Born: March 9, 1906, in Decatur, Indiana
Died: February 1965, Bennington, Vermont
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Joseph Hirshhorn Collection, Washbington, D.C.
Rijksmuseum Kroller-Muller, Otterlo
University of California at Berkeley
South Mall, Albany, NY
Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY
The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Collection Princeton University, NJ.
San Diego Museum, CA.
The Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo, NY
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, TX
Museum of Fine Art, Boston, MA
Tate Gallery, London, GB
Art Gallery of the University of California, Los Angeles ,CA.
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA
The Carneigie Insitute of Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
The Hunt Museum, Fullerton, CA
Des Moines Art Center, IO
Whitney Museum of American Art, NY
Honolulu Academy of Fine Arts, HI
Collection Mansion House Center, St. Louis, MO
Sheldon Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, NE
Wadsworth Antheneum, CN
San Francisco Museum of Art, CA
University of Seattle, WA
Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Collection of Williams College, MA
Baltimore Museum of Art, MD
The Herron Museum of Art, IN.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Art Institute of Chicago, IL.
The Brooklyn Museum, NY
Cincinnati Art Museum, OH
University Gallery, Univ. of Minnesota, MN
Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisberg, Germany
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor
The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit , MI
Collection University of Indiana, Bloomington, IN
City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.
Collection Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1938- "David Smith: Steel Sculpture," East River Gallery, NY
1940- "David Smith," Saint Paul Gallery and School of Art, Saint Paul, Minnesota, and tour to University Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minnneapolis.
"David Smith," Neumann, Willard Gallery, NY
"Medals for Dishonor," by David Smith, Willard Gallery, NY
1941 - "Medals of Dishonor," Kalamazoo Institute of Art, Kalamazoo, Michigan
"Medals of Dishonor," Walker Art Cemter, Minneapolis
1942- "Jewelry by David Smith," Willard Gallery, NY
"David Smith," Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
1943- "David Smith," Willard Gallery, NY
1946 - "The Sculpture of Davis Smith," Willard Gallery/ Buchholz Gallery, NY
1947 - "Sculpture and Drawings by David Smith," Skidmore College
"David Smith Sculpture 1946-1947," Willard Gallery, NY
"David Smith," American Association of University Women, Biennial convention and AAUW tour
1948- "David Smith: Medals for Dishonor," Allen R. Hite Art Institute, University of Louisville, KY
1950-51- "David Smith," Willard Gallery, NY
1951- "David Smith," Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont
1952- "David Smith," Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Mass.
"David Smith: Sculpture and Drawing," Willard Gallery, Kleeman Gallery, NY
"Sculpture and Drawing: David Smith," Walker Art Center, MN.
"Drawings, Paintings, and Sculpture by David Smith," Catholic University, Washington ,DC
1953 - "David Smith, New Sculpture," Kootz Gallery, NY
"David Smith," University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AK
"David Smith," Philbrook Art Cebter, Tulsa, OK
"David Smith Drawings," Willard Gallery, NY
1954- "David Smith," Willard Gallery, NY
"David Smith: Sculpture, Drawings, Graphics," Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Art Museum
1956- "David Smith: Sculpture, Drawings 1954-56," Willard Gallery
1957- "David Smith," Mueseum of Modern Art, NY
"Sculpture by David Smith," Fine Arts Associates, NY
"David Smith," Widdifield Gallery, NY
1959 - "David Smith: Paintings and Drawings," French and Company, NY
1960- "David Smith: Sculpture," French and Company, NY
"David Smith: Sculpture and Drawings," Everett Ellin Gallery, Las Angeles, CA
1961- "David Smith: Recent Sculpture," Otto Gerson Gallery, NY
"David Smith: Department of Fine Arts," Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
"David Smith," Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY and Museum of Modern Art Circulating Exhibition tour.
1963- "David Smith: A Decade of Drawings 1953-1963," Balin-Traube Gallery, NY
"David Smith: Drawings," State University of New York, Plattsburg on tour
1964 - "David Smith: Sculpture and Drawings," Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
"David Smith," Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, New York
"David Smith," Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1930- "Fourth Annual Exhibition of American Block Prints," Print Club of Philadelphia
1934- "Winter Exhibition of Paintings by Four Contemporary Artists," Academy of Allied Art, NY
1938- "American Abstract Artists," Fine Arts Galleries, NY
"American Artists' Congress Second Annual Membership Exhibition," John Wanamaker, NY
"Thirty-seventh Exhibition," Municipal Art Society, Municipal Art Galleries, NY
1939- "Third Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture, and Prints by American Abstract Artists," Riverside Museum , NY
"American Art Today," New York World's Fair, NY
1940 - "American Sculpture of Today," Buchholz Gallery, New York
1941 - "Annual Exhibition of Sculpture, Watercolors, Drawings, and Prints," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
"Third Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition," Sculptures' Guild, Village Square, New York
1942 - "Artists for Victory," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
1947- "Abstract and Surrealist American Art, Fiftyeigth Annual Exhibition of American Painting and Sculpture," Art Institute of Chicago
1948 - "Sculpture at the Crossroads," Worcester Art Museum, Worchester, Massachusetts
1951- "Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America," Museum of Modern Art, New York
"American Sculpture 1951," Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
"I Bienal de Sao Paulo," Museu de Arte Moderna, Sao Paulo, Brazil
1953- "Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture," University of Illinois, Urbana the Classic Tradition in Contemporary Art, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
"Douze peintres et sculpteurs americains contemporains," Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris, FR
1954- XXVII Venice Biennale, Venice, IT
1956 - "The Figure in Contemporary Sculpture," Munson-Williams-Procyoor Institute, Utica, New York
"Exposition internationale de sculture contemporaine," Musee Rodin, Paris, FR.
1958- "Nature in Abstraction," Whitney Museum of American Art, NY
1958- "Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture," Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA.
1959 - "The Museum and Its Friends: Eighteen Living American Artists Selected by the Friends of the Whitney Museum," Whitney Museum of American Art, NY
"Documenta II," Kassel, West Germany
"Recent Sculpture U.S.A.," Denver Art Museum. CO
1961 - "The Art of Assemblage," Museum of Modern Art, NY
1962- "Geometric Abstraction in America," Whitney Museum of American Art, NY
1963 - "U.S. Government Art Projects: Some Distinguished Alumni," Mercer University, Macon, GA
1964- "'54-'64: Painting and Sculpture of a Decade," Tate Gallery, London, GB
"Between the Fairs: Twenty-five Years of American Art 1939-1964," Whitney Museum of American Art
"Ceramics byTwelve Artists," American Federation of Arts, NY
1965 -"Sculpture of the Twentieth Century," Dallas Museum of Fine Arts,TX
INTERVIEWS AND STATEMENTS
Watson, Ernest W. "David Smith." American Artist 4
(March 1940): 20-22, 32. Interview.
Smith, David. "Abstract Art." New York Artist 1, no. 2 (April 1940): 5, 6, 15.
Excerpts from a paper read at the Forum on Abstract Art held at the Labor Stage,
New York, by the United American Artists, February 15, 1940.
"Art Forms in Architecture: Sculpture." Architectural Record 88
(October 1940): 77-80.
"Modern Sculpture and Society." Written about 1940.
In Francis V. O'Connor, ed. Art for the Millions: Essays from the 1930's by Artists
and Administrators of the WPA Federal Art Projects. Greenwich, Ct.: New York
Graphic Society, 1973, pp.90-92.
(October 1940): 77-80.
"The Landscape. Spectres Are. Sculpture Is." In David Smth
Sculpture 1946-1947, exhibition catalog. New York: Willard Gallery, 1947.
