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Biography |
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1906 |
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Born in Decatur, Indiana; father is telephone technician-executive and inventor; mother is school teacher |
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1921 |
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Smith family moves to Paulding, Ohio |
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1924 - 1925 |
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Attends Ohio University in Athens for one year to study art; transfers to Notre Dame University, Southbend, Indiana; works summer of 1925 at Studebaker Company’s factory in South Bend |
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1926 - 1927 |
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Assigned by Studebaker Company to New York City; meets Dorothy Dehner, an art student who lives in his apartment building; Marries Dehner in 1927; at the suggestion of Dehner, he attends the Art Students League and studies painting with John Sloan |
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1928 - 1929 |
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Studies with Czech artist Jan Matulka; Matulka introduces Smith to works of Kandinsky, Mondrian, the Russian Constructivists, and the Cubists, especially Pablo Picasso |
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1929 |
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Smiths spend time at Lake George in Bolton Landing, New York, at the house of Thomas and Weber Furlong, friends from the Art Students League; Dorothy Dehner’s inheritance allows Smiths to purchase an eighty-six acre farm in Bolton Landing; Smiths meet artist John Graham via the Furlongs and Graham introduces Smith to sculptural works of Picasso and Julio Gonzalez, who were working in iron |
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1931 - 1932 |
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Smiths visit the Virgin Islands and stay through June 1932; makes abstract drawings and paintings; produces first sculptures out of coral; Smiths return to New York and David begins to use steel for his sculptures |
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1933 |
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Welds sculpture in a foundry in Brooklyn, New York, called Terminal Iron Works, which becomes his adopted make-shift “studio” for several years |
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1934 |
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Through John Graham Smith meets Frank Crowninshield, the editor of Vanity Fair, and Smith is commissioned to make bases for Crowninshield’s African sculpture collection; with John Graham’s introduction, Smith now part of New York City circle of artists Milton Avery, Arshile Gorky, Stuart Davis, Adolph Gottlieb and Jean Xceron |
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1935 |
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Smiths travels to Europe for several months, visiting London, Paris, Greece, Soviet Union |
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1938 |
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Prominent New York dealer Marian Willard offers Smith first solo exhibition at her East River Gallery; Willard represents Smith for next eighteen years |
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1940 |
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Electricity becomes available in Bolton Landing, prompting Smiths to leave New York City and live full-time at their Bolton Landing farm; the farm becomes known as 'Terminal Iron Works' |
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1942 - 1944 |
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Works at the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, New York welding tanks; artistic productivity declines due to shortage of materials because of war, however continues to make drawings |
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1944 |
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Starts again to make more sculptures at Bolton Landing; exhibits frequently |
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1950 |
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Smith and Dorothy Dehner separate (divorce finalized in 1952) and he begins to work furiously on his sculptures |
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1950 - 1951 |
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Awarded Guggenheim Foundation fellowship two years in a row; continues to produce drawings, which become more calligraphic and flowing due to his interest in Asian art |
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1953 |
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Marries Jean Freas; couple has two daughters, Candida and Rebecca |
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1958 |
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Begins 'spray' paintings (places scraps of metal and other materials on a sheet of paper and sprays the objects with paint or enamel, resulting in an overall design of an opaque background and 'empty' space where objects once were) |
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1961 |
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Marriage to Jean Freas ends |
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1962 |
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Invited to partake in prestigious Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds and produces an amazing twenty-seven sculptures in thirty days |
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1965 |
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Appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to the National Council on the Arts; dies May 23rd in a tragic truck accident near Bennington, Vermont |
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1979 |
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Whitney Art Museum, New York, presents 'David Smith: The Drawings'; show travels to Detroit Institute of Arts |
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1982 |
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'David Smith: Spray Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture' exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. |
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1985 |
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International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, D.C., organizes and circulates 'The Drawings of David Smith' |
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1991 |
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'David Smith: Works on Paper, 1953-1961' at Salander O’Reilly Galleries, New York |
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