Piles and Pits from Earth Projects
Robert Morris
American, 1931–2018
1969
A lithograph from Robert Morris’s Earth Projects series that translates simple land sculptures—mounds (piles) and excavations (pits)—into precise, map-like plans and sectional drawings, presenting the artist’s intention as measured instructions rather than a finished object.
The image reads like a calm technical drawing: pale yellow and green contour fields printed over a faint graph-paper grid, a large topographic view on the left balanced by a zoomed plan and vertical cross-sections on the right, with delicate hand-lettering and a small stippled mound that makes the landscape feel both schematic and tactile.
By treating drawings and instructions as the artwork, Morris bridged Minimalist sculpture, land art, and architectural practice, helping to shift sculpture toward ephemeral, site-specific, and conceptual projects where the plan could be as important as the realized object.
Medium
One from a portfolio of ten lithographs
Classification
Department
Credit
John B. Turner Fund
Accession
130.1970.4
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
