The celebration of a three-year exhibition in the Storm King Art Center in Mountainsville, New York. The aim of the curators has been to recapture the experience of viewing Smith's work during his lifetime, when it was deployed in ever-changing arrangements in his fields at Bolton Landing in the Adirondacks. The book recreates the scene at Bolton landing. An essay by Smith's daughter, Candida, captures in personal and direct terms the man himself, his struggles and delights, and the intensity of his working life. This is followed by a memoir from Irving Sandler and reminiscences by friends of the artist. The text is accompanied by photographs by fellow artists and by Smith himself. The balance of the book is an album of the evolving Storm King exhibition, featuring major work by Smith sent from collections all over the country. Jerry L. Thompson, a photographer of sculpture, has captured Smith's work in the summer and snow, and sunrise and sunset, glistening in the rain and presiding over the mists. The interplay between the works and their surroundings, and the effects of light upon their surfaces seeks to provide a lens through which to view the sculpture of David Smith.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
After David Smith's untimely death in 1965, row upon row of extraordinary abstract sculptures were discovered in the grassy fields that surround the artist's home and studio at Bolton Landing in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. Fittingly, many of these works were subsequently acquired by Storm King Art Center, the world's quintessential sculpture park, which is set on 500 acres of rolling lawns, fields, and woodlands and surrounded by the undulating profiles of the Hudson Highlands. Smith's sculpture fields there provide the inspiration for this book, published to coincide with a three-year exhibition (1997 to 1999) of the works at Storm King. The human form in landscape, or "the artist in the world," is a consistent visual theme for this grouping of Smith's monumental planar and volumetric assemblages of geometric shapes and seamlessly transformed found objects. In Portrait of a Painter (1954), for instance, Smith created a figural silhouette in which flat bronze rectangles form a spinal column and pelvis, crescent-shaped arches delineate the curves of a body, and an actual cast palette serves as a head.
This large, colorful book is chock-a-block with images and information, collaged in the lyrical spirit of David Smith's diverse works. In her introductory essay, daughter Candida N. Smith recalls a magical childhood in the creative oasis of what the artist called his "sculpture farm," and writes eloquently of his art as an extension of his identity. A memoir by prominent art critic and historian Irving Sandler describes Smith's circle (which included Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline), his deeply modernist roots, and his interest in cubism, constructivism, and surrealism. Throughout the book are quotes by many of Smith's artist friends, including Helen Frankenthaler ("A ribald and beautiful human being, with a roar of laughter"); Kenneth Noland ("When he did something, he did it absolutely. He meant for it to stand up to anything: nature, aesthetics, anything"); Anthony Caro ("He made his life around sculpture and I think he taught me that"); and Mark di Suvero, ("[He] had the animal energy of an industrial worker, the capacity, the craftsmanship and the will of an original artist, and he drank his booze ... in a way that made me shudder.... He was a master"). --A.C. Smith
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful Fields,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Fields of David Smith, The (Paperback)
This is a softcover edition of the Fields of David Smith. High quality all the way around. A beautiful book with bountiful photos and great essays. The artist' daughter had much insight into the book. Highly recomended as a purchase by anyone who loves David Smith or great sculpture in general.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic photographs,
By Andy Shuping (Macon, GA USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Fields of David Smith (Hardcover)
When I buy art books the written content is secondary to the photographs of the artwork that are in the book. For me, I have to have clear pictures that accurately capture details and colors of the work. And this book definitely meets that standard for me. The images are sharp and crystal clear, accurately capturing David's sculptures from the tiniest welds to the full piece in all of its beauty. The essays are also fantastic, especially since they have one from David's daughter. I highly recommend this book if you're an art fan. It does justice to David Smith's works and is a fantastic addition to any collection.
8 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Sculpture of David Smith,
By
This review is from: The Fields of David Smith (Hardcover)
When David Smith died in 1966 he left his own personal field of dreams at his home/studio in upstate New York. Over 80 gigantic sculptures populated the grounds, pitting man against nature and daring to compete in size and moxie with the mountains around them.After an initial flirtation with New York City, Smith retreated to the solitude of the Adirondacks. These mountains formed a somber monumental backdrop to the brooding nature of the artist. The sculptures were the landscape of his imagination, his spiritual domain, and his homage to the majesty of being human. Additionally, Smith created drawings, paintings and collages that filled his home with the living presence of art. This is a lavish book that clearly reflects the artist's magnificent obsessions.
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