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Article: Minimal art with maximum impact. (painter Tony Smith)
- Article from:
- Interview
- Article date:
- September 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Tony Smith (1912-80) was one of the last great American visionaries, a forger of unforgettable sculptural forms. Most famous for the black geometric voids that stud civic plazas in New York City, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and other American cities, Smith refused to be pigeonholed and worked variously as an architect, painter, poet, and teacher. Growing up in South Orange, N.J., he was tubercular and lived, isolated from the rest of his family, in a prefab house his father built for him in the backyard. As a student at the New Bauhaus in Chicago, he took part in protests over the predominance of design in the school's curriculum, actions which ultimately led to the ...