Throwback (3/3)
artwork by Tony Smith
Throwback is a public artwork by American artist Tony Smith, located at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., United States. This version is the third of an edition of three in the series with one artist's proof.
Description
The artwork is constructed sheets of aluminum that have been welded together to form a geometric, four-sided, hollow, elongated ring. The sculpture is coated with a flat-black industrial fluoropolymer exterior paint applied to achieve a matte finish. Sited on a patch of turf in the Sculpture Garden of the Hirshhorn, the sculpture is supported by three subterranean plates with brackets at three points.
Historical information
In the early to mid-sixties, Smith experimented with tetrahedral and octahedral forms in sculptures such as Willy and Amaryllis. Over a decade later, Smith returned to these earlier geometries with Throwback. Thus the title of the work alludes to this act of looking back. Smith elaborated on this point, "In a certain sense the piece is unique. I did not have the prospect or opportunity of making a large architectural sculpture so I decided to do something more conventional.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Throwback (3/3)” as artwork by Tony Smith. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as artwork by Tony Smith. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7798532. Authority coordinates are 38.888, -77.022. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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- Expand the search: follow Throwback (3/3) primary sources, Throwback (3/3) archive and Throwback research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Throwback (3/3)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.