The Split Perspective of Reflections and Pulvertizations
The Split Perspective of Reflections and Pulvertizations

Art © Holt/Smithson Foundation/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

The Split Perspective of Reflections and Pulvertizations
The Split Perspective of Reflections and Pulvertizations

Currently not on view

The Split Perspective of Reflections and Pulvertizations,

1967

Robert Smithson, 1938–1973; born Passaic, NJ; died Amarillo, TX
2012-81

The Split Perspective, from a transitional moment in Smithson’s career, refers to two bodies of work: his pre-1967 practice of wall reliefs and sculptures inspired by crystalline structures and his post-1967 practice of mixed-media sculptures, usually bins, containing geological matter. The drawing outlines an arrangement of eleven "bins" containing a "pulverized" material and eleven mirrors. Their incrementally stepped composition—common to Smithson’s sculptures from the mid-1960s—evokes his interest in seriality and his frequent experimentation with perspective. On the back of this work is a drawing related to a different series of sculptures: sheets of clear glass stacked and proportioned so as to resemble ziggurats.

Information

Title
The Split Perspective of Reflections and Pulvertizations
Dates

1967

Maker
Robert Smithson
Medium
Graphite
Dimensions
45.7 x 55.9 cm (18 x 22 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund
Object Number
2012-81
Signatures
Signed and dated in graphite, center: 1967 Robert Smithson
Inscription
in graphite, center: The Split Perspective | of Reflections and Pulverizations in graphite, recto and verso: [compositional notations throughout]
Culture
American
Type
studies (visual works), drawings
Materials
graphite, graph paper
Subject
sculpture, geometric patterns, rectangles, grids (layout features), reflections, mirrors

Estate of Robert Smithson, Santa Fe, New Mexico, consigned; to [James Cohan Gallery, New York, New York], sold; to Princeton University Art Museum, 2012.

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