Cubi

The ''Cubi'' series is a group of stainless steel sculptures built from cubes, rectangular solids and cylinders with spheroidal or flat endcaps. These pieces are among the last works completed by the sculptor David Smith. The artist died in a car accident on May 23, 1965, soon after the completion of ''Cubi XXVIII'', which may or may not have been the last sculpture he intended to create in this series. The ''Cubis'' are among Smith's final experiments in his progression toward a more simplified, abstract form of expression. As an example of Modernism, these are representative of the monumental works in industrial materials that characterized much of the sculpture from this period.

Although the ''Cubis'' are abstract works composed of geometric shapes, they are ambiguously figural. For example, the pictured ''Cubi VI'' appears to be standing on a pair of crossed legs. Like many of the Abstract Expressionists, Smith possessed the ability to easily switch between an abstract and figurative style of working. His process also involved going back and forth between the different stages of development within a certain style or serial group, as suggested by the ''Cubis''. These sculptures were not completed in the order in which they are numbered, as revealed by the inscriptions (see below) that Smith welded onto the base of each.Rosalind E. Krauss, ''The Sculpture of David Smith: A Catalogue Raisonne'', 1977.

Today, the majority of the ''Cubi'' works are part of well-known museum collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London and the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2005, ''Cubi XXVIII'' was sold at Sotheby's for $23.8 million, breaking a record for the most expensive piece of contemporary art ever sold at auction. "This exceedingly rare work was the pinnacle of a four-decade career," said Tobias Meyer, Sotheby's worldwide head of contemporary art and the auctioneer for the evening.

* ''Cubi I'' March 4, 1963
* ''Cubi II'' October 25, 1962
* ''Cubi III'' November 10, 1961
* ''Cubi IV'' January 17, 1963
* ''Cubi V'' January 16, 1963
* ''Cubi VI'' March 21, 1963
* '' Cubi VII'' March 28, 1963
* ''Cubi VIII'' December 24, 1962
* ''Cubi IX'' October 26, 1961
* ''Cubi X'' April 4,1963
* '' Cubi XI'' March 30, 1963
* ''Cubi XII'' April 7, 1963
* ''Cubi XIII'' March 25, 1963
* ''Cubi XIV'' September 25, 1963
* ''Cubi XV'' September 27, 1963
* ''Cubi XVI'' November 4, 1963
* ''Cubi XVII'' December 4, 1963
* ''Cubi XVIII'' February 14, 1964
* ''Cubi XIX'' February 20, 1964
* ''Cubi XX'' February 20, 1964
* ''Cubi XXI'' April 4, 1964
* ''Cubi XXII'' June 5, 1964
* ''Cubi XXIII'' November 30, 1964
* ''Cubi XXIV'' December 8, 1964
* ''Cubi XXV'' January 9, 1965
* ''Cubi XXVI'' January 12, 1965
* ''Cubi XXVII'' March 5, 1965
* ''Cubi XXVIII'' May 5, 1965

References

*Carmean, E. A. ''David Smith.'' Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1982.
*Hamill, Sarah. ''David Smith: Works, Writings, Interview.'' Barcelona: Ediciones Poliígrafa, 2011.
*Kramer, Hilton. “A Critic Calls David Smith ‘Greatest of All American Artists.’” ''New York Times Magazine'', February 16, 1969, 40-62.
*Krauss, Rosalind E. ''Terminal Iron Works: The Sculpture of David Smith.'' Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1971.

External links

''Cubi I''
at the Detroit Institute of Arts
* ''Cubi II'', in a private collection

''Cubi III''
at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

''Cubi IV''
at the Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
* ''Cubi V'' owned by the Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation

''Cubi VI''
at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Israel

''Cubi VII''
at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

''Cubi VIII''
at the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas

''Cubi IX''
at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota

''Cubi X''
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, New York

''Cubi XI''
owned by the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Cubi ''XII''
at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.

''Cubi XIII''
at the Princeton University Art Museum, in Princeton, New Jersey

''Cubi XIV''
at the Saint Louis Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri

''Cubi XV''
at the San Diego Museum of Art in San Diego, California

''Cubi XVI''
at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

''Cubi XVII''
at the Dallas Museum of Art

''Cubi XVIII''
at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

''Cubi XIX''
at the Tate Gallery

''Cubi XX''
at the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden

''Cubi XXI''
at the Storm King Art Center owned by the Lipman Family Foundation

''Cubi XXII''
at the Yale University Art Gallery

''Cubi XXIII''
at the Los Angeles County Museum

''Cubi XXIV''
at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

''Cubi XXV''
owned by Jane Lang Davis

''Cubi XXVI''
at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

''Cubi XXVII''
at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

''Cubi XXVIII''
purchased at auction in 2005 by Eli Broad

{{Cubi

1963 sculptures
1964 sculptures
1965 sculptures
Abstract sculpture
Cubic sculpture
Modernist sculpture
Sculpture series
Sculptures by David Smith
Steel sculptures