David Smith found inspiration for his early work in the Surrealist sculptures of Alberto Giacometti and Hans Arp, as well as the paintings of Arshile Gorky and Joan Miró. Among the first American artists to master the use of steel and other industrial materials, Smith worked as a welder at a Studebaker automobile plant, where he gained firsthand experience with metal. He made Beach Scene early in his career, at a time when he was interested in organic forms and an unplanned, autonomous approach to art making: “I do not work with a conscious and specific conviction about a piece of sculpture,” he explained. “It is always open to change and a new association.”
Robert Motherwell, David Smith, exh. cat. (Willard Gallery, 1950), n.pag.
Margaret Breuning, “Smith’s Genetic Metal,” Art Digest, vol. 24, 15 (May 1, 1950), p. 11.
Robert M. Coates, “The Art Galleries: New Imports and a Nature Sculptor,” New Yorker, Apr. 29, 1950, p. 73.
Cincinnati Art Museum, 6–30 Purchase Exhibition, exh. pamphlet (Cincinnati Art Museum, 1951), n.pag.
Walker Art Center, Notes and Comment from the Walker Art Center, vol. 6, 4 (May 1952), cover (ill.).
C.J. Bulliet, “Purchases From A Chicago Annual,” Art Digest, vol. 26, 16 (May 15, 1952), p. 8 (ill.).
Aline Jean Treanor, “Giant of Modern Sculpture,” Toledo Blade Pictorial, Aug. 16, 1953, p. 17 (ill.).
Jane Harrison Cone, David Smith, 1906–1965, exh. cat. (Harvard University, 1966), p. 71, cat. 168.
Dona Meilach and Don Seiden, Direct Metal Sculpture: Creative Techniques and Appreciation (Crown Publishers, 1966), p. 14 (ill.).
Daniel Mato, Noguchi & Rickey & Smith: An Exhibition of Sculpture in Honor of the Sesquicentennial of Indiana University, exh. cat. (Indiana University Art Museum, 1970), pp. 44 (ill.); inside back cover (ill.).
Rosalind E. Krauss, The Sculpture of David Smith: A Catalogue Raisonné (Garland Publishing, 1977), p. 43, cat. 221; n.pag. (ill.).
Franz Schulze, Society for Contemporary Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1940–1980 (Art Institute of Chicago, 1980), pp. 22 (ill.); 26; 49 (ill.).
Alan G. Artner, “Show finds another aspect of David Smith’s artistry,” Chicago Tribune, June 24, 1983, p. C17 (ill.).
Holliday T. Day, David Smith: Spray Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, exh. cat. (Arts Club of Chicago, 1983), n.pag., cat. 51 (ill.).
James Rondeau, Society for Contemporary Art: 1940–2000 60th Anniversary (Society for Contemporary Art, 2000), pp. 94 (ill.); 106.
James Rondeau, ed., Society for Contemporary Art: 1940–2015, with essays by Barry Schwabsky, Carter Ratcliff, and Franz Schulze (Art Institute of Chicago, 2015), pp. 110–111, (color ill.); 135; 149, cat. 139.
New York, Willard Gallery, David Smith, April 18–May 13, 1950, cat. 9.
Cincinnati Art Museum, 6–30 Purchase Exhibition, May 4–31, 1951, no cat. no.
Art Institute of Chicago, Society for Contemporary American Art 12th Annual Exhibition, May 7–June 8,1952, no cat.
Bloomington, Indiana University Art Museum, Noguchi & Rickey & Smith: An Exhibition of Sculpture in Honor of the Sesquicentennial of Indiana University, Nov. 8–Dec. 18, 1970, no cat. no.
Arts Club of Chicago, David Smith: Spray Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, June 1–30, 1983, cat. 51.
The artist; sold to the Society for Contemporary American Art, through Willard Gallery, New York, 1952; donated to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1952.
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