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Open Cube in Color on Color

  • Open Cube in Color on Color by Sol LeWitt
  • © 2016 The LeWitt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

    Sol LeWitt (American 1928 – 2007)
    Open Cube in Color on Color, 2004
    Set of thirty linoleum cut prints
    14 x 14 inches each
    Gift of Marvin Goldenberg, Heidi & Jill Pearlman
    In honor of Doris Pearlman Goldenberg

    Sol LeWitt is considered one of the most important artists to have emerged from the Minimal and Conceptual art movements. After earning a BFA from Syracuse University in 1949, he worked for I. M. Pei as an architectural draftsman. Working with architects not only influenced LeWitt’s ideas concerning geometric precision and the viewer’s relationship to art, but also taught him that as an artist he could collaborate with others to realize his vision.

    LeWitt was originally associated with the Minimalist art movement due to his extensive use of geometric forms, namely the identical cubes in serial configurations that would become a signature form. He later became so closely associated with the Conceptual art movement that he is often called “the father of Conceptual Art.” As LeWitt stated in 1967, “In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair.” Similar to the relationship between an architect and a construction crew, LeWitt espoused that an artist should be able to conceive a work and then delegate its actual production to others.

    Known for his sculpture, wall drawings, and works on paper, LeWitt’s work is included in the collections of many major museums including Tate Modern, London; Guggenheim Museum and Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

    In Open Cube in Color on Color, each of the cubes is outlined in rich primary colors, which switch back and forth from foreground to background. The dynamic whole is held together by the basic outline of the thirty cubes. This beautiful series is located in the Charles A. Dana Building at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.