Straight, Broken/Not-straight, Broken (plate, folio 27) from Grids, Using Straight Lines, Not-Broken Lines and Broken Lines in all Their Possible Combinations
Sol LeWitt
American, 1928–2007
1973
An etching from a 1973 illustrated book in which Sol LeWitt systematically arranges straight and broken line segments in a grid to demonstrate all possible combinations of linear marks.
The right page reads as a shimmering, densely packed field of tiny intersecting short lines that alternately stop and continue to make a vibrating, almost woven grid, while the opposing page remains blank and silent.
A concise statement of LeWitt’s conceptual method, it foregrounds rule-based systems over individual gesture and helped open the way for serial, algorithmic, and process-based practices in contemporary art.
Medium
One from an illustrated book with twenty-eight etchings
Dimensions
composition and page: 10 9/16 × 10 9/16" (26.9 × 26.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase
Accession
161.1975.24
Palette
Exhibitions
