Bec-Dida Day

Artist: David Smith (American, 1906–1965)

1963

Modern and Contemporary Art

On view, 1st floor, Sculpture Garden

Bec-Dida Day was named after the artist's two daughters, Rebecca and Candida, who spent two months every summer with David Smith at his upstate New York studio. According to his daughters, the work was inspired by the shared birthday party he held for them each August. The surreal, anthropomorphic form seems to be caught mid-stride and the sculpture's vibrant palette evokes the childlike joy of such celebrations. Bec-Dida Day can be viewed as an extension of David Smith's Tanktotem series, sculptures that also referenced the human form.

Medium

Steel

Dimensions

89 × 65 × 18 in., 750 lb. (226.1 × 165.1 × 45.7 cm, 340.2 kg)

Credit Line

Charles B. Benenson, B.A. 1933, Collection

Accession Number

2006.52.68

Culture

American

Period

20th century

Classification

Sculpture

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Estate of the artist; Charles B. Benenson, to 2006; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Cathleen Chaffee, Eye on a Century: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Charles B. Benenson Collection at the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2012), 86–87, 176, no. 34
  • Carol S. Eliel, David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy, exh. cat. (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2011), 47, 49–50, 150, fig. 39
  • Art for Yale: Collecting for a New Century, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2007), 284, 408, pl. 271
  • "Acquisitions, July 1, 2006–June 30, 2007," in "Japanese Art at Yale," special issue, Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2007), 243, ill
  • Rosalind E. Krauss, The Sculpture of David Smith: A Catalogue Raisonne (New York: Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, 1977), no. 610, ill
  • Art International 9, no. 7 (October 1965), 48, ill
Object copyright
© The Estate of David Smith / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
In Copyright
Additional information

Inscriptions

Inscribed: Bec-dida-day

Signed

Signed and dated July 12, 1963; also inscribed with the title

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