The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (452 page)
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Smithson , Robert
(1938–73).
American sculptor and experimental artist. In the 1960s his work belonged mainly to the category of
Minimal art
; he was interested in mathematical impersonality and as well as making block-like steel sculptures he experimented with reflections and mirror images. From the late 1960s he turned to
Conceptual art
; he expressed his ideas mainly through
Land art
and became the best-known artist working in this field. In 1968 he began a series of ‘Sites’ and ‘Non-Sites’. The latter consisted of photographs and plans of locations he had visited (particularly derelict urban or industrial sites) displayed with specimens of rock or geological refuse he had gathered there, arranged into random heaps or in metal or wood bins: ‘Instead of putting a work of art on some land, some land is put into the work of art.’ Smithson then moved on to large-scale earthworks, the best known of which is the enormous
Spiral Jetty
(1970), a spiral road (now submerged) running out into Great Salt Lake, Utah. He was killed in a plane crash when he was surveying a work in progress,
Amarillo Ramp
in Texas. Smithson wrote many articles expounding his views on art:
The Writings of Robert Smithson
, edited by Nancy Holt (his widow), was published in 1979.
American sculptor and experimental artist. In the 1960s his work belonged mainly to the category of
Minimal art
; he was interested in mathematical impersonality and as well as making block-like steel sculptures he experimented with reflections and mirror images. From the late 1960s he turned to
Conceptual art
; he expressed his ideas mainly through
Land art
and became the best-known artist working in this field. In 1968 he began a series of ‘Sites’ and ‘Non-Sites’. The latter consisted of photographs and plans of locations he had visited (particularly derelict urban or industrial sites) displayed with specimens of rock or geological refuse he had gathered there, arranged into random heaps or in metal or wood bins: ‘Instead of putting a work of art on some land, some land is put into the work of art.’ Smithson then moved on to large-scale earthworks, the best known of which is the enormous
Spiral Jetty
(1970), a spiral road (now submerged) running out into Great Salt Lake, Utah. He was killed in a plane crash when he was surveying a work in progress,
Amarillo Ramp
in Texas. Smithson wrote many articles expounding his views on art:
The Writings of Robert Smithson
, edited by Nancy Holt (his widow), was published in 1979.
Smithsonian Institution
.
.
A research institution and educational centre founded by the bequest of the English scientist James Smithson (1765–1829) ‘for the increase and diffusion of knowledge’ and established by congressional act in Washington DC in 1846. Smithson was an illegitimate son of the Duke of Northumberland and it is thought to have been resentment over the circumstances of his birth that caused him to make the bequest to the USA rather than his native country: ‘My name shall live… when the titles of the Northumberlands … are extinct and forgotten.’ The Smithsonian administers many prestigious cultural organizations in Washington, including the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Snyders , Frans
(1579–1657).
Flemish painter of animals, hunting scenes, and still life, active mainly in his native Antwerp. He was a pupil of Pieter
Brueghel
the Younger and travelled in Italy 1608–9. Back in Antwerp, he became a close friend of
Rubens
, also recently returned from Italy (he was eventually executor of Rubens's will). Snyders often collaborated with Rubens ; he painted animals, fruits, and flowers in Rubens's pictures, and Rubens painted figures in his. He later worked out the same kind of reciprocal arrangement with
Jordaens
, and collaborated with his brother-in-law Cornelis de
Vos
, van
Dyck
, and Abraham
Janssens
. His independent works show he was the finest animal painter of his time: the best are his scenes of fighting wild animals and hunts, which have a tremendous sense of
Baroque
vitality.
Flemish painter of animals, hunting scenes, and still life, active mainly in his native Antwerp. He was a pupil of Pieter
Brueghel
the Younger and travelled in Italy 1608–9. Back in Antwerp, he became a close friend of
Rubens
, also recently returned from Italy (he was eventually executor of Rubens's will). Snyders often collaborated with Rubens ; he painted animals, fruits, and flowers in Rubens's pictures, and Rubens painted figures in his. He later worked out the same kind of reciprocal arrangement with
Jordaens
, and collaborated with his brother-in-law Cornelis de
Vos
, van
Dyck
, and Abraham
Janssens
. His independent works show he was the finest animal painter of his time: the best are his scenes of fighting wild animals and hunts, which have a tremendous sense of
Baroque
vitality.
