Tony Smith (sculptor)

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Tony Smith, The Fourth Sign, painted steel, 1976, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Tony Smith, The Fourth Sign, painted steel, 1976, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Tony Smith, Free Ride, 1962, 6'8 x 6'8 x 6'8 (the height of a standard US door opening)
Tony Smith, Free Ride, 1962, 6'8 x 6'8 x 6'8 (the height of a standard US door opening)
Tony Smith, New Piece, 1966, Loretto Park (Houston, Texas)
Tony Smith, New Piece, 1966, Loretto Park (Houston, Texas)

Tony Smith (September 23, 1912 – December 26, 1980) was an American sculptor, visual artist, and a noted theorist on art.

Tony Smith was born in South Orange, New Jersey. He first trained as an architect and in 1939 began working for Frank Lloyd Wright and was introduced to Wright's module concrete blocks. He also did some painting as a part-time student at the Art Students League of New York but did not begin sculpting until 1956 when he was age 44. His first exhibitions were in 1964. He is primarily known for his influential Minimalist sculpture.


Allied with the minimalist school, Tony Smith worked with simple geometrical modules combined on a three-dimensional grid, creating drama through simplicity and scale. During the 1940s and 1950s Smith became close friends with Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Clyfford Still, and his sculpture shows their abstract influence.

Smith was also a teacher in various institutions including New York University, Cooper Union, Pratt Institute, Bennington College and Hunter College and was a leading sculptor in the 1960s and 1970s. Smith is considered as a pioneer of the American Minimal art movement. A major retrospective, "Tony Smith: Architect, Painter, Sculptor," was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1998.

Tony met his wife, opera singer, Jane Lawrence, in New York in 1943. They were married in Santa Monica with Tennessee Williams as his best man.

He was the father of artists Chiara "Kiki" Smith, Seton Smith and the underground actress Bebe Smith(Seton's twin), who died in 1988.

In 1961, Smith was injured in a car accident and subsequently developed a blood condition which produces a large number of red blood cells called polycythemia. His health was always questionable and deteriorated until he succumbed to a heart attack at age 68.

Contents

[edit] Sculptures in public collections and public spaces

[edit] United States

California

  • Free Ride, 1962, Clos Pegase Winery, Calistoga
  • Fermi, 1973, South Coast Plaza Town Center, Costa Mesa
  • Equinox, 1968, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
  • Die (full scale maquette), 1967, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach
  • For D.G. 2/6, 1969, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Stanford
  • For J.W. 2/6, 1969, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Stanford

Connecticut

  • Untitled, 1967, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
  • For D.G. 1/6, 1969, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
  • For P.N. 2/6, 1969, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

District of Columbia

  • Moondog, 1998-99, National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, Washington
  • The Snake is Out AP, 1962, National Gallery of Art - East, Washington
  • Wandering Rocks 4/5, 1967, National Gallery of Art - East, Washington
  • Die 2/3, 1962, National Gallery of Art, Washington
  • Throwback 3/3, 1978-79, Hirschhorn Sculpture Garden, Washington
  • She Who Must Be Obeyed (maquette), 1975, Luce Foundation Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington
  • She Who Must Be Obeyed, 1975, Frances Perkins Federal Building, Washington

Florida

  • Throwback, 1976-79, Florida International University Art Museum, University Park, Miami

Georgia

  • The Keys to. Given! 1/3, 1965, High Museum of Art, Atlanta

Hawaii

  • The Fourth Sign, 1976-77, Univerity of Hawaii campus, Honolulu

Kentucky

  • Gracehoper 2/3, 1971, Kentucky Center for the Arts, Louisville

Louisiana

  • Lipizzaner, 1976-78, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans
  • Lipizzaner (maquette), 1976-78, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans

Maryland

  • Spitball 3/3, 1961, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore

Massachusetts

  • For Marjorie, 1961-77, MIT campus, Cambridge
  • Throwback (study), 1976-79, Harvard University Art Museum, Cambridge
  • Stinger, 1967-68, Arts on the Point, UMass, Boston

Michigan

  • Gracehoper 1/3, 1971, Detroit Institute of the Arts, Detroit
  • Spitball, 1970, Detroit Institute of the Arts, Detroit
  • For J.W., 1969, Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids

Minnesota

  • Amaryllis, 1965, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Minneapolis

Missouri

  • Free Ride 2/3, St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis

New Jersey

  • Moses, 1969, Princeton University campus, Princeton
  • Moses (model), 1967-68, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton
  • New Piece 2/3, 1966, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
  • For J.C., 1969, Newark Museum, Newark
  • For J.C. (maquette), 1969, Newark Museum, Newark
  • 81 More (model), Kean College of New Jersey, Union

New York

  • The Snake is Out 1/3, 1962, Empire State Plaza, Albany
  • Cigarette 1/3, 1961, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo
  • Die, 1962, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Cigarette (maquette), 1973, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Cigarette 2/3, 1961, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Free Ride 3/3, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Amaryllis AP, 1965, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Tau 1/3, 1961-62, Hunter College, New York
  • For W.A. 1/6, 1969, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
  • Smug, 1973, Holland Tunnel, New York
  • Die 1/3, 1962, The Whitney Museum of Art, New York
  • One-Two-Three 1/3, 1976, The Whitney Museum of Art, New York
  • Duck 1/3, 1962, Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Garden, Pepsico Co., Purchase
  • Playground, 1962-66, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester

Ohio

  • For P.C. 2/6, 1969, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
  • Source 1/3, 1967, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
  • Last, 1979, Frank J. Lausche State Office Building, Cleveland
  • Spitball 2/3, 1961, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland

Pennsylvania

Texas

  • Willy, 1978, Dallas Museum of Art courtyard, Dallas
  • For Dolores/Flowers for the Dead/Flores para los muertos, 1973-75, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
  • One-Two-Three 2/3, 1976, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
  • The Snake is Out 3/3, 1962, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
  • Ten Elements 2/3, 1975-79, Raymond Nasher Estate, Dallas
  • The Elevens Are Up 1/3, 1963, Loretto Park, The Menil Collection, Houston
  • Wall 1/3, 1964, Loretto Park, The Menil Collection, Houston
  • New Piece 1/3, 1966, Loretto Park, The Menil Collection, Houston
  • The Snake is Out 2/3, 1962, Menil Collection, University of Texas, Houston
  • Asteriskos/Little Star, 1968, Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio

Vermont

  • Smog, 1969-70, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury College, Middlebury

Virginia

  • Untitled, 1966, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond

Washington

  • Stinger/One Gate 1/3, 1967-1968(wood), 1999(steel), Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle
  • Wandering Rocks AP, 1967, Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle

Wisconsin

  • Wandering Rocks 2/5, 1967, The Bradley Family Foundation Sculpture Garden, Milwaukee

[edit] International

Canada

  • Black Box, 1962, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Norway

  • Marriage 1/3, 1961, Oslo

AP = artist's proof

[edit] Other Work

  • Throne, 1956
  • Cross, 1960-62
  • Beardwig, 1962
  • Tower of Winds, 1962
  • Memphis, 1962-63
  • Generation, 1965
  • Smoke, 1967, (destroyed)
  • Smug, 1967, (destroyed)
  • Seed, 1968
  • Arm, 1968 (destroyed)
  • Trunk, 1968 (destroyed)
  • 81 More, 1970, (destroyed)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Smith_%28sculptor%29"
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