1966.40: Study for "False Peace Spectre;" verso: Sketch

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1966.40

People

David Smith, American (Decatur, IN 1906 - 1965 Bennington, VT)

Title

Study for "False Peace Spectre;" verso: Sketch

Classification

Drawings

Work Type

drawing

Date

1945

Culture

American

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/308869

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Black ink, blue-gray and purple watercolor, graphite, and white gouache on cream wove paper, scorched and repaired with notebook paper patch; verso: blue-gray watercolor and graphite

Dimensions

25.3 x 18.6 cm (9 15/16 x 7 5/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• Signed: blue-gray watercolor, u.r.: DS1945; and black ink l.r.: [delta sigma, for D.S.] 1945
• inscription: in image, blue-gray watercolor and black ink, in artist's hand: [watercolor:] Spectre with capital peace / DS1945; [black ink:] larger -> / stainless / hooks; [black ink:] lower; [watercolor:] [plugW]; [watercolor:] Bz [=bronze]; [watercolor:] Bz ->; [watercolor:] Cast Bz
• inscription: verso, l.r., graphite: 1785-9

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

1966.40

Division

Modern and Contemporary Art

Contact

am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu

Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Commentary

The figure with the string instrument may relate to "Cello Player," a 1946 sculpture.

Publication History

• 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. 59, fig. 40, p. 60; illustrated p. 13
• Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 234, pp. 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 McCarthy, David Smith's Spectres of War and Peace, Art Journal, College Art Association of America (New York, 2010), Vol. 69, no. 3; pp. 20-39, p. 31, 33, ill.

Exhibition History

• 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
• Under Cover: Artists' Sketchbooks, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 08/01/2006 - 10/22/2006
• 32Q: 1320 Social Realism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/04/2021 - 01/27/2022

Verification Level