  
  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 &Atilde;&#151; 34 1/2 &Atilde;&#151; 33 1/2 inches (315 cm &Atilde;&#151; 87.6 cm &Atilde;&#151; 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&acirc;&#128;&#153;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&acirc;&#128;&#148;no longer assigned&acirc;&#128;&#148;that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  66.36
  
  
  Copyright
  Restricted
  
  
  
