Lot 125: ROBERT SMITHSON

ROBERT SMITHSON 1938 - 1973 QUICKSAND titled on the reverse; dated Lower East Side Summer 1959 on the stretcher oil and collage on paperboard 28 1/2 by 22 1/2 in. 72.4 by 57.2 cm.

Greensboro, The University of North Carolina, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Art on Paper, November - December 1983
Oslo, The National Museum of Contemporary Art; Stockholm, Modern Museum; Ishøj, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Robert Smithson Retrospective: Works 1955 - 1973, February 1999 - January 2000, cat. no. 6
Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art; The Dallas Museum of Art; New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Robert Smithson, September 2004 - October 2005, p. 11, illustrated in color

The Alan Gallery, New York
Robert Miller Gallery, New York

In 1960, gallerist George Lester first encountered Smithson's paintings after spotting the present work, Quicksand, in the window of Charles Alan's gallery in New York. Captivated and intrigued by the work, Lester tracked down the artist and gave him his second solo show at the Galleria Lester in Rome. Smithson's drawings and paintings from this early period, influenced by his experiences in Rome, are in direct dialogue with his later earthworks both through his choice of palate and the role of the earth in his art, addressing the angst and tumultuous nature of society through religious iconography.