About This Artwork

David Smith was among the first American artists to master the use of steel and other industrial materials. As a welder at the Studebaker automobile plant, Smith had firsthand experience with metal. After learning of Julio González’s and Pablo Picasso’s iron constructions, he realized the potential for transforming his collaged paintings into highly abstract, freestanding sculptures. Smith created Beach Scene early in his career, at a time when his pieces, consisting of organic and geometric forms, were more representational than his later allusive and anthropomorphic works. With its horizontal base, Beach Scene resembles a piece of driftwood with sinuous, sculptural silhouettes on top.