Cubi I

1963

David Smith American, 1906 - 1965

Not On View

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Traditionally, sculpture was created by carving in stone or wood or casting in bronze, but American sculptors in the 1950s began to make "constructed sculptures" by welding, bolting, or otherwise affixing elements together. Cubi I, the first of Smith's final series of sculptures, is constructed of cubes of stainless steel welded together, their surfaces polished to a high gloss and then abraded. The burnishing allows the surface to take on, without directly reflecting, the colors of the world around it. By giving this work a strongly frontal orientation, Smith plays with our perception of the difference between two- and three-dimensional objects; our understanding of the sculpture equivocates between flatness and bulk, between line and volume, and between balance and weight.

Title Cubi I

Artwork Date 1963

Artist David Smith

Life Dates 1906 - 1965

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Stainless steel

Dimensions Overall: 124 × 34 1/2 × 33 1/2 inches (315 cm × 87.6 cm × 85.1 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department Contemporary Art after 1950

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Special Purchase Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 66.36

Markings

Signed Signed on base: David Smith

Inscriptions Inscribed, dated, titled on base: March 4-63 Cubi I

Provenance

the artist's studio;
Marlborough-Gerson Gallery;
1966-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

Rubin, William. "David Smith." Art International 7 (December 1963): 48-49 (ill.).

"Malerei Skulptur." Documenta III. Cologne, 1964, no.3, p. 296, p. 297 (ill.).

David Smith: A Memorial Exhibition. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, 1965, p. 8-9 (ill.).

Arts Council of Great Britain. David Smith 1906-1965. London, 1966, p. 27.

David Smith 1906-1965: A Retrospective Exhibtion. Exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University. Cambridge, 1966, p. 88, p. 55 (ill.).

Greenberg, Clement. "David Smith: Critical Comment." Art in America 54 (January-February 1966): 27-32 (ill.).

Gray, Cleve, ed. David Smith by David Smith. New York, 1968, p. 151 (ill.).

David Smith. Exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York, 1969, pp. 154-155 (ill.).

Noguchi and Rickey and Smith. Exh. cat., Indiana University Art Museum. Bloomington, 1970, p. 38, p. 40 (ill.).

Mendelowitz, D.M. A History of American Art. Second edition. New York, 1970, fig. 676, p. 500.

Krauss, Rosalind E. Terminal Iron Works: The Sculpture of David Smith. Cambridge, 1971, pp. 183-184 (ill.).

Bulletin of the DIA 50, no. 2 (1971): 20 (ill.).

"The Detroit Institute of Arts Illustrated Handbook", 1971, p.184.

"200 Years of American Art," The Whitney Museum of American Art, 1976, no.255, p.347., p.190:color plate 49, p.160:ill, cover ill.

Silver, Jonathon. "Remaking the History of American Sculpture." Art News 75 (Summer 1976): 70-72 (ill.).

Krauss, Rosalind E. The Sculpture of David Smith: A Catalogue Raisonne. New York, 1977, p.117, fig. 649.

Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. David Smith: Painter, Sculptor, Draftsman. Exh. cat., Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Washington, D.C., 1982, p.18.

David Smith. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1982, p. 201, pp. 221-223.

Tuchman, Phyllis. "In Detail: David Smith and 'Cubi XVIII.'" Portfolio 5 (January-February 1983): 78-82.

David Smith: Medals for Dishonor, 1937-1940. Exh. cat., Henry Moore Center for the Study of Sculpture. Leeds, 1991, p. 19.

David Smith 1906-1965. Exh. cat., IVAM/Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. Madrid, 1996, pp. 244-245, p. 268.

Replacing the Shower of Sparks with the Spray of Paint: Sprays and Drawings. Birmingham, MI, 1997.

The Fields of David Smith. New York, 1999, p. 130 (ill.).

Crossroads of American Sculpture: David Smith, George Rickey, John Chamberlain, Robert Indiana, William T. Wiley, Bruce Nauman. Indianapolis, 2000, p. 108 (ill.).

Welded Sculpture of the Twentieth Century. Exh. cat., Neuberger Museum of Art. New York, 2000, p. 29, fig. 29.

David Smith: A Centennial. Exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York, 2006, fig. 104.

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