David Smith
Arc-Wing
1945-1955
Scroll
David Smith
Arc-Wing
1945-1955
Physical Qualities
Steel, 24 x 46 3/4 x 20 1/2 in. (61 x 118.7 x 52.1 cm)
Credit Line
Alan and Janet Wurtzburger Collection
Object Number
1966.55.29
Trained as a painter, but with early experience working in a car factory, David Smith started making torch-welded metal sculptures in 1933. Over time, his sculptures, which he considered “a poetic statement of form,” became increasingly abstract. Sketches that he drew while traveling by train between New York City and his home in the Adirondack Mountains inspired Hudson River Landscape in 1951. Linear shapes suggest rounded clouds, railroad tracks, and rocky terrain. Arc –Wing, created in the same year, is further distanced from natural or man-made elements. Smith commented on observing nature from an airplane: “three miles up…the view from space makes solid form appear [as just] pattern.” Arc-Wing projects into three dimensions; its configurations and patterning change as the viewer moves around the piece.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1966; Janal Foundation, Baltimore; Willard Gallery through Harold Diamond
Robert Motherwell: Meanings of Abstraction
Link Benesch Reinstall (Spring 2008)
Advancing Abstraction in Modern Sculpture
Contemporary Wing Reinstallation
David Smith: Origins + Innovations
Carola Giedion-Welcker, "Plastik des XX." Jahrhunderts, 1955, p. 213, ill.
"The Wurtzburger Collection," "Baltimore Museum of Art News," 23:3 (Spring 1960), no. 19, ill. p. 22.
"Studies in Honor of Gertrude Rosenthal (Part 1), "Annual III," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1969, no. 14, p. 64, ill.
Rosalind E. Krauss, "The Sculpture of David Smith, A Catalogue Raisonne," NY and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1977, p. 49, no. 244.
John-Paul Stonard, "Abstraction in Sculpture," "The Burlington Magazine," November 2010, CLII, p. 769.
Ray, Charles. "Matisse and super clay: lecture n 2." "Charles Ray at the Menil Collection." Houston, TX: The Menil Collection, 2019.
E. C. Goossen, "David Smith," "Arts Magazine, (30/6) March 1956, pp. 23-27.
John O'Brien, ed., "David Smith's New Sculpture," in "Clement Greenberg: The Collected Essays and Criticism," Vol. 4, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986, pp. 188-192.
Joan H. Pachner, "Foreword," "The Fields of David Smith," Mountainville, NY: Storm King Art Center, 1998, pp. 1-8.
Michael Kimmelman, "A lawn party for David Smith, with his own cast of characters," "The New York Times," May 18, 1997, "Arts & Leisure," p. 42
"Art in the Landscape," "The Art Newspaper," No. 71, June 1997, p. 13.
Karen Wilkin, "David Smith at Storm King," "The New Criterion," September 1997, pp. 40-44.
Calvin Tomkins, "Measuring Up to Nature: David Smith at Storm King," "The New Yorker," July 19, 1999, pp. 86-88.
William Zimmer, "The Sculptures of David Smith," The New York Times, September 19, 1999, "Westchester Section."
John O'Brien, ed., "David Smith's New Sculpture," in "Clement Greenberg: The Collected Essays and Criticism," Vol. 4, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986, pp. 188-192.
Joan H. Pachner, "Foreword," "The Fields of David Smith," Mountainville, NY: Storm King Art Center, 1998, pp. 1-8.
Michael Kimmelman, "A lawn party for David Smith, with his own cast of characters," "The New York Times," May 18, 1997, "Arts & Leisure," p. 42
"Art in the Landscape," "The Art Newspaper," No. 71, June 1997, p. 13.
Karen Wilkin, "David Smith at Storm King," "The New Criterion," September 1997, pp. 40-44.
Calvin Tomkins, "Measuring Up to Nature: David Smith at Storm King," "The New Yorker," July 19, 1999, pp. 86-88.
William Zimmer, "The Sculptures of David Smith," The New York Times, September 19, 1999, "Westchester Section."
Inscribed: On raised plaque: "David Smith 1951 G2"
