David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy
January 28–April 15, 2012
This traveling show is the first major thematic exhibition devoted to the work of renowned 20th-century sculptor David Smith. It features more than 75 works, including his geometric metal sculptures, as well as drawings, paintings, and photographs. Cubes and Anarchy offers a fresh interpretation of Smith’s work, revealing the Indiana-born artist as a sculptor whose identification with the working class motivated him to adopt the geometric forms of the constructivist avant-garde (modernist artists who used hard-edged geometries to express utopian optimism) from the very first years of his career in the 1930s until his untimely death in 1965. The exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and curated by Carol S. Eliel. Wexner Center chief curator Christopher Bedford contributed an essay to the accompanying catalogue.This exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and was made possible by Alice and Nahum Lainer, the National Endowment for the Arts, Gagosian Gallery, and the Steven F. Roth Family Foundation. Additional support was provided by the Steaven K. and Judith G. Jones Foundation, Myron Laskin, Agnes Gund, Dorothy R. Sherwood, Terri and Michael Smooke, the Dedalus Foundation, Ellie and Mark Lainer, and the Lipman Family Foundation. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The installation was designed by Levin & Associates Architects, Brenda A. Levin FAIA.
