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The Minimalist works of Tony Smith and his peers urged a revolution within Post-War art. Smith's works acknowledged the Duchampian "ready-made" and the industrial production of early Constructivism. Smith's own breakthrough came, he says, while sitting in Eugene Goossen's office at Hunter College.
"I was sitting in a very low chair...and every time I looked up, I would see this 3 x 5 filing cabinet. And for some odd reason...some maniac had painted his black...I went home, thinking [sic] to go to sleep; but instead of that, all night all I could think of was that black box. Well, as the hours went by, things...disappeared...the line of the opening, the dovetailing of the joints, the hinges...and [it] simply became a black prism. It became a geometric object; it was no longer a filing cabinet" (quoted in R. Storr, Tony Smith, Architect, Painter, Sculptor, New York, 1998, p. 25).
PROPERTY FROM A MIDWEST COLLECTION
TONY SMITH (1912-1980)
Tau
Details
TONY SMITH (1912-1980)
Tau
signed, numbered and dated 'T. SMITH 1965 1/9' (lower edge)
bronze with black patina
height: 14¼ in. (36.2 cm.)
width: 22¾ in. (57.8 cm.)
depth: 18 5/8 in. (47.3 cm.)
Executed in 1965; this work is number one from an edition of nine
Tau
signed, numbered and dated 'T. SMITH 1965 1/9' (lower edge)
bronze with black patina
height: 14¼ in. (36.2 cm.)
width: 22¾ in. (57.8 cm.)
depth: 18 5/8 in. (47.3 cm.)
Executed in 1965; this work is number one from an edition of nine
Provenance
Xavier Fourcade, Inc., New York.
Literature
R. Storr, Tony Smith: Architect, Painter, Sculptor, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1998, p. 142 (another example illustrated in color).