Head As A Still Life I is one of only three known sculptures Smith David Smith made of cast aluminum. It was completed in 1942, a year in which Smith divided his time working at his studio in upstate New York and at Bolton Landing and in Schenectady where he worked at a factory during the war assembling tanks and locomotives.
David Smith was born in Decatur, Indiana in 1906. He studied briefly at Ohio University and then at the Art Students League in New York. Trained as a painter, he turned to sculpture in the 1930s. During the 1940s and early 1950s he taught for short periods of time at various universities. President Johnson appointed him to the National Council on the Arts early in 1965, but he died later that spring in an automobile accident.
Source: Bulletin, September-October, 1978.
Exhibition History"David Smith: Painter, Sculptor, Draftsman," Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Nov. 4, 1982 - Jan. 2, 1983; (Circulated to: San Antonio Museum of Art, Mar. 27 - June 4, 1983)
"The Sculpture of David Smith," Buchholz/Willard Galleries, N.Y., Jan. 2 - 26, 1946
"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Art," Whitney Museum of American Art, N.Y., Nov. 23, 1943 - Jan. 4, 1944
"David Smith," Willard Gallery, N. Y., Apr. 6 - May 1, 1943
Published ReferencesKaren Wilkin, DAVID SMITH, Abbeville Press, New York, 1984, ill. p.33, no.28
DAVID SMITH: PAINTER SCULPTOR DRAFTSMAN, George Braziller, N.Y. in association with the exhibition organized by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., 1982, ref. p.136, cat. no.63, ill. pl. no.21, p.60
Rosalind E. Krauss, THE SCULPTURE OF DAVID SMITH - A CATALOGUE RAISONNE, Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London, 1977, ref. no.147, p.26, fig. no.147 (no page number for ill.)
"David Smith: Painter, Sculptor, Draftsman," Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D. C., 1982, exh. cat. ref. no.63, ill. pl. no.21, p.60
DMAC Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1978, ill.
DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. & b/w ill. p.199, pl.131
Other (base): 1 7/8 × 9 1/4 × 6 1/4 in. (4.8 × 23.5 × 15.9 cm)
