| Facts/Data
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Birth
1928 (Hartford, Connecticut)
Death
2007 (Chester, Connecticut)
Lived/Active
New York/Connecticut
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Often Known For
conceptual sculpture, geometric design wall painting
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Categories of Interest
Modernism
Sculptors
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Known for his modular white cube sculpture, geometric drawings and
abstract design paintings including many wall paintings that took teams
of people to execute, Sol LeWitt was a major promoter of
dominant post World War II
Conceptualism and Minimalism. He used geometric shapes and lines
to challenge his viewers, and sometimes they seemed logical and other
times they seemed to have no basis in either reason or reality.
Although he was highly active in New York City, he shied away from any
semblance of art celebrity life style and spent much of his later life
working from his home and studio in Chester, Connecticut. At the
beginning of his career when he was gaining notoriety, conservative
critics panned him fiercely. Seeking to get away from the
frenetic activity of the New York art scene, he went to Spoleto, Italy
in the 1980s and remained there for many years. The influence of Italian culture seemed to lend a new opulent quality
to his work, and also the launching of his wall paintings, which
he called drawings even though they were done with acrylic paint.
"He began making colored flagstone patterns, spiky sculptural blobs and
ribbons of color, like streamers on New Year's Eve, often as enormous
decorations for buildings around the world. It was if he had devised a
latter-day kind of Abstract Expressionism . . ." (Kimmelman)
Of his personal modesty it was written: "He tried to suppress all interest in him
as opposed to his work; he turned down awards and was camera-shy and
reluctant to grant interviews. He particularly disliked the
prospect of having his photograph in the newspaper." (Kimmelman)
Sol LeWitt was born in Hartford, Connecticut to Russian immigrant
parents. His father, a doctor, died when Sol was age six, and he and
his mother then went to live with an aunt in New Britain,
Connecticut. His mother encouraged his art talent, and enrolled
him in classes at the Wadsworth Atheneum. LeWitt's
subsequent residence in Chester, after he was a well-known artist, was near the Atheneum, and he became a strong
supporter of that institution including the securing of a long time
loan to it of a highly prestigious private collection of modern art.
LeWitt earned
a B.F.A. degree from Syracuse University in 1949, and then was drafted
in the Korean War. His special assignment was making posters for
the Special Services. From 1955 to
1956, he worked as a graphic designer for architect I.M. Pei, who was
beginning his career. He also did pasteups for Seventeen
magazine. In 1962, he did his first
relief sculpture, and from 1964, executed the cubed works for which he
is most known. However, he felt adrift as an artist because
Abstract Expressionism was waning, and he was unconfident about what he
had to offer that was unique.
However, a change came about because of his taking a job at the book
counter of the Museum of Modern Art where he associated with other
young artists who were also working there including future 'big names'
such as Dan Flavin, Robert Ryman and Robert Mangold. LeWitt became
intrigued by Minimalism and by the engineering aspects of Russian
Constructivism and of Eadweard Muybridge's experiments with motion
photography. From these exposures, "he decided to reduce art to
its essentials, 'to recreate art, to start from square one' beginning
literally with squares and cubes." (Kimmelman) In the next years,
he became fascinated with the impermanence of Conceptualism, which
seemed to suit his apparent lack of being impressed with whether or not
his own reputation was sustained in the public mind.
His goal with conceptual sculpture was to
explore in an impersonal way formulas with which structures are
created, and to focus on abstract philosophical theories, disassociated
from religion and personal emotions. He painted many of his
sculptures white to direct the viewer to these underlying thought
processes rather than to the piece itself or to himself. In other
words the "concept" was the most important part of the work, and planning it was more
important than execution. He was a great believer in
simplicity. In 1967, he said: "Most ideas that are successful are
ludicrously simple. Successful ideas generally have the
appearance of simplicity because they seem inevitable."
Sol LeWitt was also known for his generosity with lesser-known
artists. He often gave them credit as 'collaborators' so that their names appeared with his, and he would
go out of his way to be helpful including showing with them in small
galleries and supporting publications about their work.
He died April 8, 2007 in Chester, Connecticut from cancer. His wife, Carol, and two daughters survived him.
Sources:
Michael Kimmelman, "Sol LeWitt, Postwar Artistic Innovator and Master
of Conceptualism, Dies at 78", The New York Times Obituaries, April 9,
2007, A15
Matthew Baigell, Dictionary of American Art
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Sol LeWitt was born in Hartford, Connecticut on September 9, 1928. He attended Syracuse University where he studied traditional painting and sculpture. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, then served in the Korean War and in 1953, moved to New York City where he attended the Cartoonists and Illustrators School. From 1955 to 1956, he worked for architect I.M.Pei as a graphic designer. He is married to Carol and they have two daughters.
Sol LeWitt was among the minimalist and conceptual artists who came to prominence in the late 1960s. His work has been extremely influential. Pared down to the core, his work moved art in the direction of the mind. In 1962, he did his first relief sculpture and from 1964, executed the cubed works for which he is most known. His goal in the conceptual sculpture has been to explore in an impersonal way formulas with which structures are created and to focus on abstract philosophical theories, disassociated from religion and personal emotions.
Since the late 1960s, LeWitt has made original drawings on paper that are then used as a set of instructions for others to execute on a wall, in a process meant to undermine the notion of the work of art as the unique product of the artist's own hand. If this preparation seems at odds with the usual method of an artist at work, LeWitt also paints every day in the studio of his Connecticut home.
LeWitt has a house in Umbria, Italy. He loves wine and when an Italian winemaking family offered him bottles of their best vintage in exchange for painting a chapel on the property of one of their Piedmont vineyards, he accepted. When he completed the project, he took his pick from the family cellars.
Written and submitted by Jean Ershler Schatz, artist and researcher from Laguna Woods, California.
Sources include:
Mark Stevens in Newsweek magazine, date unknown
From the internet, AskART.com and art net.
Conceptualism by Proxy, an article by Hunter Drohojowska-Philip in LA Times Calendar section, September 26, 2001 |
Biography from Art Cellar Exchange:
| The works of Sol LeWitt strike the viewer with their straightforward design. In LeWitt’s famous cube drawings and geometric sculptural forms, the artist demonstrates his desire to remove extemporaneous elements and pare his artwork down to its fundamental structure.
In the 1960s, LeWitt participated in the Minimalist art movement that defied the popular painting style of the time, Abstract Expressionism. Abstract Expressionist artists created vivid, abstract compositions that were full of emotion. Minimalists rejected this demonstrative way of creating art and focused primarily on the basic compositional elements of design. They directed their audience to find purpose through intellectual contemplation.
The genius of LeWitt’s artwork is in the effortless appearance of a complex idea. In this artist’s work we understand the subtle but important decisions that each artist must make before a final work is complete. In his creations we see the naked architectural framework of art that is beautiful in and of itself.
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