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Lot Essay
David Smith, arguably the most famous and influential post-war American sculptor, is well-known for the large-scale, welded steel sculptures that populated the fields of his farmland studio in Bolton Landing, New York. Smith explored numerous sculptural media, including cast bronze, aluminum, forged iron, ceramics, and even carved stone. Tempus Fugit, an example of Smith's smaller-scale work in iron, was created during a period in which his sculpture began to evoke the landscape or insinuate the human body, as well as demonstrate an increasing abstraction and immateriality. This example is extraordinary in its representational qualities and exemplifies Smith's incredible talent and enduring wit with its depiction of a bird caught in mid-flight.
Smith has explained his creative process by insisting, "The works you see are . . . a statement of identity, it comes from a stream, it is related to my past works, three or four works in progress and the work yet to come" (quoted in K. Wilkin, David Smith, New York, 1984, p. 9). While Smith did not begin to group works into specific series until later in the 1950s, a concentration on the representation of, and themes related to, birds is apparent in his works from the mid-1940s in sculptures such as Jurassic Bird (1945), False Peace Spectre (1945), Pillar of Sunday (1945), Eagle's Lair (1948), Royal Bird (1948), Portrait of the Eagle's Keeper (1948-49), and Birdheads (1950). Many of these works address historical and political themes--an implication of evolution or the brutality of war--but the present example is unique in its almost paradoxical presentation of erudition and humor; the translation of its Latin title, a version of the English saying "Time Flies", reveals Smith's playful personification.
Smith has explained his creative process by insisting, "The works you see are . . . a statement of identity, it comes from a stream, it is related to my past works, three or four works in progress and the work yet to come" (quoted in K. Wilkin, David Smith, New York, 1984, p. 9). While Smith did not begin to group works into specific series until later in the 1950s, a concentration on the representation of, and themes related to, birds is apparent in his works from the mid-1940s in sculptures such as Jurassic Bird (1945), False Peace Spectre (1945), Pillar of Sunday (1945), Eagle's Lair (1948), Royal Bird (1948), Portrait of the Eagle's Keeper (1948-49), and Birdheads (1950). Many of these works address historical and political themes--an implication of evolution or the brutality of war--but the present example is unique in its almost paradoxical presentation of erudition and humor; the translation of its Latin title, a version of the English saying "Time Flies", reveals Smith's playful personification.