Biography

Sol LeWitt Portrait
Sol LeWitt was born in Hartford, CT in 1928. He then completed his BFA at Syracuse University in 1949. After receiving his degree he served in the US army during the Korean War in 1951 where he made posers for special services. After serving in the war he moved to New York to study illustration and cartooning. He worked for the architect I.M. Pei for a year before he took a night receptionist job at the Museum of Modern Art. This is where he met fellow artists like Dan Flavin, Robert Mangold, and Robert Ryman. After working at the Museum of Modern Art he then pursued a full time art career. Many of LeWitt’s influences were Jasper Johns, Frank Stella and Robert Rauschenberg. Sol LeWitt’s first solo exhibition was at the Daniels Gallery in New York in 1965. He is most famous for his wall drawings, sculptures and paintings. In 1967, Sol LeWitt defined conceptual art by stating; “the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work” in “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art” in Artforum. This is considered one of the milestones from the transition of minimalist art of the 1960s to conceptual art of the 1970s.  Sol LeWitt was also camera-shy and disliked having his photograph in the newspaper.