PUBLICATIONS

Catalogue post mortem of the work of the American artist Robert Smithson, who was known primarily for his Land Art works. Kunstmuseum Luzern, however, chose to present, in 1988, an exhibition of the works of the initial phase of his career, between 1959 and 1962. These works were still unknown in the United States, and their absolute originality is seen in their unexpected content. The show in fact consisted of paintings on canvas (a technique that the artist was later to abandon completely) that found their inspiration in nineteenth-century symbolism and the mystical valences of Byzantine art. The works were created while Smithson was residing in Italy, in Rome, and in the period that followed the Lucerne exhibition they also excited interest in the United States. Flanking the presentation by Martin Kunz, the principal essay in the catalogue was authored by Peter Halley— quite a well-known artist in the 1980s—who insisted on the contemporaneity of Smithson’s work. Smithson was an intrepid and heroic explorer who died at early age in a plane crash while overflying and filming his masterpiece, the enormous Spiral Getty in Utah’s Great Salt Lake.

Exhibition catalogue, Kunstmuseum Luzern, September 30 - November 20, 1988. Texts: Martin Kunz, and Peter Halley