With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Sol LeWitt
Painting/Drawing, Patronage, Printmaking, Sculpture
1928 – 2007
Intrigued by ideas such as Constructivism, LeWitt sought to reduce art to forms, volumes and variations, in effect to ideas whose physical manifestations were by definition impermanent. Though LeWitt’s early explorations occurred when he lived in New York, this important Conceptual artist moved to Chester in the mid-1980s and influenced the contemporary art world through his own output and patronage of young artists.
- Biography/Description of Work
Sol LeWitt was born in Hartford, grew up in New Britain, and studied at Syracuse University. Following military service in South Korea, he lived in New York City during the 1960s, where the beginnings of Conceptual Art developed. Together with other young artists such as Dan Flavin, Robert Ryman and Robert Mangold, LeWitt helped establish the Minimalist and Conceptual art movements. He began to make his series of sculptures such as the Incomplete Open Cubes, and his wall drawings, which could be executed according to his instructions by a team, often made up of local art students from the community where a show was exhibited.
- Sources view
- 'Artist-designed Chester synagogue celebrates 10 years.' 10/12/2011. Connecticut Jewish Ledger: www.jewishledger.com/2011/10/artist-designed-chester-synagogue-celebrates-10-years/
Chester Assessors Records, http://www.propertyrecordcards.com/PropertyResults.aspx?towncode=026&uniqueid=00090700 . Property ID: 14-498. 3.18 acres
Chester Historical Society. 1976, 1984. 'The Houses and History of Chester.' 1976, 1984. Chester: Chester Historical Society.
Collections of:
New Britain Museum of American Art
Yale University Art Gallery
Wadsworth Atheneum
Connecticut Artists Project. UConn Library accessed 12/26/2015 at: http://lib.uconn.edu/services/collections/connecticut-artists-project/?item=4011&Last_Name=LeWitt
Hartford Courant. 1996. http://articles.courant.com/1996-04-13/features/9604130036_1_lobby-drawings-wall
Kimmelman, Michael. 4/09/2007. 'Obituary: the artist Sol LeWitt dies at 78.' New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/ - Associated Resource(s)