In this collaged painting from 1963 titled Tear, Robert Smithson creates an otherworldly imagined landscape. Below a vibrant green sky looms a large landmass composed of energetic dark painted lines that mimic plant forms with bold splashes of red, pink, purple, and orange. In the sky above, eight collaged eyes float suspended, staring back at the viewer. Beneath each eye the word “tear” cascades down from the tear duct in the corner of each eye.

Drawing was an essential part of Robert Smithson’s artistic practice. This portfolio of drawings is a complete sketchbook from around 1970. They range from schematic drawings to notes, doodles, and resolved drawings of the earthwork Spiral Jetty (1970). This sketchbook offers insight into Smithson’s thinking processes, showing recurring forms as one page gives way to the next.