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Artists

Tony Smith

b. South Orange, NJ, 1912
d. New York, NY, 1980

Tony Smith was an American artist known for designing large-scale Minimalist sculptures made of industrial materials. Smug, 1973/2005, on the grounds at Glenstone, exemplifies the style of geometric abstraction most characteristic of Smith’s work, inspired by his range of interests in art history, architecture, mathematics, and philosophy. His multilayered abstract sculptures are composed of modular geometric forms that change with perspective as viewers walk around them. While Smith built a plywood scale mockup of Smug in his New Jersey backyard, the final painted aluminum version was not completed during his lifetime. Glenstone worked closely with the artist’s estate to realize the final version we see today, as Smith intended.

–Alana Hill, from the Glenstone Field Guide

Artworks by Tony Smith