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A long rectangular painting of white shapes on a black background.

The painting is a long rectangle with a black background. White shapes follow a staggered center line of varying width from top to bottom. Thick wide strokes define other lines and various shapes branching out and hanging from the center lines. The branching lines end in diamonds, squares, half-moons, or rectangles.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1994.25
People
David Smith, American (Decatur, IN 1906 - 1965 Bennington, VT)
Title
Untitled
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1959
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/232345

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil? and synthetic medium on canvas
Dimensions
243.8 x 30.2 cm (96 x 11 7/8 in.)
framed: 245.5 x 32 x 4.5 cm (96 5/8 x 12 5/8 x 1 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: David Smith 1959

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
David Smith, Bolton Landing, New York, sold; to Lois Orswell, Pomfret Center, Connecticut, 1959, gift; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 1994.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Lois Orswell
Copyright
© The Estate of David Smith / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Accession Year
1994
Object Number
1994.25
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 220, p. 348, p. 351 as fig. 170, p. 378
  • Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Friends: Works from the Lois Orswell Collection, Harvard University, exh. cat., Knoedler & Co. Inc. (New York, 2003), p54

Exhibition History

  • David Smith: "This work is my identity", Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/03/1995 - 05/05/1996
  • Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/21/2002 - 02/16/2003
  • Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Friends: Works from the Lois Orswell Collection, Harvard University, Knoedler & Co. Inc., New York, 11/14/2003 - 01/24/2004
  • 32Q: 1200 Mid-Century Abstraction I (Painterly Abstraction), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/10/2018 - 06/02/2021

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu