As a writer, Smithson was interested in applying the dialectical method and mathematical impersonality to art that he outlined in essays and reviews for "Arts Magazine" and "Artforum" and for a period was better known as a critic than as an artist. Some of Smithson's later writings recovered 18th- and 19th-century conceptions of landscape architecture which influenced the pivotal earthwork explorations which characterized his later work. He eventually joined the Dwan Gallery, whose owner Virginia Dwan was an enthusiastic supporter of his work.