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Royal Incubator

Date1949

Maker David Smith American, 1906-1965

Object number2016.17.5

Provenance[Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, Inc., New York]; Mr. and Mrs. B. Dunkelman, Toronto; [Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York]; purchased by Virginia and Bagley Wright, Seattle, Washington May 1978

Photo CreditPhoto courtesy of Artech/Seattle

Exhibition HistoryNew York, New York, Willard Gallery, David Smith, April 1950. Minneapolis, Minnesota, Walker Art Center, 1952. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University, Fogg Art Museum, Sept. 1966 - Feb. 1967 (Washington, D.C., Washington Gallery of Modern Art, 1967). Edmonton, Alberta, Edmonton Art Gallery, David Smith: The Formative Years, Sculptures and Drawings from the 1930s and 1940s, Jan. 16 - Mar. 1, 1981 (Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Mar. 19 - May 10, 1981. Work did not travel to subsequent three venues: Winnipeg, Hamilton, and Windsor). Text by Karen Wilkin. No cat. no., p. 74, reproduced pp. 18, 70. Düsseldorf, Germany, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, David Smith: Sculpture and Drawings, Mar. 14 - Apr. 27, 1986 (Frankfurt, Germany, Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, June 19 - Sept. 28, 1986; London, England, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Nov. 7, 1986 - Jan. 4, 1987). Text by Jörn Merkert. Cat. no. 19, p. 172, reproduced p. 70. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The New York School, Nov. 23, 1988 - Jan. 29, 1989. New York, New York, The American-Australian Foundation for the Arts, Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, Barnard Collects, Sept. 27 - Oct. 31, 1989. Seattle, Washington, University of Washington, Henry Art Gallery, Modern Masters and the Figure: Picasso to De Kooning, Sept. 17 - Nov. 28, 1993. Mountainville, New York, Storm King Art Center, The Fields of David Smith, May 18 - Nov. 15, 1998. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection of Modern Art, Mar. 4 - May 5, 1999. Text by Trevor Fairbrother. No cat. no., reproduced pp. 92, 195. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, International Abstraction: Making Painting Real, May 2, 2003 - Feb. 29, 2004. New York, New York, Guggenheim Museum, David Smith: A Centennial, Feb. - May, 2006 (Paris, France, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, June 14 - Aug. 21, 2006; London, England, Tate Modern, Nov. 1, 2006 - Jan. 21, 2007). Text by Carmen Giménez. Cat. no. 45, p. 301, reproduced no. 45. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, SAM at 75: Building a Collection for Seattle, May 5 - Sept. 9, 2007. Text by Chiyo Ishikawa. No cat. no., reproduced p. 106. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Big Picture: Art After 1945, July 23, 2016 - May 16, 2021. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Reverberations: Contemporary Art and Modern Classics, Dec. 22, 2022 - ongoing.Published ReferencesBreuning, Margaret. “Smith’s Genetic Metals.” The Art Digest, vol. 24, no. 15 (May 1950): p. 11. Gray, Cleve. David Smith by David Smith: Sculptures and Writings. London: Thames & Hudson, 1968; reproduced p. 63. Krauss, Rosalind E. The Sculpture of David Smith: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1977; cat. no. 234, p. 47, reproduced no. 234. Hackett, Regina. “Early Signs of Power.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 20, 1981. Glowen. Ron. “David Smith: The Early Years.” Artweek, vol. 12, no. 4 (April 11, 1981): reproduced p. 1. Kangas, Matthew. “David Smith: Paradox of Sex.” Vanguard (Summer 1981): reproduced p. 19. Rubin, William. “Primitivism” in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern. Exh. cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1984; reproduced p. 624. Wilkin, Karen. David Smith. Modern Masters. New York: Abbeville Press, Inc., 1984; cat. no. 47, reproduced cover, p. 45. Malaurie, Jean, et al. L’Art du Grand Nord. Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod, 2001; reproduced fig. 625, p. 571. Cotter, Holland. “Modernist Delicacy: David Smith at 100.” New York Times, Weekend Arts, February 3, 2006; reproduced B31.

Credit LineGift of the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

Dimensions37 x 38 3/8 x 9 7/8 in. (94 x 97.5 x 25.1 cm)

MediumSteel, bronze and silver