About this item
This comprehensive sourcebook is destined to become a lasting and definitive reference on the art and aesthetic philosophy of the American artist David Smith (1906-1965) . A pioneer of twentieth-century modernism, Smith was renowned for the expansive formal and conceptual ambitions of his broadly diverse and inventive welded-steel abstractions. His groundbreaking achievements drew freely on cubism, surrealism, and constructivism, profoundly influencing later movements such as minimalism and environmental art. By radically challenging older conventions of monolithic figuration and refuting arbitrary distinctions between painters and sculptors, Smith asserted sculpture's equal role in advancing modern art. This compilation of Smith's poems, sketchbook notes, essays, lectures, letters to the editor, reviews, and interviews underscores the ways his writing articulated his private identity and promoted the social ideals that made him a key participant in contemporary discourses surrounding modernism, art and politics, and sculptural aesthetics.
About the Author
David Smith is a UK-based military historian, specialising in 18th and 19th century subjects but perfectly happy to delve deeper into history if required. His first book, on Sherman's march to the sea, was published by Osprey in 2007 and he has since written several titles on the American War of Independence, most recently the award-winning Whispers Across the Atlantick. David has been writing since he could hold a pen and submitted his first book for publication at the age of six (surprisingly, it was rejected) . Having taken American Studies at Hull University and the University of Iowa, he then embarked on a career as a journalist, covering sports, home entertainment technology and the film industry, before returning to academia for his MA and PhD.
