{"product_id":"david-smith-the-art-and-life-of-a-transformational-sculptor-9780374281465","title":"David Smith: The Art and Life of a Transformational Sculptor","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn essential account of Americas greatest sculptor . . . A magnum opus. Marjorie Perloff  The Times Literary Supplement  The landmark biography of the inscrutable and brilliant David Smith  the greatest American sculptor of the twentieth century.  David Smith  a pioneer of Abstract Expressionism  did more than any other sculptor of his era to bring the plastic arts to the forefront of the American scene. Central to his project of reimagining sculptural experience was challenging the stability of any identity or positionSmith sought out the unbounded  unbalanced  and unexpected  creating works of art that seem to undergo radical shifts as the spectator moves from one point of view to another. So groundbreaking and prolific were his contributions to American art that by the time Smith was just forty years old  Clement Greenberg was already calling him the greatest sculptor this country has produced.  Michael Brensons David Smith: The Art and Life of a Transformational Sculptor is the first biography of this epochal figure. It follows Smith from his upbringing in the Midwest  to his heady early years in Manhattan  to his decision to establish a permanent studio in Bolton Landing in upstate New York  where he would create many of his most significant worksamong them the Cubis  Tanktotems  and Zigs. It explores his at times tempestuous personal life  marked by marriages  divorces  and fallings-out as well as by deep friendships with fellow artists like Helen Frankenthaler and Robert Motherwell. His wife Jean Freas described him as salty and bombastic  jumbo and featherlight  thin-skinned and Mack Truck. And many more things. This enormous  contradictory vitality was true of his work as well. He was a bricoleur  a master welder  a painter  a photographer  and a writer  and he entranced critics and attracted admirers wherever he showed his work. With this book  Brenson has contextualized Smith for a new generation and confirmed his singular place in the history of American art.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45666032746549,"sku":"ByrdShop_0374281467","price":41.24,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780374281465.jpg?v=1782416021","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/david-smith-the-art-and-life-of-a-transformational-sculptor-9780374281465","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}