1928–2007
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Incomplete Open Cube (1974) Incomplete Open Cube Artist: Sol LeWitt Dating: 1974 Type: Work on paper Material: Ink on paper Measures: 25 x 25 cm Acces / purchase date: 1997 Inventory number: 0672.2 Copyright: © The LeWitt Estate / ProLitteris, Zürich; Fotos: Christian Baur, Basel (Inv.-Nr. 0541–0542, 0672), André-Marc Räubig (Inv.-Nr. 0521) -
Drawing for Four Pages (1974) Drawing for Four Pages Artist: Sol LeWitt Dating: 1974 Type: Work on paper Material: Pencil and India ink on card Measures: 65 x 50 cm Acces / purchase date: 1987 Inventory number: 0521 Copyright: © The LeWitt Estate / ProLitteris, Zürich; Fotos: Christian Baur, Basel (Inv.-Nr. 0541–0542, 0672), André-Marc Räubig (Inv.-Nr. 0521)
In “Drawing for Four Pages,” created for an as yet unidentified publication, we find a structure of various types of lines interacting with one another—lines that radiate from the end or the center of other lines, lines that lead from specific points to other points, and even the positioning of a straight, curved, and broken line respectively. LeWitt set the text along the constructed lines so that it underpins its trajectory on the plane as an equal visual element. No matter how precisely the respective position might be described, it does not really justify or explain the run of the lines, which remains arbitrary. The fact that the premise and the result are proportionally at odds to one another can also be seen as a subtle jibe at European modernism’s functionalist aesthetic of “less is more,” and its promise of a reconciliation between the ideal and reality.
Dieter Schwarz
(1) Sol LeWitt interviewed by Andrew Wilson, “To Avoid a Rational Step, Intuition Is Important” (1993), in Patricia Bickers and Andrew Wilson (eds.), Talking Art. Interviews with Artists since 1976, London 2007, pp. 414–421, here p. 416.
2 Ibid., p. 417.
Further works by Sol LeWitt in the Baloise art collection:
Inv. no. 0541, Untitled, 1988, Gouache on paper, 56.8 x 75.5 cm
Inv. no. 0542, Untitled, 1988, Gouache on paper, 56.7 x 75.3 cm
Inv. no. 0672.1, Incomplete Open Cube, 9/4, 1974, Ink on paper, 25 x 25 cm
Inv. no. 0672.3, Incomplete Open Cube, 9/12, 1974, Ink on paper, 25 x 25 cm
Inv. no. 0672.4, Incomplete Open Cube, 8/7, 1974 Ink on paper, 25 x 25 cm
Inv. no. 0672.5, Incomplete Open Cube, 10/4, 1974, Ink on paper, 25 x 25 cm