Free Ride
- Date
- 1962, fabricated 1968
- Material
- Steel
- made in
- Newark, New Jersey, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Collection
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 80 x 80 x 80 in. (203.2 x 203.2 x 203.2 cm)
weight (approximate): 850 lb. (385.6 kg) - Credit Line
- Funds given by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Contemporary Art Society, Museum Purchase, and the Eliza McMillan Trust
- Rights
- © Estate of Tony Smith
- Object Number
- 115:1976
NOTES
Tony Smith created this form from three Alka-Seltzer boxes while watching astronaut Scott Carpenter orbit the earth on television in 1962. He later cast it in steel, its three edges and two corners forming an incomplete cube. Smith sized Free Ride to be human-scale; its upright column is the height of a standard door. Like the crewed missions of the space age, Free Ride links geometry and mathematics with the human body.
Provenance
1968
Fischbach Gallery, New York [1]
by 1970
M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, NY [2]
by 1976
Xavier Fourcade Inc., New York, NY, acquired from the artist [3]
1976 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Xavier Fourcade Inc. [4]
Notes:
[1] Ex. cat. "The Art of the Real: an aspect of American painting and sculpture, 1948-1967" (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1968). Ex. cat. "New York Painting and Sculpture, 1940-1970" (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969), 60.
[2] Ex. cat. "Unitary Forms: Minimal Structure by Carl Andre, Don Judd, John McCracken and Tony Smith," (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Art, September 16- November 1, 1970).
[3] The invoice from the dealer to the Museum, dated December 16, 1976, states that the provenance is "from the artist" [SLAM document files].
[4] Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, December, 16, 1976.
Fischbach Gallery, New York [1]
by 1970
M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, NY [2]
by 1976
Xavier Fourcade Inc., New York, NY, acquired from the artist [3]
1976 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Xavier Fourcade Inc. [4]
Notes:
[1] Ex. cat. "The Art of the Real: an aspect of American painting and sculpture, 1948-1967" (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1968). Ex. cat. "New York Painting and Sculpture, 1940-1970" (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969), 60.
[2] Ex. cat. "Unitary Forms: Minimal Structure by Carl Andre, Don Judd, John McCracken and Tony Smith," (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Art, September 16- November 1, 1970).
[3] The invoice from the dealer to the Museum, dated December 16, 1976, states that the provenance is "from the artist" [SLAM document files].
[4] Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, December, 16, 1976.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.