Color & Black, 30 x 17, No. 1 [working proof 8]
1991
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
spit bite aquatint on wove Somerset paper [working proof 8]
Dimensions
plate: 44.8 × 15.2 cm (17 5/8 × 6 in.) sheet (irreg.): 56.2 × 24 cm (22 1/8 × 9 7/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Kathan Brown
Accession Number
2024.132.414
Art Historical Context
Sol LeWitt's *Color & Black, x 17, No. 1 [working proof 8 (1991) invites visitors into the experimental heart of Conceptual Art. A pioneer of Minimalism and Conceptualism, LeWitt revolutionized art by emphasizing ideas over objects, often using geometric forms, serial structures, and precise instructions executed by others. This intimate print, measuring 44.8 × 15.2 cm on the plate, captures his late-career exploration of color interactions against stark black fields, likely part of a series playing with proportion and hue as suggested by the title's dimensions. Crafted as a spit bite aquati...
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...