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 hewas earning less than $1,000 a year on his art. (Neal Boenzi/The NewYork 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 by Wesleyan University Press points out, there have been many local beneficiaries.

Here are a few examples in the book: *Jack and Sosse Baker, owners of the Chester Gallery: “It became an education for us,” Jack recalled, referring to the highly regarded work that Sol brought to the gallery, including pieces by Chuck Close and many other big names. “It was a different level of art, something we never would have encountered otherwise.” Not only that, but there was a buzz about the place, “and many different artists wanted to show here.” Sol volunteered to have his own show at the gallery. Jack warned him, “We’re not the Whitney.” Sol said, “What does that matter?” Sosse recalled, “He did 26 gouaches. Plus he was willing to do more. On opening night, we were nearly sold out.”

Of work by LeWitt and his circle, Rudi Fuchs, the retired director ofthe Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, said, “For [Europeans], it wasliberation . . . this was something new, exciting.” (Urbanmyth/AlamyStock Photo.)

*William L. Schaeffer, owner of a shop on Main Street specializing in vintage photography: Willie, as he is referred to by friends, benefited from Sol's interest in collecting such work. In fact, Carol told him, "I've got to keep him away from your place – it's very dangerous for Sol." But Sol also used the shop to discover the character of anyone who wanted something from him. Willie said, "Sol would come here with curators in tow on his way to lunch at the River Tavern. It's almost as if [the visit here] was a litmus test. These curators all wanted something. If they weren't willing to be patient while he stopped here for five or ten minutes, he'd know their motives were not up to snuff. It seemed like it was just a little test."

Completed in 2005 in City Hall Park in Manhattan, Splotch 15 is amongthe artist’s body of structures inspired by urban architecture. (RichardLevine/Alamy Stock Photo)

Near the end of his life, LeWitt returned to black and white, as in WallDrawing 1227, at the K20 museum in Düsseldorf, the city in which hisinternational career blossomed. (Urbanmyth/Alamy Stock Photo)

*Priscilla Martel and Charles van Over, the first owners of Restaurant du Village: They started their business in 1979 when no one knew if a French bistro could make it in a community that was once derided as “Dogtown.” Sol loved to hold court there, over lamb cooked with garlic and rosemary, wine that displayed his label designs, and lemon tarts for dessert. One night over such a dinner he told me that he had just gotten a call from Ravi Shankar, who asked him to design his new book of poetry. Sol was very excited. He presumed this was the Indian sitar player and composer. But it turned out to be a different Ravi Shankar, the poet who lived in Chester. Even so, Sol followed through on the project. *Marilyn Buel, organizer of many community projects, who lived near Chester: She recalled the sense of intimidation she felt when she met the world-class artist. She boned up on her contemporary art and over dinner at the LeWitt house said, “Sol, I have to ask you – was Josef Albers an influence on your work?” Sol said, “Well the square has been around a long time.” Six months later, she recalled, "He took me aside and said, 'I was a little glib with you,' referring to his Albers remark. It was a very sweet thing. Then I said to him, 'I like the sculpture you did in the living room.' He said, 'What sculpture. I don't have one there. That's a stereo speaker.' "

The artist’s building blocks included basic shapes, as in this work in aToronto exhibit arranged by Sarah Robayo Sheriden of the Mercer UnionArt Gallery. (Tara Walton/ Toronto Star via Getty Images)

*Patricia Klindienst, who at the time taught modernism at Yale: She recalled that during her difficult pregnancy she was often bedridden, "Sol would come to the apartment and ask for a grocery list. Then the nanny [of Carol and Sol’s two daughters, Sofia and Eva] would drive him to the store, and he’d return with the food. That he would do it himself—not just send the nanny, made a great impression on me.” When her marriage dissolved, she consulted Carol about what to do. She advised her to talk to Sol. “We sat in his music library in those Bauhaus chairs. He listened as I went on, and then he looked at me, and slowly, 'You know, sometimes it's best to do nothing.' Even here, he was the minimalist. Unfortunately, I didn't take his advice."

*Deb Paulson, Sol’s massage therapist, but also a book reviewer and artist: “I showed him one of my watercolors – two pears and an apple, the best thing I’d ever done. He was looking at it carefully and said, 'I like it…what are you going to do with the background?' I said, 'I already did it.' He said, 'You have to think about the background,’ but he said it like he was taking me really seriously, It wasn’t patronizing – very succinct. And about one drawing I had on a wall, he said, 'I like that.' I was too shy to ask why. One day he came to my studio and said, 'Here's a little gift for the holiday.' "It turned out to be one of Sol's cherished gouaches – a sign to his massage therapist of acknowledgment and acceptance.

This was Sol LeWitt, who over the decades benefitted untold numbers of colleagues and friends by buying or trading for their art, promoting their work even above his, and demonstrating in so many ways values we should all hold dear.

Wall Drawing 370, conceived in 1982, was installed at the MetropolitanMuseum of Art in New York City in 2014 but obliterated, as planned, ayear later. (Stan Honda/Getty Images)

One last scene: Our annual Passover Seder, when we used a Haggadah written by Marilyn Buel, Jil Nelson, and myself, based on the classic holiday story of the Israelites’ escape from bondage, but with lots of twists, some humor and new characters (including “the Slave on the Street,” who was never happy about anything.) During these festivities, we always chose Sol to play the role of God. He grumbled about it, but who could really blame us?

LeWitt collaborated with David Tremlett to revitalize a chapel in thevillage of Barolo, Italy. (Universal Images Group North America,LLC/DeAgostini/Alamy Stock Photo)

LeWitt’s Four-Sided Pyramid in the National Gallery of Art SculptureGarden in Washington, D.C. (Philip Scalia/Alamy Stock Photos)

At New York City’s Columbus Circle subway station, commuters see a workfinished after the artist’s death. (Randy Duchaine/Alamy Stock Photo)

The lobby of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, in Hartford,Connecticut, where as a boy LeWitt went to classes, features awraparound wall drawing. (Randy Duchaine/Alamy Stock Photo.)

A twenty-five-year-long retrospective opened at Massachusetts Museum ofContemporary Art in 2008, featuring a hundred LeWitt works thatcollectively covered more than 27,000 square feet of wall space. (RandyDuchaine/Alamy Stock Photo)

Above: After Wall Drawing 370 went up at the Met, it prompted millennialselfies. (Richard Levine/Alamy Stock Photo) Bottom Left: Pages fromLeWitt’s 1980 Autobiography, in which not a single word of text appears,went on display in London in 2015 in the exhibit MagnificentObsessions. (ukartpics/Alamy Stock Photo)

Above: After Wall Drawing 370 went up at the Met, it prompted millennial selfies. (Richard Levine/Alamy Stock Photo)

LARY BLOOM

Sol LeWitt a life of ideas by LARY BLOOM

Upcoming book events with Lary Bloom, author of Sol LeWitt: A Life of Ideas.

June 2, 4 p.m. - Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek, Chester. June 5, 5:30 p.m. - Lyman-Allyn Museum, New London. Sept. 12, 5:30 p.m. - New Britain Museum of Art Sept. 15, 2 p.m. - Florenece Griswold Museum, Old Lyme