- Hardcover: 416 pages
- Publisher: Yale University Press (Mar 11 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0300083580
- ISBN-13: 978-0300083583
- Product Dimensions: 29.9 x 24.9 x 3.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 2.9 Kg
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#2,365,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10 in Books > Arts & Photography > Artists, A-Z > ( J-L ) > LeWitt, Sol
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
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
Book Description
This is the catalogue for a major retrospective organized by SFMOMA and celebrating the work of one of the most important and influential conceptual artists of the century. Sol LeWitt's career has been defined by a series of groundbreaking explorations into the basic building blocks of form and their relationship to philosophical and mathematical concepts. (Some critics have seen his work as visual manifestoes of the ideas of Descartes and Kant.) The fact is, however, that LeWitt's works transform these abstract principles and formulas into objects of beauty and grace, introducing elements of chance, intuition, or irrationality into the scientific systems that inspired their creation. While his thoroughly documented work of the 1960s was firmly fixed in the realm of conceptualism, his turn toward a more lyrical and sensual form of abstraction since then has never received adequate critical attention. This catalogue will chart the evolution of LeWitt's art from the sixties through to the present to show the enormous influence that his delicate balancing act between thought and form, order and disorder, has exerted on younger artists.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Panoramic View of LeWitt's Best Conceptual Art,
By Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 112,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (#1 HALL OF FAME)
This review is from: Sol LeWitt: A Retrospective (Hardcover)
"Then Abimelech said to Abraham, 'What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?'" -- Genesis 20:10 (NKJV)Sol LeWitt's conceptual art is to the mind what a beautiful waterfall is to the eyes. I found this exhibition catalog to be a handy resource for capturing the visual expression of Sol LeWitt's major concepts. The essays are better than in some other LeWitt books for explaining what the work is all about. Still, if you go to the appendix of LeWitt's writings about conceptual art, you'll gain far more understanding. There's also a video of this exhibition's curator interviewing LeWitt as they walked among the works that I prefer to this book. I have watched the video at MASS MoCA where many of the best wall drawings are displayed. I don't know the reference for the video or I would give it to you. The plates are the best part of the book (as should be the case for any major artist). The only complaint I have is that the wall drawings featuring LeWitt's humorous directions aren't captured very well. The MASS MoCA exhibition book, 100 Views is a better resource for those. I also recommend that work for getting a sense of Mr. LeWitt as a person and as an artist. He was much warmer than these works and this catalog make him appear. Be sure to visit MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts and see a whole building full of the wall drawings: that installation makes the work really come to life in your mind.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just a coffee table book!,
By M.B. (Mountain View, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sol LeWitt: A Retrospective (Hardcover)
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.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Show Itself,
By A Customer
This review is from: Sol LeWitt: A Retrospective (Hardcover)
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.
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