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Sol LeWitt’s Chester
How a World-Renowned Artist Enriched Local Life
The first mention of LeWitt in the New York Times came in 1961, when he was earning less than $1,000 a year on his art. (Neal Boenzi/The New York Times/Redux)
By Lary Bloom
I
have often been asked how I came to write a biography of the man the Los Angeles Times said, "changed art internationally," and the New York Times called “a lodestar of American art.” Living in Chester for thirty years, befriending Sol LeWitt and his wife Carol, and observing his support of the town, its merchants and
fellow residents would have been inspiration enough for any writer. For here was, during his too-short lifetime (1928-2007), an exemplar of generosity, deep conviction, and significant achievement who shunned the limelight and avoided self-aggrandizement. A man who along the way turned down lucrative commissions from conglomerates whose products offended his sense of propriety (Philip Morris, Nestles, 3M, United Technology, etc.). In short, he was a
model of how to live and work not only for other artists but for all of us. After a childhood in Hartford, growing up in New Britain, studying at Syracuse, working in New York City and then Italy and becoming the leading conceptualist widely celebrated for developing new ways to make and market art, he could have chosen any place to live, but he chose Chester. And, as my biography, Sol LeWitt: A Life of Ideas published in May
