Robert Smithson

Biography

Robert Smithson is recognized as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. Smithson was a seminal figure in the art form that became known as earthworks or land art. He radically redefined notions of sculpture through his writings and projects. Among his most important and well-known works are Spiral Jetty (1970), a monumental earthwork located in the Great Salt Lake, Utah, and Partially Buried Woodshed (1970) at Kent State University in Ohio. Smithson's critical writings have had an equally profound impact on contemporary art and theory.

Robert Smithson was born in Passaic, New Jersey in 1938, and died in 1973.

In 2017, the Holt-Smithson Foundation was formed to continue the creative and investigative spirit of the artists Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson.