1986
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.
H 8 in W 7.8 in
silkscreen
By Sol LeWitt
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: silkscreen. Printed in 1984 for "Ficciones" and published by The Limited Editions Club in an edition of 1500. Size: 8 x 7 3/4 inches (203 x 198 mm). Not signed. Condition: t...
Screen
H 8 in W 7.8 in
silkscreen
By Sol LeWitt
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: silkscreen. Printed in 1984 for "Ficciones" and published by The Limited Editions Club in an edition of 1500. Size: 8 x 7 3/4 inches (203 x 198 mm). Not signed. Condition: t...
Screen
H 8 in W 7.8 in
silkscreen
By Sol LeWitt
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: silkscreen. Printed in 1984 for "Ficciones" and published by The Limited Editions Club in an edition of 1500. Size: 8 x 7 3/4 inches (203 x 198 mm). Not signed. Condition: t...
Screen
H 8 in W 7.8 in
silkscreen
By Sol LeWitt
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: silkscreen. Printed in 1984 for "Ficciones" and published by The Limited Editions Club in an edition of 1500. Size: 8 x 7 3/4 inches (203 x 198 mm). Not signed. Condition: t...
Screen
H 8 in W 7.8 in
silkscreen
By Sol LeWitt
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: silkscreen. Printed in 1984 for "Ficciones" and published by The Limited Editions Club in an edition of 1500. Size: 8 x 7 3/4 inches (203 x 198 mm). Not signed. Condition: t...
Screen
H 8 in W 7.8 in
silkscreen
By Sol LeWitt
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: silkscreen. Printed in 1984 for "Ficciones" and published by The Limited Editions Club in an edition of 1500. Size: 8 x 7 3/4 inches (203 x 198 mm). Not signed. Condition: t...
Screen
H 8 in W 7.8 in
silkscreen
By Sol LeWitt
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: silkscreen. Printed in 1984 for "Ficciones" and published by The Limited Editions Club in an edition of 1500. Size: 8 x 7 3/4 inches (203 x 198 mm). Not signed. Condition: t...
Screen
H 8 in W 7.8 in
silkscreen
By Sol LeWitt
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: silkscreen. Printed in 1984 for "Ficciones" and published by The Limited Editions Club in an edition of 1500. Size: 8 x 7 3/4 inches (203 x 198 mm). Not signed. Condition: t...
Screen
H 8 in W 7.8 in
silkscreen
By Sol LeWitt
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: silkscreen. Printed in 1984 for "Ficciones" and published by The Limited Editions Club in an edition of 1500. Size: 8 x 7 3/4 inches (203 x 198 mm). Not signed. Condition: t...
Screen
H 8 in W 7.8 in
silkscreen
By Sol LeWitt
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: silkscreen. Printed in 1984 for "Ficciones" and published by The Limited Editions Club in an edition of 1500. Size: 8 x 7 3/4 inches (203 x 198 mm). Not signed. Condition: t...
Screen
Tout Pres de Marino.
By Marino Marini
Located in New York, NY
MARINI, Marino. Tout Pres de Marino. Text by Egle Marini. Illustrated with 10 original etchings by Marini. Atlas folio, loose as issued in wrappers and cloth folding box. Paris:...
Paper
Plate 7 from "Formes et Couleurs"
Located in New York, NY
Plate 7 from "Formes et couleurs; vingt planches en couleurs contenant soixante-sept motifs décoratifs" by Auguste H. Thomas. Paris: A. Levy, Librarie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, circa ...
Paper
Plate 20 from "Formes et Couleurs"
Located in New York, NY
Plate 20 from "Formes et couleurs; vingt planches en couleurs contenant soixante-sept motifs décoratifs" by Auguste H. Thomas. Paris: A. Levy, Librarie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, circa...
Paper
Le Septieme Chant.
Located in New York, NY
MASSON, André. Le Septieme Chant. By Alain Jouffroy. Illustrated with 4 engravings by Masson. Folio, loose as issued in the original wrappers and linen-covered slipcase, preserve...
Paper
Landscape
By Cornelis Ploos van Amstel
Located in New York, NY
Original engraving by old master print-maker Ploos Van Amstel after Jan van Goyen. Holland, 1767. Unframed. Trimmed to size.
Paper
Shadows.
By Carroll Dunham
Located in New York, NY
DUNHAM, Carroll. Shadows. Ten original full sheet drypoints, with justification, title- leaf, and tissue interleaves. Oblong folio, 350 x 584 mm, the whole enclosed in publisher's...
Paper
