Soleil

2008 · 23710 — 2008. Near fine. Collection of 85 photographs: 14 11'' x 14'' and 2 5'' x 14'' prints in white envelope; 19 4'' x 5'' prints in small folio with protective plastic sleeves; and 38 11'' x 14'' prints in plastic sleeves housed in ring-bound portfolio with handle and zipper closure. Brief identifying notes to verso of all prints. Production mark-up notes in silver ink to rectos of a small number of photos. With loose sheet briefly cataloging the contents handwritten and signed by Cobb. Some duplication. Near fine. <br/><br/>Portraits of Sol LeWitt wall drawing installers with images of the wall drawings themselves photographed over course of the 6-month installation of the Sol LeWitt Wall Drawing Retrospective at MASS MoCA. By artist and writer Chris Cobb himself one of the installers for the exhibition. From his included description: "These were made as tests for the final portfolios made for the museum & for Sol's widow Carol LeWitt. The portraits haven't been published only shown at Mass MoCA." Portrait subjects are identified on versos by first name and position title; of the several Wall Drawings visible most are shown in progress with a few shots of drawings #343 and #146 in a completed or nearly completed state. <br /> <br />As LeWitt wrote in his 1967 essay Paragraphs on Conceptual art "When an artist uses a conceptual form of art it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair." Accordingly his Wall Drawings were recreated each time they were exhibited as Cobb detailed in a 2008 BELIEVER article: "Early in LeWitt's career he made the drawings himself but as demand for them grew it became necessary for him to rely on a small group of draftsmen who could faithfully carry out his instructions developing techniques specific to each wall drawing.I am working alongside my apprentice Julia on Wall Drawing #343. By 'working on' I mean that I am attempting to recreate from a brief page of written instructions a work of conceptual art." <br /> <br />A remarkable collection documenting the process of recreating a body of artwork itself impermanent by design. And according to the photographer the first time a Lewitt work has been allowed to be documented in process. unknown books