"Conceptual Artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach." —Sol LeWitt, Sentences on Conceptual Art
"I don't want to deal with ideas too complex for me to figure out myself." —Sol LeWitt
Sol LeWitt was one of the pioneering figures in both the Conceptual and Minimalist art movements of the 1960s and '70s. Whether working as a painter, draftsman, photographer, printmaker, or sculptor, LeWitt conceived works of art that were fundamentally geometric and architectonic, and relied on the cube as a starting point for his explorations of space, time, form, volume, repetition, sequence, and variation.
In the 1980s one sees the rigor of his geometric systems relax and in the 1990s an openness to softening or expanding the idea of what geometric form can be. LeWitt begins offering us "continuous forms," lilting lines with curves and irregularities along with his singular forms, straight lines and right angles. Influenced by spending some of his later years in Italy, LeWitt incorporates the color palette of Italian frescoes (wall paintings)—blues, reds, golds—into his work.
LeWitt also collaborated across disciplines working with musicians and dancers, exemplified in a work such as Lucinda Childs' Dance, an excerpt of which you'll see in this Set.
Use this Set as an introduction to your visit to the Walker Art Center to see Sol LeWitt: 2D+3D on view from November 18, 2010–April 24, 2011, or to introduce your students to conceptual or minimal art, approaches to sculpture and drawing, and engaging with an artist's process through his own words. Have a student read each quote and discuss what they think it means, how it relates to LeWitt's art or art-making in general, and whether they would've chosen similar words to describe what they're seeing. There are no right or wrong answers.
This Set is intended for a middle school to adult audience; however, K-5 educators could copy this Set and pare it down to serve a younger audience.
Feel free to make this Set your own. As a registered user of ArtsConnectEd you can duplicate any published Art Collector Set to your own account. Once a Set is duplicated you can edit the Set and its slides. Click here to learn more about duplicating a published Set.
Well known since 1960s for his sculptures, graphics, and wall drawings, Sol LeWitt has been a major force in the artistic movement known as Conceptualism. Concepts or ideas are the basic materials of LeWitt's art, which often exist as a set of detailed instructions. After the artist develops a concept, a team of artisans fabricate the artwork by following a specified plan.
| More Info |
"Ideas alone can be works of art; they are in a chain of development that may eventually find some form. All ideas need not be made physical." —Sol LeWitt, Paragraphs on Conceptual Art
| More Info |
"When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes the machine that makes the art." —Sol LeWitt, Paragraphs on Conceptual Art
| More Info |
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1992
Medium: Prints, Edition Prints/Proofs
Size: sheet 16.25 x 42.75 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
"Most ideas that are successful are ludicrously simple. Successful ideas generally have the appearance of simplicity because they seem inevitable. In terms of idea the artist is free to even surprise himself. Ideas are discovered by intuition." —Sol Lewitt, 1967
| More Info |
"A work of art may be understood as a conductor from the artist's mind to the viewer's. But it may never reach the viewer, or it may never leave the artist's mind." —Sol LeWitt
| More Info |
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1997
Medium: Prints, Edition Prints/Proofs
Size: sheet 15.625 x 14.125 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
"Recently there has been much written about minimal art, but I have not discovered anyone who admits to doing this kind of thing. There are other art forms around called primary structures, reductive, rejective, cool, and mini-art. No artist I know will own up to any of these either. Therefore I conclude that it is part of a secret language that art critics use when communicating with each other through the medium of art magazines. Mini-art is best because it reminds one of miniskirts and long-legged girls. It must refer to very small works of art. This is a very good idea. Perhaps "mini-art" shows could be sent around the country in matchboxes. Or maybe the mini-artist is a very small person, say under five feet tall. If so, much good work will be found in the primary schools (primary school primary structures). —Sol LeWitt, Paragraphs on Conceptual Art
| More Info |
"What the work of art looks like isn't too important. It has to look like something if it has a physical form. No matter what form it may finally have it must begin with an idea. It is the process of conception and realization with which the artist is concerned." —Sol LeWitt
| More Info |
"Determining what size a piece should be is difficult. If an idea requires three dimensions then it would seem any size would do. The question would be what size is best. If the thing were made gigantic then the size alone would be impressive and the idea may be lost entirely. Again, if it is too small, it may become inconsequential. The height of the viewer may have some bearing on the work and also the size of the space into which it will be placed . . . I think the piece must be large enough to give the viewer whatever information he needs to understand the work and placed in such a way that will facilitate this understanding. (Unless the idea is of impediment and requires difficulty of vision or access.) —Sol LeWitt, Paragraphs on Conceptual Art
| More Info |
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1984
Medium: Paintings
Size: overall 101.5 x 1107.5 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
It seems "more natural to work directly on walls than to make a construction . . . and then put the construction on the wall." -Sol LeWitt
This work is now on view in Gallery 8 in the Walker Art Center.
| More Info | More Info |
"This kind of art is not theoretical or illustrative of theories; it is intuitive, it is involved with all types of mental processes and it is purposeless. It is usually free from dependence on the skill of the artist as a craftsman. It is the objective of the artist who is concerned with conceptual art to make his work mentally interesting to the spectator, and therefor usually he would want it to become emotionally dry. There is no reason to suppose, however, that the conceptual artist is out to bore the viewer. It is only the expectation of an emotional kick, to which one conditioned to expressionist art is accustomed, that would deter the viewer from perceiving this art." —Sol Lewitt, Paragraphs on Conceptual Art
| More Info |
"New materials are one of the great afflictions of contemporary art. Some artists confuse new materials with new ideas." —Sol LeWitt, Paragraphs on Conceptual Art
| More Info |
From ArtNow: New York, vol. 3 no 2 (June 1971).
The artist conceives and plans the wall drawing. It is realized by draftsmen, (the artist can act as his own draftsman), the plan (written, spoken or a drawing) is interpreted by the draftsman.
There are decisions which the draftsman makes, within the plan, as part of the plan. Each individual being unique, given the same instructions would carry them out differenctly. He would understand them differently.
The artist must allow various interpretations of his plan. The draftsman perceives the artist's plan, then reorders it to his own experience and understanding.
The draftsman's contributions are unforseen by the artist, even if he, the artist, is the draftsman. Even if the same draftsman followed the same plan twice, there would be two different works of art. No one can do the same thing twice.
The artist and the draftsman become collaborators in making the art.
Each person draws a line differently and each person understands words differently.
Neither lines nor words are ideas, they are the means by which ideas are conveyed.
The wall drawing is the artist's art, as long as the plan is not violated. If it is, then the draftsman becomes the artist and the drawing would be his work of art, but art that is a parody of the original concept.
The draftsman may make errors in following the plan without compromising the plan. All wall drawings contain errors, they are part of the work.
The plan exists as an idea but needs to be put into its optimum form. Ideas of wall drawings alone are contradictions of the idea of wall drawings.
The explicit plan should accompany the finished wall drawing. They are of equal importance.
At the end of this Set you'll find copies of LeWitt's instructions for two of his wall drawings. Use your imagination. Would you want to be an artist working on creating one of his wall drawings?
| More Info |
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1969/1996
Medium: Drawings and Watercolors, Drawings
Size: proportionate to installation wall dimensions
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 1996.100.1-.4
When the Walker acquired Wall Drawing #9 A, it was in the form of diagrams, a certificate, and instructions. The certificate reads: "Two-part serial drawing. The wall or rectangle is divided vertically or horizontally into two parts. One part with vertical and horizontal lines superimposed, the other part with diagonal left and diagonal right lines superimposed. First drawn by Sol LeWitt and others. First installation: L'Attico Gallery, Rome, Italy, May 1969." Because Wall Drawing #9 B had not yet been installed, the certificate was not issued until after it was drawn onto the wall you see here. The work was created on-site by one of LeWitt's assistants with the help of Walker staff. The colors were specified by the artist and the pencil lines were covered with a varnish to protect them from being rubbed off.
| More Info |
| More Info |
In 2008 MASS MoCA began work on a retrospective of Sol LeWitt's Wall Drawings. The Wall Drawings took the human power of some sixty-five artists and art students six months to draft and paint. The retrospective will be on view through 2033. This video by Will Reynolds shows the works in process. The film is scored by Steve Reich.
| More Info |
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1984
Medium: Sculpture, Sculptures
Size: overall 36.25 x 36.25 x 2.25 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 1998.19
"Three-dimensional art of any kind is a physical fact. This physicality is its most obvious and expressive content... Color, surface, texture, and shape only emphasize the physical aspects of the work. Anything that calls attention to and interests the viewer in this physicality is a deterrent to our understanding of the idea and is used as an expressive device. The conceptual artist would want to ameliorate this emphasis on materiality as much as possible or to use it in a paradoxical way (to convert it into an idea).
This kind of art, then, should be stated with the greatest economy of means. Any idea that is better stated in two dimensions should not be in three dimensions. Ideas may also be stated with numbers, photographs, or words or any way the artist chooses, the form being unimportant." —Sol LeWitt, Paragraphs on Conceptual Art
| More Info |
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1984
Medium: Sculpture, Sculptures
Size: overall 36.25 x 36.25 x 2.25 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 1998.18
"When words such as painting and sculpture are used, they connote a whole tradition and imply a consequent acceptance of this tradition, thus placing limitations on the artist who would be reluctant to make art that goes beyond limitations." —Sol LeWitt, Sentences on Conceptual Art
| More Info |
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1991
Medium: Sculpture, Sculptures
Size: overall 36.5 x 20.25 x 19.5 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 2001.210
"I was trying to figure out how to make things that I had never imagined. I had no idea what they would look like.
