Sol lewitt a collection of sixtyfour books 19661999 sol lewitt a. Lewitt believed that the artist was a generator of ideas, that the idea itself could be the work of art. These two jobs hold fond memories for lewitt because, in 1978, his retrospective was held at the museum of modern art. These are inexpensive books that communicate his ideas and works to a nonart audience. Music, especially by johann sebastian bach, philip glass, and steve reich, has also contributed to lewitt s serial concepts. Squares with sides and corners torn off by sol lewitt gallery red, blue and yellow lines from sides, corners and the center of the page to points on a grid. Inside sol lewitts life and mind microsoft in culture. Francois morelletsol lewitt journals gateway mit press.
Sol lewitt and andrea millerkeller, excerpts from a correspondence, 19811983, in sol. They each arrived at results that might look similar, but only from a superficial, morphological point of view. Sol lewitt, paragraphs on conceptual art conceptualism. While lewitt is best known for the wall drawings, his practice also included an enormously influential body of work in sculpture, drawings. The essence of lewitt s work is the primacy of the original idea as formulated in the artists mind.
Nov 04, 2014 the title of the book despite straight lines is a phrase that can also describe the relationship between albers b. Lewitt developed his first wall drawing in 1968 and completed more than 1200 by the time he died in 2007. Solomon sol lewitt september 9, 1928 april 8, 2007 was an american artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism lewitt came to fame in the late 1960s with his wall drawings and structures a term he preferred instead of. Printed matter is pleased to present book as system. Sol lewitt 1928 2007 sol lewitt was born on september 9th, 1928 in hartford, connecticut to eastern european immigrants. Indeed, they remained incredibly close friends until may of 1970, at which point hesse, still. Sol lewitt,paragraphsonconceptualart 12 sigmund bode,excerptfromplacement as language 1928 18 mel bochner,theserialattitude 22.
Artist book, signed by both artists on the inside front cover. Lewitt made over 1,200 of these works in his career, his visual vocabulary in strong alignment with minimalism despite his rejection of the movement. Lewitt worked at the museum of modern art, new york city, first as a night receptionist and later at the museums information and sales desk. This exhibition is the first to focus on the centrality of grid in sol lewitt american, 19282007s art. Paragraphs on conceptual art sol lewitt corner college. With this assurance i hope to justify his confidence. In 1 5556, he worked as a graphic artist for architect. His belief in the artist as a generator of ideas was instrumental in the transition from the modern to the postmodern era. The third is the critic lucy lippards contribution to the catalogue for the lewitt retrospective at the museum of. Sol lewitt, adrian piper, dan graham, ted berrigan, clark coolidge, robert barry, les levine, robert smithson, hannah weiner, emmett williams, dick higgins, yvonne rainer, aram saroyan, bernar venet, alan sondheim and the editors themselves are but a few of the artists and writers who appeared in 0 to 9. Solomon sol lewitt september 9, 1928 april 8, 2007 was an american artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism lewitt came to fame in the late 1960s with his wall drawings and structures a term he preferred instead of sculptures but was prolific in a wide range of media including drawing, printmaking, photography, painting, installation, and. Sol lewitt sol lewitt 19282007 was pivotal in the creation of the new radical aesthetic of the 1960s that was a revolutionary contradiction to the abstract expressionism current in the 1950s and 60s new york school.
A rtist sol lewitt understood fear and the importance of doing. Begun in 1974, incomplete open cubes is a sophisticated and elaborate expression of conceptualist artmaking by sol lewitt, one of the most influential abstract artists of his generation. Given the beauty and impact of much of his work, it may surprise some to learn that lewitt did not focus primarily on the. A wall drawing retrospective occupies nearly an acre of specially built interior walls that are installed per lewitt s own specifications over three stories of a historic mill building situated at the heart of mass mocas 19thcentury, former factory campus. Soon after, he moved with his mother, a nurse, to live with an aunt in new britain, connecticut. Sol lewitt, born in the us in 1928, is often considered the father of conceptual and minimal art. Wall drawing for 192 books, paula cooper gallery, new york, ny, usa. Sculture di sol lewitt a tecnopolis, marilena bonomo, bari, italy, january 27february 27, 1985. Sol lewitt, foursided pyramid, 1965 sol lewitt instruction. In 1976, lewitt cofounded the artists book bookstore printed matter in new york, with lucy lippard.
