by Robert Ayers
 
The David Smith centennial survey show that recently opened at the Guggenheim Museum has already given rise to some disagreements which center mostly on curator Carmen Giménezs omission of many of Smiths later sculptures.
Holland Cotter, in his review in The New York Times, called Giménez a great editor, which is basically what a great curator is, and went on to suggest that, In this first Smith survey since 1982, two late series, Zigs (1961) and Circles (1962), are practically absent, and are not missed.

While not everyone agrees with Cotters assessment, Smiths daughter, Candida, is clearly thrilled with the show. She worked closely with Giménez during the four years that it took to assemble it, and in celebrating its opening, she commented that Carmen Giménez invested her deepest heart. She understands sculpture viscerally, way beyond irony or academia.

Smith added that she finds Giménezs approach to her fathers work very appropriate. My father was a man of tremendous heart and tremendous feeling, she said. There is no cynicism. This is an artists deepest conviction made manifest.

Beyond question is how well the chronological installation of Smiths work on the Guggenheims famous spiraling ramp aids our understanding of it. Smith paraphrased her father in explaining the effect: If you follow the path of my creative process, then you will see what I see. She then added, Going up these ramps will be a path of discovery for every visitor to the museum.

She summed up her thoughts on the show saying it is a magnificent statement of her fathers work.

David Smith: A Centennial is on view at New Yorks Guggenheim Museum from Feb. 3 to May 14.