About

SOL LEWITT (1928 – 2007) HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF HUNDREDS OF SOLO EXHIBITIONS IN MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES WORLDWIDE SINCE 1965.

HIS PROLIFIC TWO AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL WORK RANGES FROM WALL DRAWINGS, OVER 1100 OF WHICH HAVE BEEN EXECUTED, TO PHOTOGRAPHS AND HUNDREDS OF WORKS ON PAPER AND EXTENDS TO STRUCTURES IN THE FORM OF TOWERS, PYRAMIDS, GEOMETRIC FORMS, AND PROGRESSIONS. LEWITT HELPED REVOLUTIONIZE THE DEFINITION OF ART IN THE 1960S WITH HIS FAMOUS NOTION THAT “THE IDEA BECOMES A MACHINE THAT MAKES THE ART.”

REDUCING ART TO ITS ESSENTIALS, THE CUBE BECAME THE BASIC MODULAR UNIT FOR HIS ARTISTIC INQUIRY—“THE GRAMMATICAL DEVICE”.

LEWITT ACHIEVED A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN 1968 WHEN HE BEGAN EXECUTING LARGE-SCALE DRAWINGS DIRECTLY ON THE WALL, USING PREDETERMINED LINE-MAKING PROCEDURES AND MATERIALS NORMALLY ASSOCIATED WITH DRAWING OR COMMERCIAL ART TECHNIQUES.

Wall Drawing #711, 1992, Musée de Picardie, Amiens, France ph. Marc Jeanneteau