David Smith: The Nature of Sculpture

The first book to explore David Smith’s deep engagement with the natural world as source, subject, and site for his art.

Spanning the full career of the sculptor David Smith (1906-65), this study features some fifty sculptures alongside related paintings, reliefs, and works on paper to reclaim the primacy of nature within his expansive oeuvre.

Smith’s adventurous approach to three-dimensional form has permanently expanded the vocabulary and range of sculptural practice. The first American artist to make welded metal sculptures and incorporate industrial means in his work, Smith’s enlistment of nature as material and prime setting for his art was equally innovative. As explored in the book’s introduction, reflections by the artist’s daughters, and an essay by Jed Morse, Smith’s creative vision is firmly rooted in landscape and the natural world.

Suzanne Ramljak is chief curator at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan.