Customer Reviews

Sol LeWitt: A Retrospective

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Sol LeWitt is an artist for whom the catalogue is both essential and apt. Because his conception and work mainly consists of a set of instructions that are then executed by other artists, the results can be displayed in many different places. While the literally enormous beauty of the wall paintings and drawings cannot be displayed in the book, that's not the point. The paintings and drawings themselves are temporary, to be whitewashed over when the exhibit 'moves' on. The catalogue provides the valuable service of capturing moments in time when the work was someplace, and brings that to the reader, along with excellent essays on the artist.

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.

sol lewitt is my #1 favorite artist. i own many books of his work, and i must say that this is one of the most complete. its got everything. if you went to the sf moma and saw this exibition you wont be dissapointed by this book, it captures it the experience well. if you ever get the chance to see lewitts work in person, DO NOT MISS IT ! you will regret it ! in person these works are extremely powerful !

"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.

How do you rate a book on an artist without your subjective reaction to the art figuring in? I LIKE most of LeWitt's work. I LOVE certain pieces and genres. I love MOST of his wall paintings and drawings, I love SOME of his 3D stuff. Alot of his work, I am neutral about. This book covers it all. So, my response is luke warm. This book is in my library because of the work that I love, and I am a big enough fan of it that I want it, along with many other books on his work. There are several books and brochures on aspects of LeWitt's work. I recommend spending your money on those, FIRST. Most are out of print, but they CAN be found. Go to good bookstores with out of print books and search the internet.

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.