David Smith (American, 1906–1965). <em>The Hero</em>, 1952. Steel, paint, overall: 75 × 25 1/2 × 11 3/4 in., 104 lb. (190.5 × 64.8 × 29.8 cm, 47.17kg). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 57.185. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 57.185_detail4_slide_SL3.jpg)

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David Smith (American, 1906–1965). The Hero, 1952. Steel, paint, overall: 75 × 25 1/2 × 11 3/4 in., 104 lb. (190.5 × 64.8 × 29.8 cm, 47.17kg). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 57.185. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 57.185_detail4_slide_SL3.jpg)

The Hero

David Smith

Contemporary Art

On View:

David Smith's The Hero conflates the abstract and the figurative, for discernible in this geometric steel sculpture is a life-size female. She is revealed frontally, balanced on a pedestal, with a rectangle for a torso, two triangular forms for breasts, and fragments of a tank top for a head. The Hero is a forerunner of more than ten sculptures produced between 1952 and 1960 that Smith titled his Tanktotem series. "Tank" refers to the industrial tank lids or boiler tops he used to construct his pieces, while "totem" may indicate the influence of Sigmund Freud's book Totem and Taboo.

ARTIST David Smith, American, 1906–1965

MEDIUM Steel, paint

DATES 1952

DIMENSIONS overall: 75 × 25 1/2 × 11 3/4 in., 104 lb. (190.5 × 64.8 × 29.8 cm, 47.17kg) base (only): 11 3/4 × 11 3/4 in. (29.8 × 29.8 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 57.185

CREDIT LINE Dick S. Ramsay Fund

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION David Smith (American, 1906–1965). The Hero, 1952. Steel, paint, overall: 75 × 25 1/2 × 11 3/4 in., 104 lb. (190.5 × 64.8 × 29.8 cm, 47.17kg). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 57.185. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 57.185_detail4_slide_SL3.jpg)

IMAGE detail, 57.185_detail4_slide_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

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The Hero

David Smith

Contemporary Art

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