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Sol LeWitt

(Hartford, Connecticut, 1928 - 2007, New York, United States)

Composite Series

1970

Screenprint on paper

14 x 14 in. (35.6 x 35.6 cm)

Collection of the Akron Art Museum

Purchased with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John A. McAlonan Trust Fund

1975.9 b

© 2022 The LeWitt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

More Information

A highly influential conceptual artist, Sol LeWitt investigated seriality not only as a format but also as content. Eadweard Muybridge’s photographic studies of figures in motion, two of which are on view in this exhibition, sparked LeWitt’s early interest in serial imagery. On working in series, LeWitt suggested: “it is best that the basic unit be deliberately uninteresting so that it may more easily become an intrinsic part of the entire work.” The artist famously described his way of working: “…all the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes the machine that makes the art.” Composite Series overlays lines oriented horizontally, vertically and diagonally—a simple basis leading to rich visual results. The first print presents each orientation alone; the second, third and fourth in combinations of two, three and four directions respectively; the fifth includes all possible combinations.

Keywords
Minimalism
United States
Silkscreen
Paper
Abstract art