Catalogue, softcover, 192 pages, black and white on newsprint 7. The exhibition surveys the varied and historically significant publication practice of conceptual artist sol lewitt through a nearcomplete presentation of book. Study of the exhibited book objects should open into a discussion of the artist book genre bibliophile production, reproducibility, formal composition, the book as object, etc. Shes the editor of the catalogue raisonne sol lewitt wall drawings and coeditor of sol lewitt writings and selected interviews.
Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Carl andre, robert barry, douglas huebler, joseph kosuth, sol. Lewitt moved to new york city in the 1950s and pursued his interest in design at seventeen, where he did pasteups, mechanicals, and. Kosuth, sol lewitt, robert morris, lawrence weiner aka the xerox book. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading sol lewitt. Sol lewitt prints is being published by yale university press in september 2020. A fortyyear retrospective exhibition of lewitt s voluminous workwhich encompasses wall drawings, works on paper, sculpture, photography, books, posters, and other objectswas organized by the san francisco museum of modern art in 2000, and traveled to the museum of contemporary art in chicago and the whitney museum of american art in new york. We are pleased to make an extensive selection of nearly 50 publications, exhibition cards and ephemeral works available for purchase. Books and catalogues of sol lewitt galleria marilena bonomo, bari 1966 serial project no. The sol lewitt app was authored and curated by lindsay aveilhe, a new yorkbased curator and lewitt specialist with a particular interest in emerging technology in arts education. A landmark collaboration between mass moca, yale university art gallery, the williams college museum of art, and the. His structures, as he preferred to call sculptures, were variations on geometric shapes, constructed from steel, polyurethane, or concrete, often featuring stacked cubes without sides.
Lewitt s created instructions which became the works themselves. The exhibition surveys the varied and historically significant publication practice of conceptual artist sol lewitt through a nearcomplete presentation of book works drawn from the expansive research of giorgio. Sol lewitt,paragraphsonconceptualart 12 sigmund bode,excerptfromplacement as language 1928 18 mel bochner,theserialattitude 22 daniel buren, olivier mosset, michel parmentier, niele toroni,statement 28 michel claura,buren,mosset,toronioranybody 30. Solomon sol lewitt september 9, 1928 april 8, 2007 was an american artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism. He had no interest in inherent narrative or descriptive imagery. A wall drawing retrospective occupies nearly an acre of specially built interior walls that are installed per lewitt s own specifications over three stories of a historic mill building situated at the he. Sol lewitt 19282007 sol lewitt received a bfa from syracuse university in 1949, after which he traveled to europe where he was exposed to old master paintings. Published to accompany mass mocas landmark installation of lewitt s innovative wall drawings, this book celebrates the artist and his illustrious 50year career.
Sol lewitt, light gallery, new york, april 18may 25, 1985. The first is an article entitled sol lewitt the look of thought, by the critic donald kuspit. Aug 10, 2015 our big find was conceptual artist sol lewitt s beautiful conceptual wall drawings and paintings. After receiving a bfa from syracuse university he worked as a graphic designer in the office of architect i. Sol lewitt earned a place in the history of art for his leading role in the conceptual movement. Jul 01, 2016 resuming his examination of pseudomorphism from october 154, yvealain bois argues that the striking resemblances between works by francois morellet and sol lewitt are the result of structurally different notions of systems. A documentation and critical examination of sol lewitt s influential incomplete open cubes. Discover book depositorys huge selection of sol lewitt books online. Sol lewitt s most popular book is between the lines.
