David Smith
Leda

Leda

© Estate of David Smith/ Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Leda
Leda
ArtistAmerican, 1906–1965
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Leda
Date1938
PlaceUnited States
MediumPainted steel
Dimensions28 5/8 × 15 1/2 × 13 1/2 in. (72.7 × 39.4 × 34.3 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Hawkins
Object number82.60
Current Location
The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building
Gallery 203
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
American Art
Object Type
Description






The title Leda refers to the Greco-Roman myth about a god who takes the
form of a swan and then seduces a woman. Here, David Smith offers a witty
interpretation of the unlikely act of lovemaking between a bird and a
woman.

Though Smith was not the first sculptor to use steel, no other artist has
devoted his career to the medium with such brilliance and mastery. He learned
the technique of welding steel from working in a car factory, and he applied this
skill to the art of sculpture, forging his first steel work in 1933. Steel
offered unique qualities for Smith, as he explained:  "What it can do in arriving at form
economically, no other material can do. The metal itself possesses little art
history. What associations it possesses are of this century: power,
structure, movement, progress, suspension, destruction,
brutality.

Leda is one of Smith’s more poetic early steel constructions. The image of
the swan is suggested by the graceful arcing neck and wing of the piece,
while the theme of rape is conveyed by the diagonal thrust of one element
piercing another. Myths and historical associations remained of central importance
to Smith throughout his career, and many of his later works incorporate a
balance between subject matter and radical abstraction.




Provenance(Sale, The Artist);
Mr. and Mrs. Douglass and Margaret Braman Crockwell, Glens Falls, New York;
(Sale, Margaret Braman Crockwell, 1982); The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Hawkins, 1982, 82.60.

Exhibition History"David Smith: The Formative Years," Edmonton Art Gallery, M. Knoedler & Co., April 24–May 13, 1982.

"David Smith: Painter, Sculptor, Draftsman," Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C., November 4, 1982–January 2, 1983.

"A Century of Modern Sculpture 1882-1982," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, January 14, 1983–January 31, 1984.

"Direction and Diversity: Twentieth Century Art in the Museum Collection,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 21–September 3, 1988.

"Texas Collects Willem de Kooning and His Contemporaries," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 19–May 21, 1995.

"David Smith: A Centennial," Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
26 January 26–May 14, 2006.

"American Vanguards: Graham, Davis, Gorky, de Kooning and their Circle, 1927–1942," Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, June 9–August 19, 2012; Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, September 21–December 30, 2012.

"David Smith: Origins + Innovations," Hauser & Wirth, New York, November 14–December 23, 2017


Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Signed on the wing element: "D.S. 1938"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

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