The wall drawings of Sol LeWitt have been internationally recognized as a major contribution to the evolution of art. In these works, LeWitt has extended drawing to architctual scale and allowed drawing an environmental capacity. The drawings are made on the surface of a wall, including within them the character and imperfections of that surface and the scope of its dimensions, and freeing them from the limitation of a piece of paper or canvas while remaining two dimensional. Particular designs for a drawing arise from the charcteristics of a given architectual space.
Source: NEWS mAY jUNE 1989
The Des Moines Art Center devotes its main gallery space to a wall drawing created by Sol LeWitt. The work of art engages the public by inviting the viewer to physically experience a drawing by being surrounded by it.
The "wall drawing" is an important aspect of LeWitt's work which includes both sculpture and graphic arts. His visual language is characterized by geometric and abstract shapes.
LeWitt's art is conceptual art in which the idea or conceptual form is more important than the object itself.
Source: NEWS January February 1989
Exhibition History"Sol LeWitt: A Retrospective," San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Apr. - May 21, 2000; (Traveled to Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, July 22 - Oct. 22, 2000; Whitney Museum of American Art, N. Y.)
"Sol LeWitt/Wall Drawings," Pace Gallery, Jan. 29 - Mar. 12, 1994 (modified - appeared on two walls and with fewer figures)
Published ReferencesAN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. pp.34 & 171, b/w detail p.171, color ill. p.170
"Sol LeWitt/Wall Drawings," Pace Gallery, 1994, exh. announcement card ill.
Peter Schjeldahl, "Less Is Beautiful: A Celebration of the Well-tempered Minimalist Sol LeWitt," THE NEW YORKER, Mar. 13, 2000, color ill. p.99
DMAC News, May/June 1989, ref. & b/w ills. p.4
Eliot Nusbaum, "New LeWitt Work Explores Forms," DES MOINES REGISTER, July 23, 1989, ref. & ill.
DMAC Annual Report, 1988 - 1990, 1990, b/w cover ill.
THE NEW YORKER March 13, 2000, Article--LESS IS BEAUTIFUL: A Celebration of the well-tempered Minimalist Sol LeWitt by Peter Schjeldahl, pg. 99
Kirk Varnedoe, "Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art Since Pollock", 2006, Princeton University Press, color ill., pg. 128
Overall: 25.9 × 24.7 × 0.5 ft. (7.9 × 7.5 × 0.2 m.)
