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Displaced: Robert Smithson's significant other. Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson's aesthetic relationship, 1969-1973

Smith, Lisa Elliott

Abstract Details

2000, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Art Education.

Robert Smithson is considered by many to be one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. His wife, Nancy Holt, is also an accomplished artist in her own right. While Smithson's career was illustrious, it was also brief, for he was killed in a plane crash in 1973 just 14 years after first showing his work. Nancy Holt's career did not begin until 1968, some five years after her marriage to Smithson, but it is still continuing today. Very little information exists about their relationship, artistically speaking, and this intrigued me. Specifically, I wanted to know if Robert Smithson had influenced Nancy Holt's work, or if Holt had influenced Smithson's work. Did they ever collaborate? Were these collaborations elaborate, or more importantly, had they been documented? Was this question of potential influence even a fair one to ask of this artistic couple? What my research sought to uncover is a link, a connection, that existed artistically between these two artists during Smithson's lifetime. By examining the works that were produced by Holt between the years of 1969-1973 (the years in which Holt was producing art while Smithson was still alive) and examining some of the works that were produced by Smithson during this same time period, I hoped to unearth the nature of this couple's artistic relationship.

Robert L. Arnold, Dr. (Advisor)
Terry Barrett, Dr. (Committee Member)
62 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Smith, L. E. (2000). Displaced: Robert Smithson's significant other. Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson's aesthetic relationship, 1969-1973 [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1300981694

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Smith, Lisa. Displaced: Robert Smithson's significant other. Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson's aesthetic relationship, 1969-1973. 2000. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1300981694.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Smith, Lisa. "Displaced: Robert Smithson's significant other. Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson's aesthetic relationship, 1969-1973." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2000. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1300981694

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)