NEW YORK.- The
Museum of Modern Art presents today Focus: Sol LeWitt, on view through June 29, 2009 at The Werner and Elaine Dannheisser Lobby Gallery, fourth floor. Over the course of his prolific, influential career, Sol LeWitt (American, 1928-2007) produced more than 1,200 wall drawings. This installation, which fills a single large gallery, features one of LeWitt’s celebrated examples from the Museum’s collection, Wall Drawing #260, 1975. The subtitle of Wall Drawing #260 describes what the work shows: “on black walls, all two-part combinations of white arcs from corners and sides, and white straight, not-straight, and broken lines.” Evoking a tradition dating back to the Italian fresco painters, LeWitt’s wall drawings, however, have established a distinct tradition of their own. Linear systems determined by the artist in advance are carried out by others, be they artists, trained assistants, or novice volunteers. LeWitt compared his role to that of a composer who creates a score that may be played by musicians for generations to come. The concept—or score—remains constant, but the wall drawing, like a musical performance, will vary slightly each time it is realized anew. Organized by Cora Rosevear, Associate Curator, with Veronica Roberts, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture.