Tony Smith worked first as a toolmaker and draftsman while studying painting and drawing. After serving as clerk for Frank Lloyd Wright, he managed his own successful independent practice for almost two decades. By 1960, however, he turned to sculpture. Smith preferred mild steel to Cor-Ten steel. Mild steel accommodates itself more readily to welding, resulting in greater unity of the joining planes. Its less wavy texture makes it easier to manipulate into exactly level planes. In reply to an inquiry about relevance of subject matter in his work and the significance of the title of Moses, Smith wrote: “My sculptures are always conceived and developed as abstract geometric structures.
