Robert Smithson's Personal Library Reveals Influences and Inspirations

Artist Robert Smithson, who died in 1973 at age 35, collected over 1,000 books and periodicals during his lifetime. His extensive library was cataloged after his death and reveals his broad reading interests, which included modernist literature, philosophy, and fiction alongside works related to anthropology and Earth sciences. Between 2014 and 2019, artist Conrad Bakker created wooden replicas of each volume. The complete list of Smithson's holdings is available through an online project and was featured in a 2004 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.