Selected Exhibitions
David Smith. Untitled (Piat). 1946. Tempera on calendared paper mounted on masonite, 23 1/2 x 29 5/8 in. (59.7 x 75.2 cm). © 2023 The Estate of David Smith / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.
Songs of the Horizon: David Smith, Music, and Dance
The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY
June 24 - September 17, 2023
Songs of the Horizon: David Smith, Music, and Dance is the first museum exhibition to focus exclusively on the influence of music and dance in David Smith's work. It features rarely seen sculptures, paintings, and drawings on loan from major private and public collections, as well as art and archival materials from the Estate of David Smith in addition to works from the Hyde's permanent collection. Music and dance played significant roles in David Smith's life. Through his first wife, artist Dorothy Dehner, modern dance became one of his first introductions to avant-garde expression. He enjoyed jazz clubs and classical concerts in New York City and among a vibrant artistic community in the southern Adirondack region. Musicians and dancers absorbed in their practice provided a frontier of formal and psychological exploration for Smith, which he registered in painting, drawing, and sculpture.
Installation view, Hauser & Wirth New York, David Smith: Follow My Path, April 27 - July 30, 2021. Photo: Thomas Barratt courtesy Hauser & Wirth
Neuberger Museum of Art
November 17, 2021 - February 20, 2022
David Smith: Billiard Players focuses on a group of works Smith made from 1935 to 1945 that depict a billiards player as he takes aim at the ball. The implied potential kineticism of the subject underscores Smith's sculptures, drawings, and paintings on the theme, while he worked through the aesthetic styles of Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism during this early and fertile period of his career. Seen together, the Billiards Players provoke questions involving motion, time, masculinity, personal iconography and the space between representation and abstraction.
Installation view, Hauser & Wirth New York, David Smith: Follow My Path, April 27 - July 30, 2021. Photo: Thomas Barratt courtesy Hauser & Wirth
Installation View, David Smith. Sprays. 2020. HWVR.
Untitled (Candida). 1965. Stainless steel, 103 x 120 x 31 in. (261.6 x 304.8 x 78.7 cm). Private collection. Photo: Jonty Wilde, courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park
David Smith: Sculpture 1932–1965
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
June 22, 2019 - January 5, 2020
Installation view, Bolton Landing Historical Museum, Landscapes Lost and Found, May 25 - October 14, 2019. Photo courtesy Bolton Historical Museum
Installation view, Frist Art Museum, Monsters and Myths: Surrealism and War in the 1930s and 1940s, June 21 - September 29, 2019. Photo: John Schweikert, courtesy Frist Art Museum
Monsters and Myths: Surrealism and War in the 1930s and 1940s
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
October 20, 2018 – January 13, 2019
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
February 24 – May 26, 2019
Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN
June 21 – September 29, 2019
David Smith. 25 Planes. 1958. Stainless steel, 138 x 66 3/4 x 15 3/4 in. (350.5 x 169.5 x 40.0 cm). National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Purchase (1978.31)
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
August 24 – November 11, 2018
Untitled. 1957. Egg ink and tempera on paper, 17 1/2 x 22 1/2 in. (44.4 x 57.2 cm). Private collection. Photo: Damian Griffiths
Untitled (Rectangular Bronze Relief). 1956-57. Bronze, 5 11/16 x 9 3/4 x 1 3/8 in. (14.4 x 24.8 x 3.5 cm). Private collection. Photo: EPW Studio
Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
November 3, 2017 – January 21, 2018
Untitled. c. 1958-59. Steel, metal, and paint, 30 5/8 x 16 11/16 x 5 7/16 in. (77.8 x 42.4 x 13.8 cm). Private collection. Photo: Christopher Burke Studio, courtesy of Hauser & Wirth
Installation view, Hauser & Wirth Zürich, Alexander Calder / David Smith. June 10 - September 16, 2017. Photo courtesy Hauser & Wirth
Primo Piano II. 1962. Steel, bronze, stainless steel, and paint, 85 x 158 x 15 in. (215.9 x 401.3 x 38.1 cm). Private collection. Photo: Jerry L. Thompson
Installation view, Serialities Hauser & Wirth, New York, February 15 - April 8, 2017. Photo courtesy Hauser & Wirth.
David Smith. Forging IX. 1955. Steel and metal, 72 1/2 x 7 5/8 x 7 5/8 in. (184.2 x 19.4 x 19.4 cm). Private collection. Photo: Rob McKeever
Nothing and Everything: Seven Artists, 1947 - 1962
Hauser & Wirth, New York, NY
February 2 – April 1, 2017
David Smith. Blackburn, Song of an Irish Blacksmith. 1949–50. Steel, bronze, paint, metal; marble base, 46 1/16 x 40 3/4 x 22 7/8 in. (117 x 103.5 x 58.1 cm). Base: h. 8 in. (20.3 cm), diam. 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm). Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (1232/1968).
Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
September 24, 2016 – January 2, 2017
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
February 3 – June 4, 2017
David Smith. Anchorhead. 1952. Steel, paint, metal, 76 3/4 x 25 3/4 x 21 1/2 in. (194.9 x 65.4 x 54.6 cm). Private Collection. The Estate of David Smith, New York.
David Smith. Primo Piano III. 1962. Steel, paint, 124 × 146 × 19 in. (315 × 370.8 × 48.3 cm). The Estate of David Smith, New York. Shown installed in Raw Color: The Circles of David Smith, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass., July 4 - October 19, 2014. Photo courtesy Clark Art Institute.
Raw Color: The Circles of David Smith
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA
July 4, 2014 — October 19, 2014
David Smith. Running Daughter. 1956; 1960. Steel, paint, 100 1/2 × 34 × 20 1/4 in. (255.3 × 86.4 × 51.4 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 50th Anniversary gift of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Kolin (81.42).
Installation view, Encounters with the 1930s, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, October 3, 2012 - January 7, 2013. Photo courtesy Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
October 3, 2012 – January 7, 2013
Installation view, David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, April 3 – July 24, 2011. Photo courtesy Los Angeles County Museum.
David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
April 3 – July 24, 2011
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
October 6, 2011 – January 8, 2012
Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
January 28 – April 15, 2012
Installation view, David Smith: A Centennial, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, February 3 - May 14, 2006. Photo courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.