Socialist Realism
.
.
The name of the officially approved style of art in Soviet Russia and other Communist countries, involving in theory a faithful and objective reflection of real life and in practice the compulsory and uncritical glorification of the State. Socialist Realism was an aspect of the dictatorship of Stalin, who was leader of the Soviet Union from the death of Lenin in 1924 until his own death in 1953. Alan Bird (
A History of Russian Painting
, 1987) writes that ‘He saw all aspects of avant-garde culture, including painting, as subversive infiltrations of the purity of Soviet life’ and that his minister Andrei Zhdanov ‘made himself responsible for imposing an iron control on artistic expression’. The principles of Socialist Realism began to take shape in the late 1920s and were proclaimed in the 1932 decree ‘On the Reconstruction of Literary and Art Organizations’ (before this, the term ‘Heroic Realism’ had often been used, but ‘Socialist Realism’ now became the official label). In its early days it saw expression in some outstanding works, notably the paintings of Alexander Deineka (1899–1969), but increasingly it became associated with stereotyped images painted in a conventional academic manner. In the 1930s there were four main types of Socialist Realist paintings: domestic scenes, portraits, industrial and urban landscapes, and scenes on collective farms. During the Second World War, patriotic scenes from Russian history were added to the list. After the death of Stalin there was some relaxation of strictures, but the system still remained stifling to creativity, and any form of experiment remained extremely difficult. In the West, Socialist Realism remained synonymous with repression, and its products were generally regarded as morally tragic and aesthetically comic, although the merits of painters such as Arkady Plastov (1893–1972), a specialist in farm scenes, are now being recognized.
A History of Russian Painting
, 1987) writes that ‘He saw all aspects of avant-garde culture, including painting, as subversive infiltrations of the purity of Soviet life’ and that his minister Andrei Zhdanov ‘made himself responsible for imposing an iron control on artistic expression’. The principles of Socialist Realism began to take shape in the late 1920s and were proclaimed in the 1932 decree ‘On the Reconstruction of Literary and Art Organizations’ (before this, the term ‘Heroic Realism’ had often been used, but ‘Socialist Realism’ now became the official label). In its early days it saw expression in some outstanding works, notably the paintings of Alexander Deineka (1899–1969), but increasingly it became associated with stereotyped images painted in a conventional academic manner. In the 1930s there were four main types of Socialist Realist paintings: domestic scenes, portraits, industrial and urban landscapes, and scenes on collective farms. During the Second World War, patriotic scenes from Russian history were added to the list. After the death of Stalin there was some relaxation of strictures, but the system still remained stifling to creativity, and any form of experiment remained extremely difficult. In the West, Socialist Realism remained synonymous with repression, and its products were generally regarded as morally tragic and aesthetically comic, although the merits of painters such as Arkady Plastov (1893–1972), a specialist in farm scenes, are now being recognized.
Social Realism
.
.
A very broad term for painting (or literature or other art) that comments on contemporary social, political, or economic conditions, usually from a left-wing viewpoint, in a realistic manner. Often the term carries with it the suggestion of protest or propaganda in the interest of social reform. However, it does not imply any particular style; Ben
Shahn's
caricature-like scenes on social hypocrisy and injustice in the USA, the dour working-class interiors of the
Kitchen Sink School
in Britain, and the declamatory political statements of
Guttoso
in Italy are all embraced by the term. See also
REALISM
.
Shahn's
caricature-like scenes on social hypocrisy and injustice in the USA, the dour working-class interiors of the
Kitchen Sink School
in Britain, and the declamatory political statements of
Guttoso
in Italy are all embraced by the term. See also
REALISM
.
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