Edited by Béatrice Gross. Text by Susanna Singer, John Hogan, Béatrice Gross, Lucy Lippard, Rosalind Krauss, Mel Bochner, Dan Graham, Robert Smithson.
Magnificent in scope, design and scholarship, this essential volume is the first comprehensive LeWitt monograph published since the artist's death, and the first overview since 2000. Besides gathering visual documentation of LeWitt's wall drawings and his sculptures-or "structures" as he preferred-the publication also includes his complete writings; spreads from his artist's books; plus interviews and essays by virtually every artist and author closely associated with LeWitt, among them Lucy Lippard, Rosalind Krauss, Mel Bochner, Dan Graham and Robert Smithson. One of the most important artists of the twentieth century, LeWitt at last receives the definitive treatment of his work in this volume. In his 1967 "Paragraphs on Conceptual Art," Sol LeWitt set out the fundamental principle of his artistic practice: "In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.... The idea becomes a machine that makes the art." From the first wall drawing in 1968 until his death in 2007, LeWitt never ceased to develop new "machines," conceiving some 1,200 wall drawings and laying down the foundations of Conceptual and Minimalist art. LeWitt's wall drawings, always installed by assistants, eliminated any intermediary object (such as a canvas) between the work and its support, thereby dovetailing a sensuous material immediacy with a powerful Platonic detachment. His sculptural variations on grids, cubes and pyramids likewise project this moving simplicity and clarity. Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) was born in Hartford, Connecticut, where he took art classes at the Wadsworth Atheneum. After receiving a BFA from Syracuse University he worked as a graphic designer in the office of architect I.M. Pei. In 1976, LeWitt cofounded the artists' book bookstore Printed Matter in New York, with Lucy Lippard. A retrospective of his wall drawings opened to the public in 2008 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, where it will remain on view for 25 years.
Featured image is reproduced from Sol LeWitt.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Cultured
Tali Jaffe
Magnificent in scope, design and scholarship, this essential volume is the first comprehensive Sol LeWitt monograph published since the artist's death in 2007, and the first overview since 2000. Essays and interviews from LeWitt's colleagues round out the title.
In a 1967 issue of Art in America, Lucy Lippard published "Homage to the Square," featuring this text by Sol LeWitt: "The best that can be said for either the square or the cube is that they are relatively uninteresting in themselves. Being basic representations of two- and three- dimensional form, they lack the expressive force of other more interesting forms and shapes. They are standard and universally recognized, no initiation being required of the viewer; it is immediately evident that a square is a square and a cube, a cube. Released from the necessity of being significant in themselves, they can be better used as grammatical devices from which the work may proceed. The use of a square or cube obviates the necessity of inventing other forms and reserves their use for invention." This excerpt and the featured image, "Wall Drawing # 356 BB" (2003), are reproduced from JRP | Ringier's stellar new monograph, Sol LeWitt. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 10 x 11.25 in. / 326 pgs / illustrated throughout. LIST PRICE: U.S. $55.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $65 ISBN: 9783037643068 PUBLISHER: JRP|Ringier AVAILABLE: 3/31/2013 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WORLD Excl FR DE AU CH
Published by JRP|Ringier. Edited by Béatrice Gross. Text by Susanna Singer, John Hogan, Béatrice Gross, Lucy Lippard, Rosalind Krauss, Mel Bochner, Dan Graham, Robert Smithson.
Magnificent in scope, design and scholarship, this essential volume is the first comprehensive LeWitt monograph published since the artist's death, and the first overview since 2000. Besides gathering visual documentation of LeWitt's wall drawings and his sculptures-or "structures" as he preferred-the publication also includes his complete writings; spreads from his artist's books; plus interviews and essays by virtually every artist and author closely associated with LeWitt, among them Lucy Lippard, Rosalind Krauss, Mel Bochner, Dan Graham and Robert Smithson. One of the most important artists of the twentieth century, LeWitt at last receives the definitive treatment of his work in this volume.
In his 1967 "Paragraphs on Conceptual Art," Sol LeWitt set out the fundamental principle of his artistic practice: "In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.... The idea becomes a machine that makes the art." From the first wall drawing in 1968 until his death in 2007, LeWitt never ceased to develop new "machines," conceiving some 1,200 wall drawings and laying down the foundations of Conceptual and Minimalist art. LeWitt's wall drawings, always installed by assistants, eliminated any intermediary object (such as a canvas) between the work and its support, thereby dovetailing a sensuous material immediacy with a powerful Platonic detachment. His sculptural variations on grids, cubes and pyramids likewise project this moving simplicity and clarity.
Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) was born in Hartford, Connecticut, where he took art classes at the Wadsworth Atheneum. After receiving a BFA from Syracuse University he worked as a graphic designer in the office of architect I.M. Pei. In 1976, LeWitt cofounded the artists' book bookstore Printed Matter in New York, with Lucy Lippard. A retrospective of his wall drawings opened to the public in 2008 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, where it will remain on view for 25 years.
