Small Town, Big Sculpture

For a town of only 17,000, South Orange has a surprisingly rich tradition in the arts, including public art. Visitors and residents will want to view TAU, a monumental sculpture by South Orange native Tony Smith, in Meadowland Park. Located near the corner of Ridgewood Road and Mead Street, TAU is owned by The Village of South Orange and is viewable at all times at no cost.

TAU (1961-62)

Fabricated 2005, Installed in Meadowland Park 2008 Black painted steel, 14 ft x 21 ft x 12 ft Gift of Jane Smith to the Village of South Orange

TAU is representative of Tony Smith’s bold, geometric work from the 1960s. The original model for the sculpture was created using small cardboard tetrahedrons (four-sided triangles or pyramids) that were taped together and later enlarged and plated in steel.

TAU has an organic, architectural presence in its natural surroundings. Notice how the geometric shapes and angles, and even the color of the sculpture, change depending on the season, the time of day, and where you are standing

TONY SMITH (1912-1980)

South Orange native Tony Smith was one of the most influential sculptors of the twentieth century. He began painting in the 1930s, then trained as an architectural designer in the Chicago offices of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Smith was born into a third generation South Orange family. His grandfather, Anthony Peter Smith, founded a waterworks company in East Orange. His mother’s family owned a boiler factory in Newark.

In 1955, Smith and his wife Jane settled into the original family home on Stanley Road in the Montrose section of town, where they raised their daughters Kiki, Seton, and Beatrice. Smith lived and worked there, often building plywood mock-ups of sculptures in his back yard, until his death in 1980.

Meadowland Park’s TAU by Tony Smith is owned by the Village of South Orange and its residents. The installation was made possible by the generous support of Jane Smith, The Village of South Orange, as well as individual donors through The Pierro Foundation. Fundraising efforts for maintenance and improvement of the sculpture and site, as well as educational programming, are ongoing. For more information about Tony Smith and TAU, visit www.tonysmithsouthorange.org.