拍品 3414 - A211 战后和当代 - Donnerstag, 28. November 2024, 04.00 PM
SOL LEWITT
(Hartford 1928–2007 New York)
Cube. 1997.
Gouache on thin cardboard.
Signed and dated upper right: S. Lewitt 1997.
154 × 154 cm.
Provenance:
- Dranoff Fine Art, New York.
- Private collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above gallery in 1999.
The American artist Sol LeWitt was born in Hartford, Connecticut, studied at Syracuse University and moved to New York City in 1953. There he became part of a vibrant art scene that was shaped by profound changes in the 1960s.
While the Found Object or Found Art was at its peak at the beginning of the 1960s, a new, radical movement was emerging in New York. Everything that artists such as Rauschenberg, Duchamp and the exponents of Pop Art integrated into their art from the streets, flea markets or everyday life, suddenly seemed to be erased. The term "object" was increasingly removed from its origin in the "objet trouvé". Donald Judd claimed it for a new fundamentalism of three-dimensionality: machine-made cubes and boxes occupied the space, floor plates such as those by Carl André or shaped fluorescent tubes such as those of Dan Flavin filled the rooms and lined up monumentally next to each other. There was a proliferation of modular grids and open spatial structures. Sol LeWitt found himself at the dawn of a new era. As one of the pioneers and most important exponents of conceptual art, he played a key role in establishing minimal art and had a lasting influence on art history.
Sol LeWitt's central principle was that the idea or concept of a work of art is of greater importance than its physical execution. By emphasising strict forms, often primary squares, and a reduction to the essentials of the sujet, his use of geometric structures and repetitive patterns helped to focus the viewer's perception. His art thus aimed to elicit an intellectual and conceptual response.
The primacy of the cube runs through Sol LeWitt's entire oeuvre in various media, opening up countless possibilities within narrowly defined parameters. His ‘Cubes’ series explores the numerous variations of two-dimensional representations of a three-dimensional form. In some works, the cube appears in a fully isometric projection, as in the present work ‘Cube’ from 1997. The floating cube, depicted in all its geometric rigour and clarity, seems to permeate the space. The uniform, monochrome background that frames the work enhances the three-dimensional visual effect of the cube, creating a contrast that generates both calm and tension and evokes the idea of infinity and weightlessness. The preferred medium of thinly applied gouache on paper, with a limited colour spectrum, allows the geometric sujet to take precedence in the viewer's perception.
This outstanding work by Sol LeWitt powerfully embodies his minimalist and conceptual artistic philosophy, which explores the relationship between colour, form and space, or even beyond that, and can also be interpreted as a metaphor for the concepts of structure and order in the world. Ultimately, this is a space for interpretation, a space for what Sol LeWitt sought to achieve: stimulating thought beyond the square.
While the Found Object or Found Art was at its peak at the beginning of the 1960s, a new, radical movement was emerging in New York. Everything that artists such as Rauschenberg, Duchamp and the exponents of Pop Art integrated into their art from the streets, flea markets or everyday life, suddenly seemed to be erased. The term "object" was increasingly removed from its origin in the "objet trouvé". Donald Judd claimed it for a new fundamentalism of three-dimensionality: machine-made cubes and boxes occupied the space, floor plates such as those by Carl André or shaped fluorescent tubes such as those of Dan Flavin filled the rooms and lined up monumentally next to each other. There was a proliferation of modular grids and open spatial structures. Sol LeWitt found himself at the dawn of a new era. As one of the pioneers and most important exponents of conceptual art, he played a key role in establishing minimal art and had a lasting influence on art history.
Sol LeWitt's central principle was that the idea or concept of a work of art is of greater importance than its physical execution. By emphasising strict forms, often primary squares, and a reduction to the essentials of the sujet, his use of geometric structures and repetitive patterns helped to focus the viewer's perception. His art thus aimed to elicit an intellectual and conceptual response.
The primacy of the cube runs through Sol LeWitt's entire oeuvre in various media, opening up countless possibilities within narrowly defined parameters. His ‘Cubes’ series explores the numerous variations of two-dimensional representations of a three-dimensional form. In some works, the cube appears in a fully isometric projection, as in the present work ‘Cube’ from 1997. The floating cube, depicted in all its geometric rigour and clarity, seems to permeate the space. The uniform, monochrome background that frames the work enhances the three-dimensional visual effect of the cube, creating a contrast that generates both calm and tension and evokes the idea of infinity and weightlessness. The preferred medium of thinly applied gouache on paper, with a limited colour spectrum, allows the geometric sujet to take precedence in the viewer's perception.
This outstanding work by Sol LeWitt powerfully embodies his minimalist and conceptual artistic philosophy, which explores the relationship between colour, form and space, or even beyond that, and can also be interpreted as a metaphor for the concepts of structure and order in the world. Ultimately, this is a space for interpretation, a space for what Sol LeWitt sought to achieve: stimulating thought beyond the square.
CHF 90 000 / 150 000 | (€ 92 780 / 154 640)