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Robert Smithson
Sign in to saveAlso known as Robert I. Smithson
American sculptor and conceptual artist (1938-1973)
OverviewAI-generated
Robert Smithson was born in Passaic on 2 January 1938 and worked as a sculptor, photographer, geologist and draftsperson. He was educated at the Art Students League of New York and was associated with the land art movement, creating the work Spiral Jetty. Smithson worked in Vancouver, Rome, Emmen and Chicago, participated in Documenta 5, and was a member of American Abstract Artists. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his work is held in the collections of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Finnish National Gallery and Tate. He once wrote, 'Nature is never finished.' Smithson died in an aviation accident in Amarillo on 20 July 1973.
Synthesized by Vinony from 23 facts across 2 sources: Wikidata, Wikiquote. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Born
- Robert Irving Smithson , ( 1938-01-02 ) January 2, 1938, Passaic, New Jersey , U.S.
- Died
- July 20, 1973 (1973-07-20) (aged 35), Near Amarillo, Texas
- Education
- Art Students League of New York
- Known for
- Sculpture, Earthworks
- Notable work
- Spiral Jetty , 1970
- Movement
- Land art
- Spouse
- Nancy Holt
- Patrons
- Virginia Dwan
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Robert
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Passaic
- Place of death
- Amarillo
- Occupation
- architectural draftsperson
- Educated at
- Art Students League of New York
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Notable work
- Spiral Jetty
- Participant in
- Documenta 5
- Genre
- land art
- Movement
- land art
- Official website
- www.robertsmithson.com
- Work location
- Vancouver
Show 7 more facts
- Commons category
- Robert Smithson
- date of death
- 1973-07-20
- date of birth
- 1938-01-02
- Commons Creator page
- Robert Smithson
- name in native language
- Robert Smithson
- cause of death
- aviation accident
- has works in the collection
- Whitney Museum of American Art
Sources (11)
via Wikidata · CC0
~17 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty in 2004, Rozel Point, Great Salt Lake, Utah.
Robert Smithson (January 2, 1938 – July 20, 1973) was an American artist known for sculpture and land art who often used drawing and photography in relation to the spatial arts. His work has been internationally exhibited in galleries and museums and is held in public collections. He was one of the founders of the land art movement whose best known work is the Spiral Jetty (1970).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Robert Smithson” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.