Sol LeWitt is an essential figure for understanding trends in contemporary art since the mid 1960s. He is considered as one of the founders of the minimalist movement, following his participation in 'Primary Structures: Younger American and British Sculptors', a collective exhibition staged in 1966 at the Jewish Museum in New York that also involved, among others, Carl Andre, Judy Chicago, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Walter De Maria and Robert Morris. LeWitt is also seen as the forerunner of conceptual art, a movement in which the idea and the process take preference over the result: 'the idea becomes a machine that makes the art', he said in 1967. His best-known works include the extraordinary drawings entitled 'Structures' and his murals based on strict geometrical patterns.
His output as a theorist and as a writer and editor of books plays a fundamental part in his full body of work. This applies not just to his published works but to structures such as Printed Matter, a project started in 1976 along with other artists and actors from the world of culture including art critic Lucy Lippard, with the goal of archiving, conserving and distributing printed matter (posters, artists' books, publications) concerned with the practice of contemporary art.
LeWitt staged his first exhibition in New York in 1964, just two years after taking part in the seminal minimalist art exhibition 'Primary Structures' at the Jewish Museum in the city. In 1972 his art was shown in Europe in exhibitions at the Kunsthalle in Bern and the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford (UK). In 1978 the New York Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective of his work. In Spain his works have been shown at the Reina Sofía in Madrid, which has a major piece by him in its collection, and in a retrospective organised by the Botín Foundation in Santander in cooperation with Yale University Art Gallery and the Sol LeWitt Estate in 2015.
Sol LeWitt is an essential figure for understanding trends in contemporary art since the mid 1960s. He is considered as one of the founders of the minimalist movement, following his participation in 'Primary Structures: Younger American and British Sculptors', a collective exhibition staged in 1966 at the Jewish Museum in New York that also involved, among others, Carl Andre, Judy Chicago, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Walter De Maria and Robert Morris. LeWitt is also seen as the forerunner of conceptual art, a movement in which the idea and the process take preference over the result: 'the idea becomes a machine that makes the art', he said in 1967. His best-known works include the extraordinary drawings entitled 'Structures' and his murals based on strict geometrical patterns.
His output as a theorist and as a writer and editor of books plays a fundamental part in his full body of work. This applies not just to his published works but to structures such as Printed Matter, a project started in 1976 along with other artists and actors from the world of culture including art critic Lucy Lippard, with the goal of archiving, conserving and distributing printed matter (posters, artists' books, publications) concerned with the practice of contemporary art.
LeWitt staged his first exhibition in New York in 1964, just two years after taking part in the seminal minimalist art exhibition 'Primary Structures' at the Jewish Museum in the city. In 1972 his art was shown in Europe in exhibitions at the Kunsthalle in Bern and the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford (UK). In 1978 the New York Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective of his work. In Spain his works have been shown at the Reina Sofía in Madrid, which has a major piece by him in its collection, and in a retrospective organised by the Botín Foundation in Santander in cooperation with Yale University Art Gallery and the Sol LeWitt Estate in 2015.