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David Smith Suspension In Balance welded steel David Smith was born in Decatur, Indiana, in 1906. His father was a telephone engineer and a part-time inventor. Smith's mother was a school teacher, who had hoped that her son would also pursue a career in teaching. |
In 1921, the family moved to Ohio. While in high school, Smith took two years of mechanical drawing, a skill he used later in life when drafting drawings for sculpture. In 1926, Smith moved to New York City, and in 1927, he began to study painting full-time at the Art Student's League. It was not until Smith left the League in 1932, that he began to create sculpture.
In 1934, Smith worked as a technical assistant for the New York Mural Painting Project, a Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) under the Temporary Emergency Relief Association (TERA). From 1937 through 1939, Smith was assigned to the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP) where he worked as a sculptor. For Smith, the FAP allowed him time to experiment with a variety of sculpture styles derived from Cubism and Constructivism.
In 1940, Smith moved from New York City to Bolton Landing in upstate New York where he cherished his seclusion. During World War II, he worked at a factory in Schenectady, New York. Smith continued to produce sculpture until his death on May 25, 1965, from injuries received in an automobile accident.
