Bearing exceptional provenance, having belonged to Clement Greenberg—one of American history’s most renowned art critics—‘Bicycle’ (1953) is a playful yet commanding, intimately sized sculpture that exemplifies David Smith’s exploratory practice during the 1950s. Smith’s use of welded steel in ‘Bicycle’ challenges traditional sculptural methods, such as bronze casting and stone carving, and embraces industrial materials and technologies. Smith was a decidedly modern artist yet he remained connected to the past, as evident in ‘Bicycle,’ which draws on various influences including tribal art, classical antiquity, Cubism, and the surrealist object. Here, Smith combines found metal objects—the seat and handlebars of a bicycle—into an anthropomorphic form, which is simultaneously whimsical and austere, figurative and geometric. The work demonstrates the dynamism present in Smith’s larger steel sculptures, achieving the same level of authority and expression as those pieces.