David Smith, Construction in Rectangles, 1955

Narrator: This tall, thin sculpture was a breakthrough for Smith. When he made it in 1955 he had been working in a very linear manner, making drawings in space that were meant to be viewed frontally, like a picture. Here he carries the assertive gestures of line drawings into the round, creating a rhythmic play of planes and edges. The sculpture’s boxy geometry also looks forward to the Cubi, a series he would begin in 1961.