Island of Coal

1969
Not on view
Drawing directly onto the surface of a found photograph (still bearing its price tag), Smithson deposited a rough pile of black coal in the middle of a well manicured public park graced with picturesque vistas. In doing so, the artist undermined our complacent acceptance of antiseptic public spaces and, by extension, our consciousness: the ugly, but pertinent, processes and infinite span of geologic time.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Island of Coal
  • Artist: Robert Smithson (American, Passaic, New Jersey 1938–1973 Amarillo, Texas)
  • Date: 1969
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: 18.1 x 23.8 cm (7 1/8 x 9 3/8 in. )
  • Classifications: Photographs, Drawings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2001
  • Object Number: 2001.273
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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