Moses

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Moses

Artist Tony Smith American, 1912-1980

Date1968; fabricated in 1998

DimensionsH: 11 ft. 6 in. (350.5 cm); W: 15 ft. (457.2 cm); Depth: 7 ft. 4 in. (223.5 cm)

MediumPainted steel

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineGift of Marshall Field’s, by exchange

Object number

1999.10

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Sculpture Garden

Collections

Sculpture

Published ReferencesBerkowitz, Roger M., "Selected Acquisitions Made by the Toledo Museum of Art, 1900-2001," Burlington, vol. 143, no. 1177, April 2001, p. 257, 263, fig. XXI (col.).Exhibition History

New York, Museum of Modern Art, Tony Smith: Architect, Painter, Sculptor, 1998, p. 131, repr. [#1/3] p. 167.

Label TextLike all of his work, Tony Smith developed Moses with mathematical principles in mind. With his massive, geometric sculptures, he sought to express the profound spiritual energy he sensed in mathematics and physics. Smith titled his works based on the images they triggered in his imagination. This sculpture’s forms reminded him of the Hebrew prophet Moses holding the tablets of the Ten Commandments in his outstretched arms.