SOL LEWITT: WORKS ON PAPER (1983-2003)

From 22 June to 20 July 2012

Curated by Heidi Lee

Waterhouse & Dodd is pleased to present an exhibition of works on paper by acclaimed American artist, Sol LeWitt (1928 - 2007).

Heralded as the pioneer of conceptual and minimal art, Sol LeWitt became known for transforming primary colors and geometric shapes into formal compositions that developed a certain complexity through spatial organization. LeWitt was pivotal in the formation of the new radical aesthetic of the 1960's and controversially had no concern for descriptive imagery or narrative. Rather, the artist focused on ideas, intuition, systems and structures, creating a lexicon of symbols and instructions that, especially in his later years, defied persistent logic and instead embraced emotion, humanity and the collaborative spirit. LeWitt’s methodology has often been compared to that of a composer, whose musical score is performed by others and thus allows for individual interpretation despite precise instruction.

The selection of works on paper presented by Waterhouse & Dodd reveal the variety of techniques LeWitt employed during the final decades of his life and marks the first time many of them will be viewed in public. Consisting of gouaches, woodcuts, etchings and engravings, the works on view range from formal geometric studies to exuberant compositions in vivid colors that convey a kind of lyrical expressionism. As a survey of LeWitt’s later practice, these works testify to the innovation and evolution of the artist’s visual language.

Current museum exhibitions include Sol LeWitt: Colors at Museum Leuven in Belgium (June 21 – Oct. 14), Sol LeWitt: Wall Drawings from 1968-2007 at the Centre Pompidou Metz in France (through July 29, 2013) and Sol LeWitt: A Wall Retrospective at Mass MOCA (through 2033). His public garden project Lines in Four Directions in Flowers was recently unveiled by The Philadelphia Museum of Art at the William M. Reilly Memorial in Fairmount Park, adjacent to the Museum’s Anne d’Harnoncourt Sculpture Garden.

Sol LeWitt was born in Hartford, Connecticut and relocated to New York City in 1953 to pursue his artistic career. Since 1965, his work has been the subject of over 500 solo museum and gallery exhibitions worldwide. Major retrospectives of LeWitt’s work have been held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery, London, and the San Francisco Museum of Art. His work is featured in many important public collections including the Guggenheim, New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

W&D 104 Greene Street, New York

Click below for:

List of available works

Sol LeWitt Catalogue

Artist's biography