Excerpt from David Smith, Bolton Landing. 8mm film by Robert Murray. 1965.
David Smith. The Nature of Sculpture, now on view at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park through March 2, 2025.
The Estate of David Smith is pleased to announce David Smith. The Nature of Sculpture, is now on view at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is the first exhibition to focus on Smith's deep engagement with the natural world as source, subject, and site for his art. Celebrated for his pioneering incorporation of industrial techniques into his practice, Smith's enlistment of nature as a material and prime setting for sculpture was equally innovative. Spanning Smith's full career, the exhibition features some 40 sculptures, along with related paintings, reliefs, and works on paper to reclaim the primacy of nature within the artist's richly inventive oeuvre. This exploration of sculpture and nature has particular resonance at Meijer Gardens, where Smith's work will be in direct dialogue with the natural environs, including larger pieces situated outdoors to commune with the elements as the artist intended. Curated by Suzanne Ramljak, the Meijer's Vice President of Collections & Curatorial Affairs, the exhibition will be open through March 2, 2025.
Left: David Smith. Cubi XII. 1963. Stainless steel, 109 5/8 x 49 1/4 x 32 1/4 in. (278.4 x 125.1 x 81.9 cm). Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Foundation, 1972. Courtesy Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. © 2024 The Estate of David Smith / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.
David Smith inspecting Voltri-Bolton V and Voltri-Bolton I with an assistant in Bolton Landing, New York, 1962. Photo: Dan Budnik. © 2021 Dan Budnik. All Rights Reserved.
The Estate is dedicated to preserving the legacy of artist David Smith through the promotion of exhibitions, publications, and research. We encourage new scholarship of Smith’s work while preserving an extensive archive containing historical documents and photographs related to Smith’s life and career.
David Smith. Zig I. 1961. Steel, paint, 96 1/2 x 57 x 32 1/4 in. (245.1 x 144.8 x 81.9 cm). Private collection. Photo: Stefan Altenburger, courtesy Hauser & Wirth.
Installation view, David Smith: Sculpture 1932–1965, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, June 22, 2019 - January 5, 2020. Photo: Jonty Wilde. © Jonty Wilde, courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK.
Sculpture group, Bolton Landing, NY. 1964. The Estate of David Smith, New York. Photo: David Smith.