"I Have Never Looked at a Landscape.""Sculpture Is." Abridged and reprinted
in Possibilities 1 (Winter 1947-48): 25-26
"The Golden Eagle – a Recital." In"The Ides of Art: Fourteen
Sculptors Write" Tiger's Eye 1, no. 4 (June 15, 1948): 81-82.
'H's, 'Y's' 'Birdsheads' 'The Letter.'" In David Smith, exhibition
catalog. New York: Willard Gallery, 1951. Captions for works completed under
a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship.
"Foreward-(Apology to Juryman)." In "Fifth Annual Area Exhibition,"
exhibiton catalog. Corcoran Gallery of Art Bulletin 4 (February 1951)
" Language Is Image." Arts and Architecture 69 (February 1952):
20-21, 33-34. Transcript of some remarks made at a seminar, Fall 1951.
Statement in The Museum and Its Friends: Eighteen Living American
Artists Selected by the Friends of the Whitney Museum, exhibiton catalog. New York:
Whitney Museum of American Art, 1959. Excerpt from a radio talk, WNYC, 1952.
Statement. In "Who Is the Artist? How Does He Act?" Everyday Art
Quarterly (Minneapolis: Walker Art Center) 23 (1952): 16-21.
The New Sculpture: A Symposium. New York: Museum of Modern Art, Junior Council,
February 12, 1952. Moderator: A.C. Ritchie. Participants: Lippold, Ferber, Noguchi,
Rozak, Smith. Typescript in Museum of Modern Art Library, Includes statements.
Smith, David. Statement in "Symposium: Art and Religion" Art Digest 28
(December 15, 1953): 8 – 11, 31 - 32.
"Thoughts on Sculpture" College Art Journal 13 (Winter 1954):
96-100. Paper read at the University of Arkansas.
"Second Thoughts on Sculpture" College Art Journal 13 (Spring 1954): 203-,.
Transcript of a paper for Southwestern College Art Conference, University of Oklahoma.
"Gonzalez First Master of the Torch." Artnews 54 (February 1956): 34-37.
64-65. On the occasion of the exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
"Sculpture and Architecture." Arts Magazine 31 (May 1957): 20.
"False Statements." In "Letters." Arts Magazine 31 (June 1957): 7.
Rodman, Selden. "David Smith." In Conversations with Artists.
New York: Devin-Adair, 1957, pp. 126-30.
J.M.S. {Schuyler, James?}. " Is Today's Artist with or against the Past?: Part 2."
Artnews 57 (September 1958): 38, 62. Interview.
Smith, David. "Notes on My Work." Arts Magazine 34 February 1960): 44-49. Entire
Issue devoted to David Smith.
"A Protest against Vandalism." In "Letters." Arts Magazine 34
(June 1960): 5.
Lipman, Howard W. "Sculpture Today, with Statements by Alexander Calder,
Richard Lippold, Louise Nevelson, David Smith." Whitney Review 1961-1962, n.p.
Kuh, Katherine. "David Smith." In The Artist's Voice: Talks with Seventeen Artists.
New York: harper and Row Publishers, 1962, pp. 219-34.
Sylvester, David. "David Smith." Living Arts 3 (April 1964): 5-13. Interview.
Hess, Thomas B. "The Secret Letter: An Interview with David Smith, June 1964."
In David Smith, exhibition catalog. New York: Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, 1964.
PUBLICATIONS
Blake, William, and Stead, Christina. Forward to Medals of Dishonor, exhibition
Catalog. New York: Willard Gallery, 1940. Includes statements.
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. The Sculpture of David Smith, exhibiton catalog. New York:
Willard Gallery, Buchholz, 1946.
Motherwell, Robert. David Smith, exhibiton catalog. New York: Willard Gallery, 1950.
Nemerov, Howard. Preface to David Smith: Sculpture and Drawing, exhibition catalog.
New York: Willard Gallery, Kleeman Gallery, 1952.
