{"data":{"id":"1232","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1232,"topgoose_id":665,"tms_id":1232,"display_name":"David Smith","sort_name":"Smith David","display_date":"1906–1965","begin_date":"1906","end_date":"1965","biography":"\u003cp\u003eDavid Smith, one of the most prominent\nand celebrated American sculptors\nof the twentieth century, is known primarily\nfor the welded steel abstractions\nhe executed throughout his nearly four-\ndecade-long career. Although he trained\nas a painter in the late 1920s, Smith\nalso produced numerous drawings and\nphotographs, moving fluidly between\ntwo and three dimensions, and between\npositive and negative space.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSmith configured his first welded\nmetal sculpture in 1933 after seeing\nreproductions of constructions by Pablo\nPicasso and Julio González from the\nlate 1920s. For such works, a welder, using\neither a torch or an electrical current,\nfuses metal pieces with an additional steel\nrod. Both the modern material and\nthe modern process appealed to Smith,\nwho saw the late-nineteenth-century\ninvention as freed from the weight of art\nhistory. He derived \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/687\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eHudson River Landscape\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, a lyrical, open-frame sculpture,\nfrom sketches made while riding the\ntrain between his home in Bolton Landing,\nin upstate New York, and New York, in\nparticular the seventy-five-mile stretch\nbetween Albany and Poughkeepsie. “Later,”\nSmith recalled, “while drawing, I shook\na quart bottle of India ink and it flew over\nmy hand. It looked like my river landscape.\nI placed my hand on paper. From the\nimage that remained, I travelled with the\nlandscape, drawing other landscapes\nand their objects, with additions, deductions,\ndirectives, which flashed unrecognized\ninto the drawing, elements of which are\nin the sculpture. Is my sculpture the Hudson\nRiver? Or is it the travel and the vision?\nOr does it matter? The sculpture exists\non its own; it is an entity.” Smith’s sculptural\nprocess, often described as “drawing\nin space,” relates closely to his works\nmade on paper. These he executed nearly\nevery day using ink, tempera, and oil.\nThe bright red color featured in \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/609\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eEng No. 6\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\nechoes the artist’s desire to merge\npainting and sculpture, which he explored\nin polychrome three-dimensional works.\nIndeed, he described his drawings as “studies\nfor sculpture, sometimes what sculpture\nis, sometimes what sculpture can never be.”\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSmith began his last series, titled\n\u003cem\u003eCubi\u003c/em\u003e, in 1961. He configured this group\nof twenty-eight monumental stainless steel\nsculptures from prefabricated, hollow\ngeometric components. \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/39086\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eCubi XXI\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e aggregates\ncubic, rectangular, cylindrical, and tubular\nelements. The \u003cem\u003eCubi \u003c/em\u003eseem at once balanced\nand unstable; they convey a sense of action\neven in their solidity. This is due in large\npart to their burnished surfaces, which Smith\nachieved using a circular sander. His\nsweeping, arching movements produced\na brushstroke effect on the polished surface.\nWhen positioned outside, the \u003cem\u003eCubi\u003c/em\u003e catch\nand reflect changing light conditions,\nreminding the viewer that forms interact\nwith, depend upon, and alter the space\naround them.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":true,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500015402","wikidata_id":"Q726169","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:47:34.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-27T07:01:18.106-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1232/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1232/exhibitions"}}}}