David Smith: form in color

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For David Smith (19061965), widely considered one of the foremost American abstract expressionist sculptors of the 20th century, there was no conceptual boundary between mediums. Focusing on works from the late 1950s until the artists untimely death in 1965, this oversized but trim exhibition catalog charts the development of 21 stunning works couched among historic images culled from the artists archive. The physical qualities of Smiths welded-steel sculptures transmit a strong industrial presence but part of their impact and power derives from their gestural and tactile surfaces that give painting and drawing and sculpture the same visual impact and spatial weight. Smith paved the way for such artists as John Chamberlain, Mark di Suvero and Richard Serra by moving the site of sculptures construction from the 19th-century confines of the artists atelier and fine-art foundry into the expansive, industrial context of the 20th century. Essay by Menil Collection curator Michelle White.