a pioneer in the field of stop motion natural history photography and in the first two decades of the twentieth century his meticulously shot short films were enormously popular in early cinemas, turning Smith into a household name. He is the subject of an extensive biography over three issues of the Quekett Journal of Microscopy (1993/1994) and his profile was recently increased further by a BBC documentary about his work "Edwardian Insects on Film" (2013) in which an attempt was made to recreate his famous "Balancing Bluebottle" short film.

 

The BFI released a dvd in 2010, "Secrets of Nature: Pioneering Natural History Films 1922-1933", featuring some of his films.

 

Smith, among other preoccupations, also mounted microscope slides and gave lantern slide readings. These hand painted and drawn black and white and mixed media studies are almost all signed by F.P.Smith and comprise a unique archive of the man's considerable artistic skills.