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Lecture and Tour: A Celebration of the Life and Art of Tony Smith

In Honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Tony Smith

Sunday, September 30, 2012

1:30 pm EDT

Tony Smith (American, 1912–1980). Cigarette, 1961–67. Cor-Ten steel, edition 1/3; 180 x 216 x 312 inches (457.2 x 548.6 x 792.5 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Gift of The Seymour H. Knox Foundation, Inc., 1968 (1968:4). © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

FREE with museum admission 
FREE for Members
Auditorium and Gallery Grounds 
(Meet in Auditorium)

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the artist Tony Smith, the Albright-Knox is offering a special lecture/tour combination. Curator of Education Mariann Smith will give a 40-minute talk about the artist, who began his career in architecture. Becoming increasingly disillusioned with the way his vision was often compromised by both clients and contractors, Smith experienced an epiphany while driving on an unlit, unfinished portion of the New Jersey Turnpike, leading him to begin creating the large-scale outdoor sculptures for which he is best known.

Following the talk, Curator for the Collection Holly E. Hughes will take guests outside to view the work by Smith in the Albright-Knox’s collection: Cigarette, 1961–67 is one of the large, space-transforming pieces that led TIME magazine to dub the artist “Master of the Monumentalists” when he appeared on its cover in 1967.