David Smith Phaidon Focus

by Pachner, Joan

• ISBN13: 9780714861562
• ISBN10: 0714861561
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-03-05
• Publisher: Phaidon Press

Summary

One of the best-known American sculptors of the modern period, David Smith (19061965) was a pioneer of abstract sculpture. He revolutionized the possibilities of metal sculpture by introducing the industrial process of welding, enabling him to create the most extraordinarily balanced compositions using metal to 'draw in space'. Predominantly known as a sculptor, the book also sheds light on his prolific practice of drawing, sketching, writing and photographing his sculptures.

Author Biography

Joan Pachner, a David Smith scholar since the 1980s, has published and lectured widely on the artist’s work. She pioneered the study of the artist’s photographs in an essay in David Smith: Photographs 1931–1965 (1998). She has also lectured and written about the artist’s life at Bolton Landing in the Adirondacks, notably the 'The Concept is Primary. The Medium is Secondary' lecture part of the programme 'A Sculptor’s Eye: David Smith & Photography' in 2006, and has contributed to such publications as The Fields of David Smith (1997) and Painted Steel: The Late Work of David Smith (1998). As an independent art historian, she specializes in modern sculpture and lectures at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.