Artist Profile

David Smith (1906 – 1965)

Like many artists, David Smith began work in a field that had virtually nothing to do with art.  Born in Decatur, Indiana, he lived in that area until 1926.  During this time he worked as a riveter/welder/lathe operator on a frame assembly line in the Studebaker auto plant.  In 1926 Smith moved to New York City, where he began studying painting full time at the Art Student’s League.  At this same time he started experimenting with sculpture, a media that would eventually become his claim to fame.  In 1927 he met and married Dorothy Dehner, also a painter and sculptor. 

New York was teaming with artistic change at this point and Smith soon discovered he was part of this vanguard movement.  With friends like Willem De Kooning, Arshile Gorky and Milton Avery, he led the way towards new dimensions in painting and sculpture.  Throughout his life, Smith continued to paint and draw, but sculpting drew upon his riveting and welding experience obtained as a young man at the auto plant.

Best known for his monumental works in steel, Smith was a pioneer constructivist, utilizing found objects and recycled materials in his works.  His use of silhouettes and directional lines creates illusion of space and ties them to their surroundings.  Open totem styles and similar vertical forms were prevalent in this work.  Smith also created many works that include abstract variations of natural subjects.  As Smith’s career developed, his works became larger, more abstract and architectural.  Smith used squares, rectangles, cylinders and circles made of polished and textured steel (often stainless steel for its glassy appearance). 

In 1931 the Smiths bought an old home on 86 acres in Bolton Landing in upstate New York and converted it into living quarters/studio to which they came during the summer until 1933.  Smith also leased space at an iron works in Brooklyn and created a studio that was used until the 1940’s.

In 1937 David Smith joined the newly organized American Abstract Artists group and exhibited sculptures in 1938 and 1939.  His first one-man show came in 1938 and it included his first arc-welded pieces.  In 1939 he exhibited at the New York World’s Fair.

While working at the American Locomotive Company disassembling army tanks and reassembling the casts into locomotives--plus employment at the Saratoga Funeral Monument Yard doing marble work--he was able to finish the Bolton Landing studio with a concrete floor and cinderblock walls.  He added a forge and anvil to outfit the area for his continuing sculpture work.  In 1940 Smith moved permanently to the studio and home. 

In 1943 he installed an exhibit of 18 sculptures and 5 drawings.  The next summer Smith exhibited a one-man show that included 54 sculptures.  Working full time in the studio, Smith was able to pursue many ideas and processes including welded aluminum, marble and castings.  His first European show came in 1950.

In 1950 Smith was awarded a Guggenheim grant that gave him better financial stability and allowed him to experiment with different media.  From this period his works took on more structural weight – utilizing steel and iron and new methods of construction.  Found machine parts were added to these base materials; and beginning in 1951, he created a new series of works that incorporated this new dimension. In 1952 Smith and Dehner divorced and he married Jean Freas.

In 1955 Smith began to create a sculptural garden around his studio because his work did not sell well (scale and cost) and because he enjoyed watching the changes and growth in his own work.  He began to use painted surfaces on the planes of his work and retained this addition for the remainder of his career.

In 1961 Smith created two series of work, one of which would become the work for which he is most remembered.  First came a seven-piece series called “Zig” and then his most famous works, “Cubis,” 28 large-scale geometric stainless steel sculptures burnished to a near mirror sheen.  The following year he visited Italy and was invited to create two sculptures for exhibition in the Fourth Festival of Two Worlds.  However, instead of two, he created 28 that were comprised of tools, found objects and created shapes.

After this time the complexity of his work diminished while the scale increased.  The largest parts of these works were cast at a commercial foundry with final assembly completed at Bolton Landing.

In February 1965, Smith was appointed by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson to the National Council on the Arts.  However, his appointment was short lived.  Smith died on the evening of May 23 after having been injured in a car crash early that day.

Focus:  David Smith is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s (New York City) series of special collection displays highlighting noteworthy aspects of the Museum’s extensive collections.  Smith’s sculpture conceptually and physically grapples with themes including nature, life and the self.  The exhibition is on view through Nov. 26.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 17 No. 11 — September 2007