Object Timeline

1970

  • Work on this object began.

1999

  • We acquired this object.

2016

2019

2024

  • You found it!

Poster, Movie Treatment for Spiral Jetty, Great Salt Lake, Utah

This is a Poster. It was designed by Robert Smithson and made for Dwan Gallery. It is dated 1970 and we acquired it in 1999. Its medium is offset lithograph on tan paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Robert Smithson, with Walter de Maria and Michael
Heizer, pioneered Earthworks, an art movement
utilizing earth as sculptural material to re-shape
terrain in response to a specific site, knowing
that the work would be subjected to nature’s
processes and cycles. Spiral Jetty (1970) was a
spiral ridge protrusion of earth and rocks collected
from the site and sculpted in the Great Salt Lake,
Utah, USA. Partly submerged, it was Smithson’s
most celebrated work, and its changing state has
been documented through film, photographs, his
drawings, as well as this poster.

It is credited Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment and Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program Funds.

Its dimensions are

96.5 × 55.5 cm (38 × 21 7/8 in.)

It is signed

Printed in black ink [reproduction of handwritten signature], center right: R. Smithson 1970

It is inscribed

Printed in black ink, upper margin: ROBERT SMITHSON GREAT SALT LAKE UTAH; lower margin: DWAN 29 WEST 57 STREET NEW YORK OPENING OCTOBER 31 TO NOVEMBER 25 / A 16 MM, 35 MINUTE, COLOR AND SOUND FILM ON THE SPIRAL JETTY WILL / BE SHOWN DAILY AT 2:00 IN THE GALLERY FOR DURATION OF EXHIBITION

Cite this object as

Poster, Movie Treatment for Spiral Jetty, Great Salt Lake, Utah; Designed by Robert Smithson (American, 1938–1973); Made for Dwan Gallery; offset lithograph on tan paper; 96.5 × 55.5 cm (38 × 21 7/8 in.); Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment and Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program Funds; 1999-45-25

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

For higher resolution or commercial use contact ArtResource.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18672171/ |title=Poster, Movie Treatment for Spiral Jetty, Great Salt Lake, Utah |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>