Hauser & Wirth Somerset is pleased to announce ‘David Smith. Field Work’, its debut solo exhibition by the eminent American artist. The exhibition has been conceived as four chapters of work spanning over three decades (from 1933 to 1964) that aim to demonstrate Smith’s diverse visual language and multifaceted creative process. Curated by the artist’s daughters Rebecca and Candida Smith, co-presidents of the David Smith Estate, the exhibition situates itself between the drawn image and sculpted form to investigate the relationship between the two parallel practices. For Smith, drawing was a natural form of expression, often produced alongside sculpture making and he would intuitively switch back and forth as a crucible for thought and innovation.

‘We are thrilled to see our late father’s work in Somerset, the rural setting is reminiscent of the rolling hay fields around his studio. He wanted his sculptures to be experienced in nature, in changing light, weather and seasons. In the morning he walked down the driveway to the ‘shop’ which is what he called his studio; at night he worked on drawings in the house. From our bedroom my sister and I would hear the particular rattle of his spray cans as he made drawings to jazz records. I see in these works a great sense of what I knew of my father – his love of making and constructing form’—Rebecca Smith, June 2019