Robert Smithson

Revisiting the land artists at the Nasher Sculpture Center, a critic finds their work was never more relevant than it is today.

Does knowing Marie Laurencin’s sexual orientation, and Robert Smithson’s obsession with red, enrich our understanding of their creations? Yes, and no.

In the 1970s, the artists bought a rocky strip of land off the coast of Maine. Now, it’s a place for others to wrestle with their legacies.

He captured masters at work and documented the creation of Land Art like Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty.” For one book, he teamed with Fidel Castro.

Architecture can be declared a landmark, but all too often the fate of artwork that has been made for a particular environment remains uncertain.

The monumental work, created in Utah by Nancy Holt in the mid-1970s, consists of four concrete hollow cylinders arranged in a cross shape in the desert.

A pilgrimage (with children) to see ‘‘Spiral Jetty,’’ Robert Smithson’s profound testament to catastrophe.

Robert Smithson’s land-art classic joins other symbols of the state including the beehive, the Dutch oven and the M1911 pistol.

Earthworks, monumental excavations and land projects weren’t originally intended to be sold.

Think of them not as cartographic abstractions, but as incredibly affordable Pollocks.