SOL LEWITT (b. 1928) INCOMPLETE OPEN CUBE OPE

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE FRENCH COLLECTION

Provenance
Galerie Daniel Templon, PARIS
Private collection, PARIS

Literature
John Weber Gallery, eds., SOL LEWITT: INCOMPLETE OPEN CUBES, NEW YORK, 1974, n.p., no. 5/4 (illustrated)

SIMPLICITY OF FORM IS NOT NECESSARILY SIMPLICITY OF EXPERIENCE Robert Morris quoted in U. Grosenick, ed., MINIMAL ART, COLOGNE, 2004, p. 78

Upon abandoning painting in 1963, Sol Lewitt's work began to take on a radical transformation. He began to construct modular structures primarily based upon a system derived from the cube, a structure that he considered the "most unemotional form" that only referred to itself. His opting for the cube as the rubric for his visual system was also due in part to his wish to exclude any emotions in the works or hierarchical order, uniform equality for the whole as well as its parts. Typically arranged in some variation of a grid his works are arranged in simple closed systems, "unequivocal combinations" where every conceivable variation on a specific theme is employed.

Lewitt's work has been compared to the "minimalist" movement but upon further investigation one will find that the underlying intention and symbolic meaning instilled in each of his works is quite contrary to minimalist object based paradigms and more conceptual in basis. In fact minimalism is a term he ascribed to being an invention of art critics to communicate with each other.

LEWITT WAS AT THE FOREFRONT [OF A MOVEMENT THAT] MARKED AN ALMOST UNPRECEDENTED BREAK WITH THE PAST, TRANSFORMING THE DEFINITIONS AND BOUNDARIES OF AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE. IN [HIS] REJECTION OF THE GESTURAL, ANTI-INTELLECTUAL ART OF THE ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISTS, ACTION GROUND TO A HALT. AN INERT MONUMENTAL, CEREBRAL, NON REFERENTIAL, NON RELATIONAL SCULPTURE TOOK PLACE.
C. Iles in S. Lewitt, ed., SOL LEWITT STRUCTURES 1962-1993, OXFORD, 1993, p.10

The present lot, INCOMPLETE OPEN CUBE 5-4,is a work that captures Lewitt's non-objective conceptual system in an open and readily accessible fashion. The work itself is part of a series of sculptures that exhibit one of Lewitt's early examinations of the various permutations and methods by which cubic space can be defined. The structure stands as a skeleton of a cube, the matte white finish of the surface creates ghostly aura around the work. Lewitt is defining a specific portion of space as well as the area immediately surrounding it. "The cube configuration is a physical module derived from the numerical equivalent of (1 x 1 x 1) which mathematically defines the dimensions of a cubic meter,but alone could not indicate all of the possible visual and material configurations the cube can have" (U. Grosenick, ed., MINIMAL ART,COLOGNE, 2004 p. 66).

This work can be perceived as being one physical manifestation of what it is to be a Cube the fundamental essence of the form. The openness of the form blurs the boundaries of where the structure begins and the space in which it resides ends. The white surface of the basic frame acts concomitantly as both the point of departure and return on this visual experience.