David Smith: The Art and Life of a Transformational Sculptor

Smith (1906—1965), an American artist known primarily for his large, welded-steel, abstract sculptures, comes to life in this comprehensive biography by art critic Brenson (Visionaries and Outcasts). Despite being “part of an Abstract Expressionist generation that was convinced of the destructiveness of words,” Smith left behind a wealth of writing, letters, and prose poems. Drawing from those documents, Brenson crafts a vivid mosaic of Smith’s life, from his childhood in the Midwest to the controversy over the alteration of his work years after his death in a car accident. Along the way, Brenson nimbly traces Smith’s evolution as an artist and a thinker, following his move in the 1920s to New York, his experimentation with found materials, his exposure to the international art community, and his studio life at New York’s Bolton Landing starting in the 1940s. By the 1950s and 1960s, Smith was widely recognized as a master of abstract and geometric sculptures, gaining admirers near and far for such works as 1951’s Hudson River Landscape, whose “every line,” Brenson writes, “is unpredictable, movement projects in all directions.” Extraordinary as he conveys his subject to be, Brenson also sheds light on Smith’s more complicated dimensions, including his problematic relationships with women, and struggle with alcoholism. Engrossing and erudite, this is sure to fascinate the artist’s many admirers. (Oct.)