Smithson, Robert (1938–1973)

US sculptor and experimental artist. He is celebrated for his huge outdoor earthwork Spiral Jetty (1970) – a spiralling stone causeway that extended into Great Salt Lake, Utah, but of which only photographs remain.

He began by exhibiting mirrored constructions and open boxes filled with quarry stones or coal, but turned to outdoor earthworks in the late 1960s, which he elaborated with maps, drawings, and instant photographs. He saw his outdoor pieces, which he frequently called ‘non-sites’, as akin to the ‘ancient mysteries’ of archaeological finds and a turning away from the conventions of museum gallery art. Since his death in a plane crash, he has become something of a cult figure.