About this artwork
Robert Smithson was interested in the natural environment as an alternative site to the interior, decontextualized space of commercial galleries and museums. He produced this earthwork study as a document of one moment in the continual process of environmental flux. The drawing depicts a detail view of a wall-like cinder-block structure collapsing under the force of a concrete flow as it runs over a precipice. The appearance of the disintegrating edifice imbues the event with a catastrophic quality, conveying Smithson’s perception of entropy as a primeval or elementary component of the natural landscape.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Robert Smithson
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Title
- Detail, Surd Deposit
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Place
- United States (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- Made 1970–1973
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Medium
- Graphite on ivory wove paper
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Dimensions
- 60.9 × 48.4 cm (24 × 19 1/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Virginia Dwan
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Reference Number
- 1988.510
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Copyright
- Art © Estate of Robert Smithson / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Extended information about this artwork
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