Color & Black, 30 x 17, No. 1 [working proof 5]
1991
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
color spit bite aquatint and hard ground etching on wove Somerset paper [working proof 5]
Dimensions
plate: 44.9 × 15.2 cm (17 11/16 × 6 in.) sheet (irreg.): 56.2 × 25.8 cm (22 1/8 × 10 3/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Kathan Brown
Accession Number
2024.132.411
Art Historical Context
Sol LeWitt's *Color & Black, 30 x 17, No. 1 [working proof 5 (1991) exemplifies the artist's lifelong fascination with color, geometry, and systematic processes. A key figure in Conceptual and Minimalist art, LeWitt often prioritized ideas over execution, creating works through precise instructions. This print, measuring 44.9 × 15.2 cm on the plate, captures his late-career exploration of bold contrasts between vibrant hues and stark black forms, rendered on luxurious wove Somerset paper. The medium—color spit bite aquatint combined with hard ground etching—highlights innovative printmaking t...
About the Artist
Sol LeWitt
Solomon "Sol" LeWitt (1928–2007) was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Russian Jewish immigrant parents; his father, a doctor and inventor, died when Sol was six, after which he lived with his mother, a nurse, and an aunt in New Britain. His mother enrolled him in art classes at the Wadsworth Atheneum, fostering his early interest in drawing. LeWitt earned a BFA from Syracuse University in 1949, w...