Artist
David Smith American, 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
On view
Explore Further
Department
American ArtObject Type
David Smith worked in steel rather than the
more traditional mediums of bronze or marble.
For Leda, he transformed the industrial
material with an assured grace, using the
welding skills he had gained from working
in a Studebaker automobile factory in the
1920s. While radical in material and form,
the sculpture thematically harks back to
the Classical era, evoking the Greco-Roman
myth of Zeus, who took the form of a swan to
seduce Leda, a mortal woman.
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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