CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA .- On Friday, The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia revealed an aspect of the renowned 20th-century artist Sol LeWitt that many in the art world are unfamiliar with.

Exhibition curator William Wylie, a professor of photography and associate chair of studio art in U.Va.’s McIntire Department of Art, was eager to display LeWitt’s photography, though the late artist is perhaps best known for his sculpture and large wall drawings.

“Sol LeWitt is one of the most important artists of the 20th century and made hallmark contributions to minimalism and conceptualism,” Wylie said. “While pieces of his photography are periodically shown in museums, an exhibition devoted exclusively to his photography is rare. As a photographer myself, I wanted to show this amazing collection.”

The exhibition, titled “Collection: Sol LeWitt and Photography,” places LeWitt’s photography alongside pieces borrowed from his personal collection by other photographers who inspired his conceptual practice and others who were inspired by him. It also includes one of LeWitt’s famous wall drawings – a massive work installed on site over several days.

From Aug. 31 to Sept. 9, Wylie and four U.Va. students will draw one of LeWitt’s wall drawings in The Fralin’s lobby, supervised by a representative from the Sol LeWitt Foundation. Each draftsperson will be responsible for 5,000 lines, all contained within a large circle and drawn in graphite on the 16-foot by 20-foot wall.

The drawing they will reproduce – Wall Drawing No. 686 – is one of more than 1,270 wall drawings that LeWitt created. No. 686 was first realized at the Lazelle Gallery in New Zealand in 1991, but has never been photographed, making The Fralin the first museum to document the work.

“There are a few instructions, but LeWitt expected people to use their own aesthetic judgment in placing the lines,” Wylie said. “How they choose to cross various lines is a decision made in the moment, and that is the beauty of it. Each realization is unique.”

Much of LeWitt’s photography also focuses on the production of pattern over time and the interplay between objects and their environment. For one piece, LeWitt moved artificial light around a sphere, creating a series of 28 prints that resembles light traversing the moon.

“It is completely simple, but an absolutely stunning study in light and form,” Wylie said.

A second photo series applies the same concept to an uneven brick wall outside LeWitt’s studio. He photographed the wall at various times of day, using the movement of sun and shadow to show how a vast array of pattern is present even in such a simple structure.

“These are simple works that reflect the larger conceptual practice of thinking through how you want a work of art to look and then producing it,” Wylie said. “The way LeWitt approached his work – thinking about relationships between things through the serial use of imagery – has deeply affected contemporary art.”

The exhibition includes one of LeWitt’s sculptures, Incomplete Open Cube, that is a perfect, three-dimensional representation of one of his photo series, also on display.

“This is a really rare opportunity to see a different side of his work and understand his relationship with other artists of the time,” Wylie said.

The Sol LeWitt exhibition will be on display at The Fralin through Dec. 20. It will include an Oct. 13 lecture by Jae Emerling, an art history scholar and author of “Photography: History and Theory.”