A product of its time lewitt didnt think it was a problem to have others execute his ideas. Sol lewitt 19282007 was born in hartford, connecticut, where he took art classes at the wadsworth atheneum. Four notes on sol lewitt find, read and cite all the. Sol lewitts instruction for wondrous walls improvised life. Sol lewitt, sentences on conceptual art, in 09, new york, january 1969. Sol lewitt autobiography free download as pdf file. Carl andre, robert barry, douglas huebler, joseph kosuth. And then there are of course most officially accepted by all participants sol lewitt s two famous texts from 1967 and 1969, the paragraphs on conceptual art, first published in artforum, vol. First edition of lewitt s celebrated book, in which he meticulously records with photographs the possessions in his studio and home. Sol lewitt four basic colours and their combinations. Lewitt s instructionbased artworks may be his most recognizable. An exchange with sol lewitt with an introduction by curator regine basha.
Lewitt separated conception from execution, arguing that an idea alone can constitute a work of art. This is the first book to offer a comprehensive examination of the american conceptual artists printmaking practice. Taken during preparation for june 2020 exhibition at saint louis art museum. Andrew wilson, sol lewitt inter viewed, art monthly no. Publicworks mit list visual arts center mit list visual. Light work collection artwork six curved walls, syracuse. In case you are unfamiliar with this aspect of the artists work, let me explain a little bit about it. Sol lewitt book by sol lewitt 2 available editions.
For lewitt, each medium offered a distinct set of opportunities to set a concept in motion and let it run its course. Critical texts has very few pictures and a retrospective is full of pictures. Later, he created wall drawings gouaches, artists books, and dabbled in architecture and landscaping. The editor has written me that he is in favor of avoiding the notion that the artist is a kind of ape that has to be explained by the civilized critic.
His father, a doctor and inventor, died when he was 6. His 1887 book alimai locomotion consisted of many series of photographs that. Just before completing the final draft of 2,000 percent living and a few months before i started to write this book, i visited an exhibition of sol lewitt s wall drawings at mass moca in north adams, massachusetts. Israel museum, jerusalem, september 1975 by sol lewitt.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the related exhibition will now open at the new britain museum of american. Matter, which continues to produce artists books an important part of lewitts. Published to accompany the landmark retrospective exhibition of sol lewitt s innovative wall drawings on view for 25 years at mass moca and conceived by the yale university art gallery in collaboration with the artist before his death in april 2007, this book celebrates the artists illustrious 50year career. Sol lewitt four basic kinds of lines colour pdf download.
It explores lewitt s use of the grid as a generative matrix for his artistic production over the span of nearly five decades, from 1960 until his death in 2007. Sol lewitt has 48 books on goodreads with 259 ratings. His most discussed book in this mode is autobiography of 1980. The third is the critic lucy lippards contribution to the catalogue for the lewitt. Published to accompany mass mocas landmark installation of lewitt s innovative. They share language like anonymous and they are both, deceptively simple yet immensely sophisticated. I wanted to render form but without space this comment by sol lewitt 10 years ago encapsulates the reasoning that led him to spell out his ideas on art. Sol lewitt, doing wall dlawings, qrt now verv more or less as i want it, but generalenough that thy tic sleeves in more than a dozen thick black binders, yo 3, no. Catalog to accompany mass mocas sol lewitt exhibition, on view through 2033. Lewitts bookmaking fits squarely within his commitment to order and seriality, revealing his overall practice as a total work of art. Sol lewitt libri d artista, manifesti e cataloghi di mostre giudizi illogici portano a nuove. For more information about the artist, sol lewitt you might explore the following articles. Sol lewitt sol lewitt 978 88 89431 59 7 damiani editore. Lewitt, along with artist lucy lippard, cofounded the company printed matter, inc.
A wall drawing by sol lewitt, brooklyn museum of art, new york, may 16september 2, 1985. With essays by nicholas baume, jonathan flatley, and pamela m. Both presenting a range of artists associated with siegelaubs curatorial practice and utilizing unconventional modes of exhibition, this book marks ongoing attempt by siegelaub to show work outside of the gallery setting, and his first time showing an exhibition in book form. Mar, 2018 in the early 1960s, lewitt began to create structures, a term he preferred over sculpture. Start reading sol lewitt for free online and get access to an unlimited library of academic and nonfiction books on perlego. This book was set in adobe garamond and trade gothic by graphic composition, inc.
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