from CBC.ca - Conceptual artist Sol LeWitt dies at 78
Hoodini
Hailed as 'one of the most influential American artists of the 20th
century'
Last Updated: Monday, April 9, 2007 | 1:33 PM ET
CBC Arts
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/artdesign/story/2007/04/09/lewitt-sol-obit.html
American visual artist Sol LeWitt, known for creating vibrant coloured
conceptual and minimalist artworks based around geometric shapes and
basic lines, has died at the age of 78.
LeWitt, who was born in Hartford, Conn., and lived for years in New
York and Italy, died in New York on Sunday from complications of
cancer. A private funeral has been scheduled.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/arts/photos/2007/04/09/lewitt-sol-cp-2774525.jpg
A visitor at the Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich, Switzerland, looks at
artist Sol LeWitt's Wall Drawings in November 2004. LeWitt died Sunday
in New York City at the age of 78.
(Walter Bieri/Keystone/Associated Press)
"It is not an overstatement to say that he was one of the most
influential American artists of the 20th century," Joanna Marsh, the
curator of contemporary art at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford,
said Monday.
"His work has had a profound influence on future generations of
artists and will continue to have an impact."
LeWitt was the complete opposite of a star artist, eschewing the media
spotlight in order to allow his art to speak for itself.
"It's not about the star power, but about the art," said his longtime
friend and former curator Andrea Miller-Keller, quoting LeWitt's
philosophy to the Hartford Courant newspaper.
LeWitt studied traditional art at Syracuse University and was drafted
to serve non-combat positions during the Korean War.
Later, he moved to New York and worked a variety of jobs — including
in commercial art and as a night receptionist at the Museum of Modern
Art — before his artistic career took off.
He moved to Spoleto, the ancient Italian city in the country's Umbria
region, for much of the 1980s in order to escape the New York art
world and its critics, eventually returning at the end of the decade.
Over the years, LeWitt's oeuvre included paintings, sculpture,
photography and wall drawings. His works were showcased in exhibitions
and retrospectives around the globe.
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