I would rule off a grid on a sheet of paper and where the lines intersected, I would place a number, say, from 1 to 10, to indicate the height of a vertical line from that point." —Sol LeWitt
Next, according to Walker Curator Elizabeth Carpenter, "LeWitt connected the dots and gave the forms he had created to a carpenter to build the model for his sculpture. Finally the design was converted into steel."
| More Info |
John Baldessari American, b. 1931
Baldessari Sings LeWitt 1972
video (black and white, sound)
running time 12:50 minutes
T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2010
Like Sol LeWitt, John Baldessari is a major pioneer in American conceptual art, and in the early 1970s he began to use the nascent medium of portable video to document his wry text- and
image-based work. In this piece, he pays homage to LeWitt by singing the latter’s seminal 1969 essay “Sentences on Conceptual Art” to the tunes of different pop songs, using the album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook as his model. Here is a snippet from Baldessari's piece.
| More Info |
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1966
Medium: Sculpture, Sculptures
Size: overall 109.125 x 55.4375 x 55.5 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 1974.7
"The most interesting characteristic of the cube is that it is relatively uninteresting. Compared to any other three-dimensional form, the cube lacks any aggressive force, implies no motion, and is least emotive. Therefore, it is the best form to use as a basic unit for any more elaborate function, the grammatical device from which the work may proceed." —Sol LeWitt
| More Info |
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1984
Medium: Sculpture, Sculptures
Size: overall 169 x 169.5 x 169.25 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 1987.12.1-.81
"Disturbed by the inconsistency of the grain of the wood in the Daniels Gallery pieces, and by the emphasis on surface (not only in appearance, but in the long hours of work needed to achieve the correct luster), I decided to remove the skin altogether and reveal the structure. Then it became necessary to plan the skeleton so that the parts had some consistency. Equal, square modules were used to build the structures. In order to emphasize the linear and skeletal structure, they were painted black." —Sol LeWitt
Fun fact: This structure, displayed for years outside on the Walker's terraces, is now inside the galleries. Come and see how it towers over you.
The graphic on the right is the Artwork of the Month card developed for Three x Four x Three. For a closer view, please click here.
| More Info | More Info |
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1996
Medium: Sculpture, Sculptures
Size: installed 168 x 312 x 312 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 1996.135.1-.2
In LeWitt's opinion, concrete blocks have "an inherent ugliness."
What do you think?
"It suddenly dawned on me that I could also have the concrete block as a module. Concrete blocks were even more ubiquitous than brick, and an even more basic building material. Everything is built of concrete blocks. I preferred the larger module." —Sol LeWitt
| More Info |
Lucinda Childs
Lucinda Childs American, b. 1940
Dance 1979
Excerpt
This landmark collaboration among three groundbreaking artists combines Lucinda Childs’ minimalist choreography with a score by Philip Glass and a stage set and film by Sol LeWitt. The piece
unfolds as a spellbinding interweaving of past and present, recorded and live, as images of the original cast are projected on a translucent surface in front of the dancers onstage.
The exhibition hosts a 10-minute excerpt of Dance.
| More Info |
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1998
Medium: Prints, Edition Prints/Proofs
Size: sheet 13.5 x 17 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
Accession #: 2001.35
"One usually understands the art of the past by applying the conventions of the present thus misunderstanding the art of the past.
The conventions of art are altered by works of art.
Successful art changes our understanding of the conventions by altering our perceptions.
Perception of ideas leads to new ideas." —Sol LeWitt, Sentences on Conceptual Art
| More Info |
| More Info |
Title: untitled
Artist: Donald Judd
Date: 1969/1982
Medium: Sculpture, Sculptures
Size: each of 10 boxes 6 x 27 x 24 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
10 blue anodized aluminum boxes (refabricated 1982)
Title: Wall Structure #5
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1984
Medium: Sculpture, Sculptures
Size: overall 36.25 x 36.25 x 2.25 inches
Institution: Walker Art Center
white wood panel with attached strips of wood that form a rectangle shape
How are Judd's and LeWitt's uses of the cube similar and different?
| More Info | More Info |
| More Info | More Info |
| More Info | More Info |
"These sentences comment on art, but are not art." —Sol LeWitt, Sentences on Conceptual Art
| More Info |
"These paragraphs are not intended as categorical imperatives... These ideas are the result of my work as an artist and are subject to change as my experience changes... I do not advocate a conceptual form for all artists. I have found that it has worked well for me while other ways have not... Nor do I think all conceptual art merits the viewer's attention. Conceptual art is good only when the idea is good." —Sol LeWitt, Paragraphs on Conceptual Art
| More Info |
You have reached the end of the slideshow.
Please close the window or start over.
