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Spiral Jetty
Artist / Origin: Robert Smithson (American, 1938–1973)
Region: North America
Date: 1970
Period: 1900 CE – 2010 CE
Material: Mud, precipitated salt crystals, rocks, and water
Medium: Video, Installation, and Performance
Dimensions: L: 1500 ft. (457.2 m.), W: 15 ft. (4.57 m.)
Location: Rozel Point, Great Salt Lake, Utah
Credit: © Estate of Robert Smithson/VAGA, New York/CORBIS
The Serpent Mound
Artist / Origin: Possibly Adena culture (500 BCE–200 CE) or Fort Ancient culture (1000 CE–1550 CE)
Region: North America
Date: ca. 1000–1200 CE
Period: 1000 CE – 1400 CE
Material: Clay, rock, and soil
Medium: Other
Dimensions: L: 1,330 ft. (405.38 m.), H: 4–5 ft. (1.21–1.52 m.) (average); W: 20–25 ft. (6.09–7.62 m.) (average)
Location: Adams County, Ohio
Credit: © Richard A. Cooke/CORBIS
In the twentieth century, creators of Land Art turned their backs on the industrial sensibilities that dominated art in the postwar era, returning to nature for inspiration. But these artists were not interested in traditional forms of sculpture or painting on canvas. They chose instead to use the earth as their canvas, their material, and their content all in one. In doing so, they continued a tradition, albeit with very different interests and intentions, that reached back into the ancient past, when cultures from England to Peru to America turned earth into art.