Inch Squares No. 3

Leon Polk Smith, Cherokee / American, 1906 - 1996
Cherokee
Southeast

Share

See Previous Article See next Article

1948-1949

Oil on canvas

Canvas: 48 × 26 in. (121.9 × 66 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Miriam H. and S. Sidney Stoneman Acquisition Fund and the Julia L. Whittier Fund

2012.17

Geography

Place Made: United States, North America

Period

20th century

Object Name

Painting

Research Area

Fluxus

Painting

Native American: Southeast

Not on view

Label

If you don’t feel that there’s a very strange quality in [art] that can only be called a spiritual quality, then . . . you are missing practically the whole thing. --Leon Polk Smith

Polk Smith dedicated his art to patterns and abstract geometries. His early exposure in Oklahoma to Native American patterning used in everything from ceramics to weaving is reflected in his work. His engagement with abstraction, this time from Europe, continued in the 1940s through his work at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting (later the Guggenheim). His emphasis on single-colored shapes obscures his role in painting the squares—his mark is hard to detect.

From the 2023 exhibition The Painter's Hand: U.S. Abstraction since 1950, curated by John Stomberg, Virginia Rice Kelsey 1961s Director

Course History

ARTH 71, The "American Century": Modern Art in the United States, Mary Coffey, Winter 2015

ARTH 71, The "American Century": Modern Art in the United States. Mary Coffey, Winter 2015

Studio Art 25.01, Painting I, Daniele Genadry, Summer 2023

Philosophy 1.11, Art: True, Beautiful, Nasty, John Kulvicki, Summer 2023

Philosophy 1.11, Art: True, Beautiful, Nasty, John Kulvicki, Summer 2023

First Year Student Enrichment Program - Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Francine A'Ness, Summer 2023

Exhibition History

Galerie Denise Rene, Paris, France.

Gesture, Emotion, Shape: Sources of Abstraction by Philip Dytko, Class of 2017, Pauline Lewis, Class of 2016, and Amalia Siegel, Class of 2016, Art History 71: The American Century- Modern Art in the United States, Winter 2015, Mary Coffey, Class Project, Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 14-July 12, 2015.

Jason McCoy Gallery, New York, New York.

The Painter's Hand: U.S. Abstraction since 1950, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe-Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 3-December 16, 2023.

Provenance

The Leon Polk Smith Foundation and Trust; sold to present collection, 2012.

This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.

We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu