Sol LeWitt
"Curvy Brushstrokes" Large etching with aquatint, framed
1997

Name: "Curvy Brushstrokes" Large etching with aquatint, framed
Brand: Sol LeWitt
Price: 25000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

This artwork titled "Curvy Brushstrokes" 1997 is a colors etching with sugar lift aquatint on Somerset textured white paper by renown artist Sol (Solomon) LeWitt, 1928-2007. It is hand signed and numbered 1/15 in pencil by the artist. The image size is 29.90 x 39.90 inches, paper sheet size is 40.5 x 49.80 inches, framed size is 43.75 x 53 inches. Published by Crown Point Press, San Francisco, printed by Dana Sywulak, assisted by Dena Schneleit, Mary Andrews and Case Hudson at Crown Press, San Francisco. Referenced and pictured in the artist's catalogue raisonne, plate #1997.07. Custom framed in a wooden black frame, floated on white backing, with white spacer. It is in excellent condition, the frame has minor very small restorations, practically invisible. About the artist: 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. The work of Sol LeWitt is held in major museums worldwide.

Creator:

Sol LeWitt (1928 - 2007, American)

Creation Year:

1997

Dimensions:

Height: 43.75 in (111.13 cm)Width: 53 in (134.62 cm)Depth: 3 in (7.62 cm)

Medium:

Etching,Aquatint

Movement & Style:

Abstract

Period:

Late 20th Century

Condition:

Gallery Location:

San Francisco, CA

Reference Number:

Seller: lew/cur/bru/011stDibs: LU666313862342

View Invoice

Shop All Sol LeWitt

Sol LeWitt

While New York City’s art scene in the 1950s and ’60s revolved around Abstract Expressionism, multidisciplinary artist Sol LeWitt paved an alternative path, creating a prolific output of work in the genres of minimalism and, later, Conceptual art.

While LeWitt is perhaps best known for his immense “wall drawings,” he created work in a wide range of media, including drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture. (However, in a characteristic rebuttal of canonical art history, he referred to these pieces as “structures.”) He also produced several texts, including the seminal Sentences on Conceptual Art (1969).

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1928, LeWitt received a BFA from Syracuse University before going to work as a graphic designer for the renowned architect I.M. Pei. He would later work at the book counter at the Museum of Modern Art, where his colleagues included fellow artists. LeWitt’s early exposure to architecture may well have had outsize influence on his subsequent career: He was known for the geometric nature of his work, specifically his fastidious, near-obsessive treatment of the cube, which he rendered repeatedly in various ways throughout his paintings, structures and wall drawings.

In the 1960s, LeWitt showed in several group exhibitions throughout New York and also began to experiment with three-dimensional structures, most modular riffs on the cube shape. His work was included in “Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art,” curated by Mel Bochner, another leading exponent of Conceptualism.

Later, LeWitt debuted his now-iconic wall drawings, creating work directly on the walls of galleries and show spaces, beginning with pioneering gallerist Paula Cooper’s inaugural show in 1968. The wall drawings became a prime example of LeWitt’s philosophical approach to art, with their installation often carried out by museum staff or curators following precise instructions from the artist.

“The idea,” the artist once said, “becomes a machine that makes the art.” LeWitt continued to produce work until his death in 2007.

Find a collection of original Sol LeWitt art on 1stDibs.