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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1974.149
People
David Smith, American (Decatur, IN 1906 - 1965 Bennington, VT)
Title
Untitled
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1958
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/309089

Physical Descriptions

Medium
White paint (spray-applied) and black ink on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
actual: 67.8 x 52.5 cm (26 11/16 x 20 11/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: l.r., blue ballpoint ink, in artist's hand: David Smith EH - 8 - 2 [over] 26 - 58
  • inscription: verso, l.l., graphite: #7420
  • inscription: old backing, now in curatorial file, paper, typed and handwritten: [typed:] David was distraught at the time his wife Jean left him and he wandered about the countryside, from the Motherwells' in New York to Provincetown and occasionally stopping at my house on his way through. One day I came home to find this drawing stuffed in the door-knob. I knew it had been done during great stress and I have always found it tremendously moving. / [handwritten in blue ballpoint pen:] L.O-
  • watermark: [fragment] N & Co. BRITISH HAND MADE

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
David Smith, Bolton Landing, New York, gift; to Lois Orswell, Pomfret Center, Connecticut, 1958, gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1974.

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
1974
Object Number
1974.149
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. 251, fig. 179, p. 295, 356, 358
  • 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Drawing Media" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 2003), Unpublished, pp. 1-43 passim

Exhibition History

  • Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/21/2002 - 02/16/2003

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