If you visited MASS MoCA in the past week, you may have noticed something new on the shelves of our museum store: Sol LeWitt: 100 Views, the official catalogue for the wall drawing retrospective which opened in Building 7 in November.

“100 views” refers to the number of contributors to the catalogue as well as the approximate number of wall drawings in the retrospective (there are actually 105). The concept of the catalogue, edited by MASS MoCA’s curators Susan Cross and Denise Markonish, was to offer a personal tribute to LeWitt. From the foreword:

There is already an impressive collection of essays, writings, and catalogues that address the art of Sol LeWitt. Adding to this will be the forthcoming catalogue raisonné to be published by the Yale University Art Gallery in association with the Estate of Sol LeWitt and Pace Wildenstein. What more could possibly supplement this array of information and analysis? Talk to anyone who knew LeWitt or listen to artists who were influenced by his work or helped by his generosity, and it soon becomes clear what has been missing: a book about how LeWitt’s ideas, friendship, and generosity of spirit coursed the art world.

One hundred peer artists, curators, writers, architects, musicians, former and current assistants, museum directors, and more, were asked to submit short pieces to the catalogue. Some, like curators Nicholas Baume (ICA) and Gary Garrels (SFMoMA), submitted short essays on the art historical import of LeWitt. Artists Louise Lawler and Jonathan Monk chosen to pay tribute to LeWitt with a piece of artwork. Composer (and Bang on a Can co-founder) David Lang wrote a short musical composition while composer Steve Reich submitted a point/counterpoint comparing his thoughts on Conceptualism with LeWitt’s (with a short musical coda to boot). And that’s just a start of the personal anecdotes, touching elegies, witty wordplay, and critical assessment of the contributions. (A full list of the contributors is after the jump.)

Also featured in the catalogue are almost all of the wall drawings featured here at MASS MoCA. Photographed by Kevin Kennefick, the plate section captures the simultaneous grandeur and subtle detail of the drawings while hinting at their unique architectural setting.

The catalogue, distributed by Yale Press, is only available for pre-order on Amazon now, but you can get your fix right away by stopping by Hardware: The MASS MoCA Store or the new MASS MoCA by Design store in Williamstown today. Read the rest of this entry »

Check out this great piece on Studio 360 by Mark Phillips on being inspired by Sol LeWitt.

See more photos of the Stearns School Sol LeWitt project at the school’s website.

Recently, some folks from Yale stopped by to check out the Sol LeWitt exhibition.  Kate Vida, a MFA student, set the LeWitt building as the stage for her performance piece personifying LeWitt’s iconic forms.

Cheers,

Brittany

An update on the Stearns Elementary 5th Grade Sol LeWitt Project from current Education Coordinator Alison:

I visited Stearns Elementary School last week to see what Mrs. Griffin and Mrs. Hollister’s fifth graders were churning out in response to their visit to MASS MoCA.  When I arrived, the filming that began in the MASS MoCA parking lot and continued in the galleries was still rolling. I was further impressed to see the professional, yet cool calm these young people showed while on film.

They were about to fully execute polygon wall drawings inspired by LeWitt, developed by their teachers, on their school’s hallway with permission from their school board (of course). On the first day back in the classroom, each student was given a set of directions, provided by Mrs. Griffin, not unlike the ones left behind by Sol LeWitt.

Read the rest of this entry »