Contemporary Visions: Two Distinguished Private Collections including Property from the Estate of Ruth Miles Pite

Both published by A/D Editions, New York.

Provenance:

A/D Editions, New York.

Acquired from the above in 1997.

Lot note:

Kiki Smith’s practice knows no bounds. She has built a career on relentless material exploration and emotional depth—working across glass, bronze, printmaking, papier-mâché, wax, drawing, photography, collage, and more—earning her reputation as one of the most influential artists of her time. We are honored to offer five works from her remarkable oeuvre in this sale.

Born in 1954 in Nuremberg, Germany, and raised in New Jersey, Smith grew up in a home where art and music were ever-present—her father, Tony Smith, was a renowned Minimalist sculptor, and her mother, Jane Lawrence Smith, an opera singer. Thus, creativity was ingrained in her upbringing.

After leaving Hartford Art School early, Smith moved to New York City and, in the late ’70s, became part of Collaborative Projects, Inc. (Colab), an artist-run collective dedicated to expanding the reach of contemporary art beyond traditional gallery settings. This period marked the beginning of a dynamic, ever-evolving practice that has continued for decades, rooted in themes of transformation, mortality, the female body and the natural world.

Smith’s cast glass pieces, Little Mountain and Tail, exemplify her ability to fuse fragility with permanence. Little Mountain, with its translucent, undulating form, suggests both landscape and body—a meditation on change and the interconnectedness of organic forms. Tail, a haunting, elongated glass sculpture, evokes the delicate boundary between human and animal, a recurring motif in her work.

The works presented in this sale underscore Smith’s exploration of metamorphosis, mythology, and the physicality of existence.