Gyrostasis

Object Details

Artist

Robert Smithson, American, b. Passaic, New Jersey, 1938–1973

Provenance

Jh Purchased From Dwan Gallery, New York 1968

Exhibition History

HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN, Smithsonian Institiution, Washington, DC. "Probing the Earth: Contemporary Land Projects," 27 October 1977-2 January 1978, no. 21, ill. p. 82. Tour: LA JOLLA MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, California, 27 January-26 February; SEATTLE ART MUSEUM, 23 March-21 May.

Published References

Smithson, "The title Gyrostasis refers to a branch of physics that deals with rotating bodies, and their tendency to maintain their equilibrium. THe work is a standing triangulated spiral. When I made the sculpture I was thinking of mapping procedures tha trefer to the planet earth. One could consider it as a crystallized fragment of a Gyroscopic rotation, or as an abstract three-dimensional map."

Michael Auping, "Beyond the Sublime," in Abstract Expressionism: The Critical Developments, New York and Buffalo: Albright-Knox Art gallery and Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1987, p. 161.

AQUIN, STEPHANE, et al. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: The Collection (New York: DelMonico Books, 2022), pl. 252, p. 277.

Credit Line

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1972

(1968)

Accession Number

72.270

Type

Sculpture

Medium

Steel and paint

Dimensions

73 5/8 x 54 1/8 x 39 1/4 in. (187 x 137.5 x 99.7 cm)

See more items in

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection

School

American Post-Minimal Sculpture

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Record ID

hmsg_72.270

Metadata Usage (text)

Not determined

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/py23bbbd114-51f6-4553-95b7-ae0f3fb19780