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. David Smith: Sculpture and Drawing, exhibiton catalog. New York:
Willard Gallery, Kleemann Gallery, 1952.
Hunter, Sam. David Smith, exhibition catalog. Museum of Modern Art Bulletin 25, no. 2 (1957).
Ellin, Everett. David Smith: Sculpture and Drawings, exhibition catalog. Los Angeles:
Everett Ellin Gallery, 1960
Hunter, Sam. Forward to David Smith: Recent Sculpture, exhibition catalog. New York:
Otto Gerson Gallery, 1961.
Carandente, Giovanni. Voltron. Philadelphia: University of Pennslvania, Institute
Of Contemporary Art, 1964.
Greenberg, Clement. Forward to David Smith: Sculpture and Drawings, exhibition
Catalogue. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, Institute of Contemporary
Art, 1964. Reprinted as "David Smith's New Sculpture." Art International 8 (May 1964):
35-37.
Greenberg, Clement. "American Sculpture of Our Time: Group Show."
The Nation 156 (January 23, 1943): 140-41.
Riley, Maude. "David Smith, Courtesy American Locomotive." Art Digest 17
(April 15, 1943): 13. Review of exhibition at Willard Gallery.
Greenberg, Clement. "Art." The Nation 162 (January 26, 1946): 109-10.
Review of exhibition at Willard and Buchholz galleries.
Meltzoff, Stanely. "David Smith and Social Surrealism." Magazine of Art 39
(March 1946): 98-101.
Greenberg, Clement. "Art." (David Smith). The Nation 164 (April 19, 1947): 459-60.
Review of exhibition at Willard Gallery.
Valentiner, William R. "Sculpture by David Smith." Arts and Architecture 65
(August 1948): 22-23, 52.
Beam, Lura. "David Smith." Journal of the American Association of University Women
43 (Spring 1950): 154-55. Includes reprints of comments by Milton Brown, Clement
Greenberg, Carlyle Burrows, Elizabeth McCausland, Maude Riley, W.R. Valentier.
de Kooning, Elaine. "David Smith Makes a Sculpture." Artnews 50
(September 1951): 38-41, 50-51.
Krasne, Belle. "A David Smith Profile." Art Digest 26 (April 1,1952): 12-13, 26, 29.
"Artistic Smith at Work." Life 33 (September 22, 1952): 75-76,78.
Cherry, Herman. "David Smith." Numero: Arte e Letteratura (Florence, Italy) 5
(May-June 1953): 20. Reprinted in Sculpture by David Smith, exhibition catalog.
New York: Fine Arts Associates, 1957.
Giest, Sidney. "A Smith as Draftsman." Art Digest 28 (January 1, 1954): 14.
Goossen, Eugene C. "David Smith. " Arts Magazine 30 (March 1956): 23-27
Greenberg, Clement. "David Smith." Art in America 44 (Winter 1956-57): 30-33, 66.
Porter, Fairfield. "David Smith: Steel into Sculpture." Artnews 56 (September 1957):
40-43, 54-55.
Navaretta, E.A. "New Sculpture by David Smith." Art in America 47 (Winter 1959):
96-99. Preview of exhibition at French and Company.
Kramer, Hilton. "The Sculpture of David Smith." Arts Magazine 34 (February 1960): 22-43.
Entire issue devoted to Smith.
O'Hara, Frank. "David Smith: The Color of Steel." Artnews 60 (December 1961): 32-34,
69-70.
Kramer, Hilton. "David Smith: Stencils for Sculpture." Art in America 50 (Winter 1962): 32-43.
Rubin, William. "David Smith." Art International 7 (December 1963): 48-49.
Kramer, Hilton. "David Smith's New Work." Arts Magazine 38 (March 1964): 28-35. Review
of exhibition at Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia.
Jacobs, Jay. "David Smith Sculpts for Spoleto." Artnews Annual 29 (1964): 42-49, 156-58.