Page 35 - Studio International - January 1971

an excess of feeling in relation to the formal mental component of bridges, tools and again seems to have re-orientated his ambition;
vehicle, from the dominance of a subject- machines. The stark and abstract form given this towards the making of a public and monu-
matter which means far more to the artist than by use is demonstrated most notably in the mental act on a heroic scale. The human
to the spectator. In those accumulations of Agricola series which begins in 1950; but Smith's intimacy both in making and confrontation is
depicted events such as Home of the Welder, own handling of steel was already tending replaced by a mode which is beyond the scale
Pillar of Sunday, Reliquary House, The Cathedral, towards the directness and simplicity of func- of the single human individual both in con-
each element of the sculpture carries an intense tional parts, so that it becomes increasingly struction—that is to say Smith has to employ
personal message but in formal terms becomes hard to differentiate between the 'found' and heavy machinery and assistants to realize his
little more than decorative texture over a the 'made'. conceptions—and in sheer physical size; which
generally banal structure. However, in terms Smith's work of the 50s can largely be des- however does not dominate the spectator, both
of Smith's means, the control of iron that was cribed by reference to the series or themes because of the light-reflecting nature of the
apparent by 1940 was taken to such a point which he set himself to give continuity to material in the Cubi series, and because the
that there was virtually no longer any specific various kinds of work at various times. The pieces were public in expression rather than
resistance in the medium. For sheer virtuosity serial or thematic treatment is as characteristic specific intent, that is to say related to specific
of handling his chosen medium, Smith is the of Smith's mature work as it is of Brancusi and architectural sites, the very notion of which
equal of Rodin or Brancusi, and like them, but Matisse, yet quite distinct from either. He Smith's whole nature rejected. These are
perhaps more critically than either, Smith worked simultaneously or consecutively on the simply 'outdoor' sculptures; and against the
felt in these works the conflict between know- almost wholly flat, 'pictorial', sculptures, such scale of nature, with the possibility of seeing
ledge and the necessary innocence of the as The Letter, ,The Banquet, Hudson River Landscape, the pieces from great distances, the effect on
modern artist, the 'eternal beginner'. As with Stainless Window; on the Agricola series, assem- the spectator is the reverse of oppressive. Over
the pre-war pieces, these works are small in blies of found agricultural machine parts three decades of Smith's work one can trace a
scale, the physical relationship is with the hand generally composed laterally from a central progressive transformation of the relation of
rather than the body of the spectator. With point; and on the Tank Totems, vertical the spectator to the sculpture, that relates
Australia (1951), which is over 9 ft. long, Smith arrangements of forms incorporating found directly to a progressive growth not only in
achieves a simplicity from a form that is seen (though worked) tank ends, which for the first ambition but also in the confidence in the
through, rather than looked into; perceived in time in Smith's sculpture start directly from worth of his own statement in sculpture and
an instant, rather than scrutinized many times the ground, or from a minimal flat base resting the ability of his kind of sculpture to sustain the
and from many angles. The larger scale imposes directly on the ground, and create the effect of strength of his feeling, of itself, without even
a necessary economy, a single solution : the a human figure, not through imitation but the residual traces of the human image. The
indulgence and over-elaboration of the mani- through the evocation of its uprightness, fron- last sculptures also signal a re-engagement with
pulative scale are eliminated as not only irrele- tality, general separation into parts, and size. the traditional problem of volume which had
vant, but even destructive of the purpose of the The most formal and abstract of Smith's work been mainly in abeyance during the 50s, when
larger work. in the 50s is still characterized by a richness of his work had been frankly dependent on line
Similarly the need for virtuosity in the making surface and attention to detail that is not and plane, and a largely planar and vertical
of parts is dispersed when such a degree of evident from reproduction. Smith, like Bran- orientation. The Zig series is transitional
mastery is reached that any desired shape can cusi, was an excellent photographer of his own between the two conceptions; and contains
be made. Obsessional imagery is reinforced by work, but again like Brancusi, he focuses on the some of Smith's most original sculptures. They
obsessional crafting. The way out of this circle single and dramatic aspect of his sculpture that are constructed of flat or curved steel sheets,
was a return to the 'natural' in the use of he himself most prized; in Smith's case it is a but instead of the sign-like transparency and
steel—not steel as imitation bronze, but steel as monumentality of silhouette, usually achieved openness of Australia or 25 Planes the compo-
simple, direct, functional material—the funda- by photographing the sculpture from a low nents are built up into an apparently dense
angle against the sky. In actual presence most
of his sculpture of the 50s surprises by its inti-
macy of scale and richness of formal event back
and forth through the frontal plane in which
it is usually built. Characteristic of Smith's
working method in the 50s were the white-
painted rectangles on his studio floor on which
he would lay out the parts of intended sculp-
tures as a preliminary to their construction.
The climax of this method of assembly of flat
elements on a flat surface was the first group of
large pieces he made in stainless steel in 1958 :
such sculptures as 25 Planes and 8 Planes; 7
Bars. In these the last traces of volume, in
separate parts or total organization, and the
last traces of history in terms of previous func-
tion or of modelling or shaping of individual
elements have disappeared; the final distinc- Chain Head 1933, painted steel, Height 18* in.
Estate of the Artist,
tion between found and made has been elimi- Courtesy Marlborough-Gerson Gallery
nated not only in the part, but in the total 2
Agricola Head 1933, painted steel, Height 18* in.
arrangement of parts which have the character Estate of the Artist
3
of being thrown up in the air and frozen, as Saw Head 1933, painted steel, Height 17* in.
much as constructed. Estate of the Artist
4
These stainless pieces are by far the highest Leda 1938, steel, Height 284 in.
sculptures he had attempted at this point, and Coll. Mr and Mrs Douglass Crockwell, NY
5
in the remaining half-decade of his life Smith Reclining Figure 1935, steel
25