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Sol LeWitt "is to art as Bach was to music," says conceptual artist Adrian Piper, indicating LeWitt's seminal importance to both the theory and practice of contemporary art. LeWitt's creations are the direct embodiments of his theoretical writings, abstract principles that he develops with supreme integrity into physical form. Recognizing his key role in the minimalist and conceptual movements of the 1960s and '70s, New York's MoMA gave LeWitt a major retrospective in 1978. Sol LeWitt: A Retrospective and the accompanying exhibition organized by Gary Garrels of the San Francisco Museum of Modern bring us up-to-date.

During the '80s and '90s, LeWitt's work moved from a cerebral asceticism toward rich color and surfaces and a more explicit sensuality and expressiveness. Nearly 500 carefully chosen and well-reproduced photographs and drawings document this evolution. Together with a sampling of LeWitt's own pithy statements, lucid essays by seven of America's leading curators analyze his contributions to contemporary art. Typical of his methods and attitudes are his signature large-scale wall paintings, their sense of movement and bright bands of color making them among the most gorgeous of his works. While articulating the designs of the wall paintings and the concepts behind them, LeWitt does not paint them himself. He is generous in welcoming anyone else to give physical reality to his designs: "It would be a compliment," he says. Sol LeWitt is a beautiful and substantial book, and its range of illustration and depth of scholarship make it the definitive study of this highly influential artist. --John Stevenson ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Not just a coffee table book!
For those of you have seen the Sol LeWitt exhibits, this book captures many of those works and more. It offers background information and discussion.

However, this book goes beyond the exhibit installations and shows examples of installations around the world (outdoor structures, indoor wall murals, etc). These are things by an accomplished artist that are just not "out there" for you and I to view.

For those who don't know, Sol Lewitt is an amazingly talented and intelligent artist. Yes, intelligent. Almost autistic seeming at times, Sol Lewitt has a way of setting up circumstances for artistic study and then executing *every* *single* possibility as deemed by those circumstances. In one exhibit (shown in this book), Sol LeWitt examines and deconstructs all the possible forms of an open frame cube. In other examples (also in this book and at the exhibit) are line drawings examining the interaction of hundreds of overlapping circles emanating from various points on the canvas.

Much Sol Lewitt's work goes unnoticed (not much of a web presence, and hard to find posters, examples and pictures). This book helped fill in the gaps and offer a more rounded treatise of his work. Having owned it for months, it is still a pleasure to flip through this book and explore the concepts and discoveries that the artist has gone through. These discoveries are amazingly illustrated (few art books capture the entire series and the evolution of the artist like this one does).

I have enjoyed this book tremendously....it is a sizeable book that is worth the money and is well put together. Worth the purchase.

The Show Itself
I saw LeWitt's "Retrospective" show in Chicago and loved it.It's great that a book is offered of such a fabulous show that offers the diverse and evolving work of one of the best contemporary artists in the U.S. If the book is anything like the show, I highly recommend it as an enjoyable addition to anyone's collection of art books.

lewitt is rad
sol lewitt is my #1 favorite artist. i own many books of his work, and i must say that this is one of the most complete. its got everything. if you went to the sf moma and saw this exibition you wont be dissapointed by this book, it captures it the experience well. if you ever get the chance to see lewitts work in person, DO NOT MISS IT ! you will regret it ! in person these works are extremely powerful !

A Fine Catalogue of a Superb Exhibit
Sol LeWitt is an artist for whom the catalogue is both essential and apt. Because his conception and work mainly consists of a set of instructions that are then executed by other artists, the results can be displayed in many different places. While the literally enormous beauty of the wall paintings and drawings cannot be displayed in the book, that's not the point. The paintings and drawings themselves are temporary, to be whitewashed over when the exhibit 'moves' on. The catalogue provides the valuable service of capturing moments in time when the work was someplace, and brings that to the reader, along with excellent essays on the artist.

Beautiful but small
The great thing about Sol LeWitt is that his wall painting surround the observor overwhelming them is color, shapes, textures, and patterns. Any book of Sol LeWitt's paintings will be a letdown for this reason because they simply can't have the size of the real thing. Nevertheless, the photography is beautiful, and the book survey's his art quite well. ... Read more

Book Description

A documentation and critical examination of Sol LeWitt's influential Incomplete Open Cubes. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) on June 7, 2002. The length of the article is 369 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: El padre del arte conceptual.(TT: Father of conceptual art.)(Art culo Breve)
Author: Gric l Farana
Publication: Epoca (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 7, 2002
Publisher: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA)
Page: 74(1)

Article Type: Art culo Breve

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) on February 3, 1997. The length of the article is 381 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Titulares. (noticias nacionales e internacionales de febrero de 1997)(TT: Headlines) (TA: national and international news from February 1997)
Publication: Epoca (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 3, 1997
Publisher: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA)
Issue: n623Page: p34(1)

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Discourse (Detroit, MI), published by Wayne State University Press on March 22, 2002. The length of the article is 11987 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Conceptual work and conceptual waste.
Author: Blake Stimson
Publication: Discourse (Detroit, MI) (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2002
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Volume: 24Issue: 2Page: 121(31)

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Reviews (2)

An amazing book!
Artist Sol LeWitt's wall drawings are shown in two parts in this book- how they are executed, and the final product. LeWitt's career also includes working for architect I.M. Pei, and coining the term "conceptualism". The book is designed perfectly, and the only drawback is there are no pictures of the artist, or any interviews.

the definitive work on lewitt wall drawings!
Exquisite photographs and an exemplary text that covers the history of Sol Lewitt's wall drawings in depth. This will be a classic. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), published by Paddock Publications on July 28, 2000. The length of the article is 832 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Clarity, precision still define Sol LeWitt's art.(Time Out!)
Author: Barbara Vitello
Publication: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) (Newspaper)
Date: July 28, 2000
Publisher: Paddock Publications
Page: 37

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Reviews (1)

excelent !
wow, lewitt does it again ! 100 cubes is awsome.. its exactly what it says it is, pictures of 100 cubes of equal size, one to a page painted with guach. each one is diffrent and unique. if you like lewitts work you will love this book. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), published by Paddock Publications on July 28, 2000. The length of the article is 921 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A man with a plan Artist Sol LeWitt stresses ideas over execution in his works, more than 200 of which are on display in 'Sol LeWitt: A Retrospective' at the Museum of Contemporary Art.(Time Out!)
Author: Barbara Vitello
Publication: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) (Newspaper)
Date: July 28, 2000
Publisher: Paddock Publications
Page: 36

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more