© Estate of Tony Smith / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / The Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS), London
Interpretation
After working in the office of Frank Lloyd Wright and pursuing a successful career as an architect, Tony Smith embraced the medium of sculpture in the early 1960s, utilizing unconventional materials and techniques such as steel and welding. Smith’s work consists of complex polyhedrons, inspired in part by his study of mathematics and crystallography, and it explores the relationship between form and scale as well as perception, location, and duration. Smith titled his sculptures only after the maquettes had been finished. About Moses, the artist said, "The parallel uprights suggested the horns of Michelangelo’s Moses. We know that these strange attributes were the result of a misunderstanding by the Latin Vulgate of the Hebrew word ‘shone.’ . . . My sculpture, without previous intent, perpetuates this curiosity." Moses is one of over a dozen outdoor sculptures in the Putnam Collection, funded by the family of Lieutenant John B. Putnam Jr., a Princeton student and United States Air Force pilot killed during World War II.
Information
- Title
- Moses
- Object Number
- y1969-104
- Maker
- Tony Smith
- Medium
- Painted mild steel
- Dates
- 1967–68; fabricated 1969
- Dimensions
- ca. 460 x 350 x 223.5 cm. (181 1/8 x 137 13/16 x 88 in.)
- Credit Line
- The John B. Putnam Jr. Memorial Collection, Princeton University
- Culture
- American
- Signatures
- Unsigned
- Materials
- Sanford C. Reynolds, Jr., John N. Brooks, Jr., Edmund L. Keeley, James M. Markham, and John A. McPhee, the editorial board, "The Putnam sculpture: 20th Century masterpieces give dramatic perspectives to Princeton's familiar vistas", Princeton alumni weekly 70 (Jan. 27, 1970): p. 1214, 14, illus.
- Patrick Joseph Kelleher, Living with Modern Sculpture: the John B. Putnam, Jr., Memorial Collection, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 1982)., 112–15
- Jane McCarthy and Laurily K. Epstein, A guide to the sculpture parks and gardens of America, (New York, NY: Michael Kesend Pub., 1996).
- Karin Dienst, ed., Sculpture of Princeton University: including works from the John B. Putnam Jr. Memorial Collection, (Princeton, NJ: Published by the Office of Communications, in association with the Princeton University Art Museum, 2004)., 24–25, illus.
- Kelly Baum, et. al., New Jersey as non-site, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013).
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 280
Feedback
The Museum regularly researches its objects and their collecting histories, updating its records to reflect new information. We also strive to catalogue works of art using language that is consistent with how people, subjects, artists, and cultures describe themselves. As this effort is ongoing, the Museum’s records may be incomplete or contain terms that are no longer acceptable. We welcome your feedback, questions, and additional information that you feel may be useful to us. Email us at collectionsinfo@princeton.edu.
Want to use an image from the Museum's collections? Review our image use and access policies.