TATE COLLECTION


TATE COLLECTION

Acquisitions

ARTIST ROOMS: The d'Offay Donation

Sol LeWitt (1928–2007)

One-room installation Wall Drawing #1136, 2004, straight and non-straight colour bands.

Regarded as one of the pillars of wisdom in the international art community Sol LeWitt was an important pioneer of Conceptual and Minimalist art during the 1960s. The first line of his Notes on Conceptual Art reads ‘Conceptual artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions which logic cannot reach.’ His early sculptural works using geometric shapes, seriality and pre-determined structures broke away from the personal and emotive gestures dominant in Abstract Expressionism. Taking the form of a set of instructions which are then produced by assistants, the artist’s numerous Wall Drawings employ systems which enable line and colour to exist as independent entities. Wall Drawing #1136 (2004) is a late example where vibrantly coloured straight and non-straight lines are painted directly onto the four walls of a gallery space to create a three-dimensional environment which surrounds the viewer.

Wall Drawing #1136 Wall Drawing #1136 2004
Paint on wall
Dimensions as installed
Photo courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
© Sol LeWitt, DACS, 2008

Artists

National Heritage Memorial Fund       The Art Fund       Department for Culture, Media and Sport      The Scottish Government

 

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