Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.). Dept. of Publications.

Proposed to MoMA's Department of Publications by artist and writer Cleve Gray in 1966, David Smith by David Smith was initially conceived in three parts. Following a foreword by MoMA Director René d'Harnoncourt, Part I was to be introductory notes on "The Man David Smith" by Gray, "The Artist David Smith" by MoMA Associate Curator Frank O'Hara, "Notes on the Sculpture" by critic Clement Greenberg, and "The Artist as Photographer" by MoMA Department of Photography Director John Szarkowski. Part II was to include Smith's writings interspersed with photographs of his work (see book mock-ups in Series II.D for the proposed eight sections of Part II, organized and designed by Gray). Part III was to include a biographical outline by William Berkson, a catalogue of the sculpture by Rosalind Krauss, various other illustrations, as well as a bibliography.

In July 1966, Frank O'Hara died suddenly from injuries sustained in an accident. After other unrelated delays in the project, Cleve Gray withdrew his planned Part II. (Holt, Rinehart & Winston published David Smith by David Smith, edited by Gray with text and photographs by Smith, in 1968.) The MoMA project was then redesigned to include an introduction by Hilton Kramer, twenty-four commentaries on individual Smith works by Clement Greenberg, the Krauss catalogue, the Berkson chronology, a bibliography, a list of exhibitions, and an index.

The project continued to change beyond its original specifications and budget, and relations between the Department of Publications and the remaining authors deteriorated. Krauss withdrew her content, and the MoMA project was abandoned. (In 1971, MIT Press published her catalogue as Terminal Iron Works: The Sculpture of David Smith.)