The Location of a Circle from The Location of Six Geometric Figures (Circle, Square, Triangle, Rectangle, Parallelogram and Trapezoid)
Sol LeWitt
American, 1928–2007
1975
An etching in which LeWitt presents the procedural rules for locating a circle inside a square, turning the diagrammatic instructions themselves into the work of art.
A crisply inked circle floats amid faint, compass-like dashed lines, intersecting diagonals and angular guides inside a thin border, while a dense paragraph of small type at the bottom reads like a mathematical instruction manual.
A hallmark of LeWitt’s conceptual practice, the work foregrounds idea over handcraft—using language and diagrams as art—and helped open up instruction-based and dematerialized approaches in contemporary art.
Medium
One from a portfolio of six etchings
Dimensions
plate: 15 15/16 x 15 7/8" (40.5 x 40.3cm); sheet: 23 5/8 × 19 7/8" (60 × 50.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Given in memory of Beth Lisa Feldman
Accession
5.1976.1
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
