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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1966.36
People
David Smith, American (Decatur, IN 1906 - 1965 Bennington, VT)
Title
Studies for "Home of the Welder:" Wife as Locomotive Parts
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1945
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/308846

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink, blue-gray watercolor, brown wash, white gouache, collage, graphite, and touches of red chalk on cream wove paper
Dimensions
actual: 25.4 x 18.5 cm (10 x 7 5/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: in image, black ink and graphite, in artist's hand: [black ink:] Home of the Welder / the Woman; [black ink:] wife as locomotive / parts; [black ink:] mirror / reflection; [black ink:] opposite / main / wall; [black ink:] locomotive / figure; [black ink:] bedroom / backside; [graphite:] vertical with / 1/4 plate / & 1/4 + 1 four / section; [graphite:] ass picture framed / game room desire woman framed / tits millstone ++ - rug / tit flower to gable & across room; [graphite:] flagpole & flag / [black ink:] totem
  • inscription: verso, l.r., graphite: 1785-3

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
David Smith, Bolton Landing, New York, gift; to Lois Orswell, Pomfret Center, Connecticut, 1961, gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1966.

NOTE: See correspondence from Mrs. Orswell in curatorial file for 1966.16: "Some time ago, David gave me the sketches saying they were early ones and would I give them to the Fogg "some time."... I think my name should not be used for the purposes of labels etc., and that they should be "gift of David Smith"."

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of David Smith
Copyright
© The Estate of David Smith / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Accession Year
1966
Object Number
1966.36
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Edward F. Fry, David Smith, exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, NY, 1969), reproduced, figures 22, 22A, 22B
  • Jeanne L. Wasserman, Six Sculptors and Their Drawings, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1971), no. 34
  • Karen Wilkin, David Smith: The Formative Years, Sculpture and Drawings from the 1930's and 1940's, exh. cat., Edmonton Art Gallery (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1981), no. 56, fig. 32, p. 54
  • Karen Wilkin, David Smith, Abbeville Press (New York, NY, 1984), reproduced p. 38, fig. 37
  • Karen Wilkin, "David Smith: A Sculptor Draws", Master Drawings (Spring 2002), vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 43-56, p. 46, fig. 6
  • Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 231, fig. 77, pp. 169 (repr. color), 214, 267 note 76, 349, 379
  • Richard Mulholland, "Of Dreams and Visions and Things Not Known: Looking at David Smith's Drawing Media" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 2003), Unpublished, pp. 1-43 passim
  • David Smith, exh. cat., Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou (Paris, 2006), repr. p. 104
  • Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), p. 222, repr.

Exhibition History

  • Six Sculptors and Their Drawings, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 05/07/1971 - 06/07/1971
  • David Smith: The Formative Years, Sculpture and Drawings from the 1930's and 1940's, Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, 01/06/1981 - 03/01/1981
  • 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
  • Under Cover: Artists' Sketchbooks, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 08/01/2006 - 10/22/2006

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