Glass Stratum

conceived 1967, refabricated 2014

Robert Smithson

Artist, American, 1938 - 1973

Robert Smithson

Attributed to

Thirty-seven thin sheets of green-tinged glass are stacked on a white pedestal base to create this freestanding sculpture. One end of the sheets is tidily lined up. The sheet of glass on the bottom is the longest, and each piece stacked on it is slightly shorter so it recedes like stairs as it climbs. In this photograph, we look slightly down on the piece with the longest sheet angled down into the left corner. The floor beneath is pale pink marble.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    glass

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Virginia Dwan

  • Dimensions

    overall: 44.45 × 213.36 × 30.48 cm (17 1/2 × 84 × 12 in.)
    each unit (thickness; 37 layers, each 2 inches shorter than the previous): 1.27 cm (1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2013.19.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Virginia Dwan, New York; gift 2013 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1980

  • Robert Smithson: Sculpture, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art; Laguna Gloria Museum, Austin; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; American Pavilion, 40th Biennale, Venice; ARC, Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris; Sara Hilder Museum, Helsinki; Lehmbruck Museum, Duisberg; Museum of Modern Art, Belgrade; Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, 1980-1984, no. S11 (1980-1982 catalogue for U.S. venues), S9 (Paris and Otterlo catalogues), repro. (original fabrication).

1993

  • Robert Smithson: Une rétrospective: Le paysage entropique 1960-1973, IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; MAC, Galeries Contemporaines des Musées de Marseille, 1993-1994, unnumbered catalogue, repro. (refabrication for the exhibition).

2016

  • Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery, 1959-1971, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016-2017, no. 67, repro.

Bibliography

2013

  • Meyer, James. "Robert Smithson, A Non-Site (Pine Barrens, New Jersey) and Glass Stratum." National Gallery of Art Bulletin no. 49 (Fall 2013): 27, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q63864416

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