David Smith

Estate of the artist
Marlborough Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above

New York, Neumann-Willard Gallery, David Smith, March - April 1940, cat. no. 5
Albany Institute of History and Art, Sculptors' Guild Traveling Exhibition, February 1941, cat. no. 48
New York, Buchholz-Willard Galleries, The Sculpture of David Smith, January 1946
Dallas, Baker Hotel, American Association of University Women National Convention; Fort Wayne Civic Theater; Gary, Indiana, Gary Public Library; Ada, Worcester Pressed Steel Museum; Terra Haute, Indiana State Teachers College; Ada, Oklahoma, East Central State College; Logan, Utah, Slate A&M College; Provo, Utah, Brigham Young University; Chicago, Roosevelt College; East Lansing, Michigan State College; Youngstown, Ohio, Butler Institute of Art, Louisville Free Public Library; Iowa, Grinnell College; Rome, Georgia, Shorter College; Auburn, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, David Smith, 1946 - 1949, cat. no. 10
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Geometric Abstraction in America, March - May 1962, cat. no. 86
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, David Smith, 1969, cat. no. 11, p. 30, illustrated

"Special David Smith Number," Arts Magazine, vol. 34, February 1960, p. 26, illustrated
Exh. Cat., Cambridge, Harvard University, Fogg Museum; Washington Gallery of Modern Art, David Smith 1906-1965, 1966, fig. 4, illustrated
Rosalind R. Krauss, The Sculpture of David Smith: A Catalogue Raisonné, New York, 1977, fig. 64, illustrated

This work is in very good and sound condition overall. There are scattered surface irregularities, visible in the catalogue illustration, which are inherent to the casting of the work and the nature of the matte aluminum paint. There are few pin-point losses to the painted surface, concentrated along the lateral edges, these areas are minor and unobtrusive. The original wooden base exhibits wear to the corners and several losses to the lateral edges, as also evinced in the catalogue illustration. Please note, this work is stamp signed and dated 1937 on the sculpture.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Unity of Three Forms is "one of the first works in which Smith directly espouses a non-objective construcivist esthetic, [it] has the character of a trial piece, above all in its solution of a formal problem involving a limited number of predominantly vertical or horizontal elements from which a dynamically unbalanced composition is to be formed.  As happens almost invariably in Smith's sculpture, however, the result of such non-objective intentions retains a veiled anthropomorphism; two figures are suggested through roughly the anatomical projections of the human body.  Smith apparently was also self-consciously involved in using steel for this work, for in a letter of 1940 he wrote that 'Unity of Three Forms is fabricated from steel because steel possesses the physical characteristics demanded by the aesthetic concept.  Steel is a natural material for forming, uniting and possessing a higher tensile strength.  Steel imparts a certain aesthetic emotion to the formal relationship of the unified three volumes' (David Smith, Archives, 1-214)." (Exh. Cat., New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, David Smith, 1969, p.31)