A tall, black metal sculpture on wheels.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The sculpture of black metal is mounted on a hollow, square base with two wheels which are painted orange. Two metal rods rise from the base which supports a flattened zigzag to which seven diamond shaped pieces have been attached along the length. The topmost diamond shape has a three-part configuration of thin metal rectangles attached from which four very thin strips of metal in varying lengths are hung. The longest of the strips is attached to a disc which in turn is attached to the lowest diamond-shape.

Gallery Text

Smith revolutionized the sculptural process. Instead of beginning with a small-scale model, he arranged pieces of steel on the studio floor, which he had painted white for contrast, and welded them together after the central portion of the composition was complete. This method allowed him to compose free of concerns about gravity, moving parts around until the desired effect had been achieved. The light-colored background allowed him to envision the role of negative space in the finished work, an important consideration for a sculpture he intended to place in the fields outside his home. The relationship between the steel forms and the spaces between them creates a record of the artist’s movement, much as droplets of paint on a canvas trace the movement of Pollock’s arm. Doorway on Wheels exemplifies Smith’s notion of sculpture as “drawing in space,” the crux of his achievement as the preeminent American sculptor of the mid-twentieth century.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1994.16
People
David Smith, American (Decatur, IN 1906 - 1965 Bennington, VT)
Title
Doorway on Wheels
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
1960
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303411

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1200, Modern and Contemporary Art, Mid–century Abstraction I
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Steel with paint
Dimensions
233.7 x 96.5 x 54 cm (92 x 38 x 21 1/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: On base: David Smith, Signed Date: 1960

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
David Smith, sold; to Mrs. Lois Orswell, 1963, gift; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 1994.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Krauss 487

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Lois Orswell
Copyright
© The Estate of David Smith / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Accession Year
1994
Object Number
1994.16
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Irving Sandler, "9 Shows for Spring: David Smith", Art News (1960), vol. 59, no. 1, p. 38, p. 38, ill.
  • Kenneth Sawyer, "Dazzling David Smith Sculpture", The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, 1960), p. 4
  • David Smith, "Notes on My Work" (Arts, 1960), vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 46-47
  • Robert M. Coates, "The Art Galleries: A Sculptor and Two Painters", The New Yorker (New York, 1960), vol. 36, no. 3, p. 128
  • Jane Harrison Cone, David Smith 1906-1965: A Retrospective Exhibition, exh. cat., Thomas Todd Co. (Cambridge, MA, 1966), p. 78, no. 388
  • Rosalind E. Krauss, Terminal Iron Works: The Sculpture of David Smith, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA, 1971), p. 9, fig. 3b, ill.
  • Rosalind E. Krauss, The Sculpture of David Smith, a Catalogue Raisonné, Garland Publishing, Inc. (New York, NY, 1977), cat. no.487
  • E. A. Carmean, Jr., David Smith: Seven Major Themes, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C., 1982), pp. 31-33, 174-177, 179, ill. p. 175, fig. 3 and p. 32, fig. 15
  • Frank A. Pasquale, "David Smith's Abstract Identity", The Harvard Crimson (Cambridge, MA, 1995)
  • Christine Temin, "Sculpture that won't let you stand still", The Boston Globe (Boston, 1995), p. 49
  • Sarah Kianovsky, David Smith: This Work is My Identity, brochure, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1995), reproduced in b/w p. 6
  • Ann Wilson Lloyd, "Museums and Galleries: David Smith at the Fogg Art Museum", Sculpture (1996), vol. 15, no. 1, p. 79, p. 79
  • James Cuno, Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Ivan Gaskell, and William W. Robinson, Harvard's Art Museums: 100 Years of Collecting, ed. James Cuno, Harvard University Art Museums and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (Cambridge, MA, 1996), p. 200, ill. p. 201
  • Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997
  • Christine Temin, "A Collector Who 'Bought with Her Guts and Her Heart'", The Boston Globe (Boston, 2002), n.p.
  • Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 216, p. 348, fig. 168 on p. 350 (color), p. 379
  • James Panero, "Exhibition Notes: Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art", New Criterion (2003), vol. 21, no. 6, p. 50, p. 50
  • Richard Mulholland, "Of Dreams and Visions and Things Not Known: Looking at David Smith's Drawing Media" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 2003), Unpublished, pp. 1-43 passim
  • Sarah Hamill, Anglo-American Exchange in Postwar Sculpture, ed. Rebecca Peabody, J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, 2011), pp. 91-92, fig. 1, ill. (color), 99
  • Sarah Hamill, David Smith: Works, Writings, Interview, Ediciones Poligrafa, S.A. (Barcelona, 2011), p. 68, ill.
  • Sarah Hamill, David Smith in Two Dimensions: Photography and the Matter of Sculpture, University of California Press (Oakland, 2015), p. 119, pl. 19, ill. (color)
  • Susan Cooke, ed., David Smith: Collected Writings, Lectures, and Interviews, brochure, University of California Press (Oakland, 2018), p. 337, 432, fig. 26, ill. (color)

Exhibition History

  • David Smith: Sculpture, French and Company, Inc., 02/17/1960 - 03/19/1960
  • Monumental Sculpture, Fine Arts Associates, 06/01/1962 - 07/31/1962
  • Six Sculptors and Their Drawings, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 05/07/1971 - 06/07/1971
  • David Smith: 23 Related Sculptures, Drawings, Paintings, Fogg Art Museum, 01/01/1972 - 02/29/1972
  • Terminal Iron Works: The Sculpture of David Smith, Fogg Art Museum, 07/05/1972 - 09/15/1972
  • David Smith: Sculpture, Drawings, and Paintings, Fogg Art Museum, 10/01/1979 - 11/25/1979
  • David Smith: Five Sculptures in the Courtyard, Fogg Art Museum, 07/22/1981 - 09/20/1981
  • David Smith: "This work is my identity", Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/03/1995 - 05/05/1996
  • Modern Art at Harvard, Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 07/31/1999 - 09/26/1999; Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, 10/09/1999 - 11/14/1999; Matsuzakaya Art Museum, Nagoya, 12/02/1999 - 12/27/1999; Oita City Museum, Oita, 01/06/2000 - 02/06/2000; Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Ibaraki, 02/11/2000 - 03/26/2000
  • Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/21/2002 - 02/16/2003
  • David Smith, Related Clues: Drawings, Paintings and Sculpture 1931-1964, Gagosian Gallery, New York, New York, 03/05/2004 - 04/17/2004
  • Re-View: S118 European & American Art since 1900, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/13/2008 - 04/09/2011
  • 32Q: 1200 Mid-Century Abstraction I (Painterly Abstraction), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu