Bench and Table

Bench and Table, 1988

Scott Burton

University of Chicago

Smart Museum of Art

5550 South Greenwood Avenue

            Scott Burton (1939-1989) was a New York-based artist whose work attacked the boundary between sculpture and furniture, in the process crafting a new kind of public art. Working in the spirit the utilitarian modernism associated with the Bauhaus and de Stijl movement, Burton created several benches, stools and tables for cities across the United States. This set, carved from from Minnesota red granite and highly polished, was installed at the Smart Museum of Art in 1991. Before becoming a full-time artist, Burton served as critic and editor for the journals Art News and Art in America.