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Wikipedia entry
Introduction
Roland David Smith (March 9, 1906 – May 23, 1965) was an influential and innovative American abstract expressionist sculptor and painter, widely known for creating large steel abstract geometric sculptures. Born in Decatur, Indiana, Smith initially pursued painting, receiving training at the Art Students League in New York from 1926 to 1930. However, his artistic journey took a transformative turn in the early 1930s when he shifted his focus to sculpture. In the early phase of his career, he crafted welded metal constructions that incorporated industrial objects, foreshadowing later developments in sculpture. During the 1940s and 1950s, his work shifted to more personal, landscape-inspired sculptures. These works possessed a delicate linear quality, akin to drawing in metal, and echoed the aesthetics of contemporary painting. Notably, Smith cultivated strong friendships with renowned Abstract Expressionist painters, including Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell, illustrating the interplay between different art forms during this period. By the late 1950s, his sculptures started to assume monumental proportions. Using overlapping geometric plates of highly polished steel, his works developed a reductive and geometric aesthetic. These massive pieces of the 1960s are considered precursors to the minimal "primary structures" that emerged later in the decade, further exemplifying Smith's forward-thinking approach to sculpture.
Wikidata
Q726169
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Getty record
Nationalities
American, British
Gender
Male
Roles
Artist, Painter, Photographer, Sculptor
Names
David Smith, David Rowland Smith, David RoLand Smith, W Smith, David Roland Smith, Deṿid Smit
Ulan
500015402
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Information from Getty’s Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License

Works

24 works online

Exhibitions

View all 66 exhibitions

Publications

  • MoMA Highlights: 375 Works from The Museum of Modern Art Introduction by Glenn D. Lowry, 2019 Flexibound, 408 pages
  • MoMA Now: Highlights from The Museum of Modern Art—Ninetieth Anniversary Edition Introduction by Glenn D. Lowry, 2019 Hardcover, 424 pages
  • Abstract Expressionism at The Museum of Modern Art Ann Temkin, 2010 Exhibition catalogue, Hardcover, 128 pages
  • The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today Roxana Marcoci. Essays by Roxana Marcoci, Geoffrey Batchen, and Tobia Bezzola, 2010 Exhibition catalogue, Hardcover, 256 pages
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