Sol LeWitt
American, 1928 - 2007
(not assigned)New York, New York
(not assigned)Chester, Connecticut, USA
SchoolMinimalism; Conceptual Art
BiographyBorn in 1928 in Hartford, Connecticut, died on 8 April 2007 in Chester, Connecticut.A sculptor of modular geometric pieces and a major promoter of Conceptual Art, Sol LeWitt was born in Hartford, Connecticut and earned a B.F.A. degree from Syracuse University in 1949. From 1955 to 1956, he worked for architect I.M. Pei. 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.
Many of his sculptures are painted white to direct the viewer to these underlying thought processes rather than to the piece itself. In other words the "concept" is the most important part of the work, and planning it is more important than execution.
The modules are made from wood or metal and are composed of open squares in various combinations, and they reflect a working through of a premise, usually described in the title. Credit: Matthew Baigell, "Dictionary of American Art" (Source: www.askart.com, Accessed April 19, 2004)
Person TypeIndividual
Terms
- male
- Jewish-American
