Wall Drawing 527

Two flat-topped pyramids with color ink washes superimposed.

April 1987

Color ink wash

Courtesy of the Estate of Sol LeWitt

First Installation
Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, the Netherlands

First Drawn By
Fransje Killaars, Ton van der Laaken, Roy Villevoye

MASS MoCA Building 7
Second Floor

First completed in 1987, Wall Drawing 527 is one of Sol LeWitt’’s many works from that time that make use of isometric forms and color ink washes. The original instructions for this drawing call for “two flat-topped pyramids with color ink washes superimposed.” At MASS MoCA, only one pyramid has been drawn, thus presenting a detail of the original work.

The central form is a non-peaked pyramid, which seems to lean forward toward the viewer even as its diamond-shaped top recedes toward the background plane. This drawing employs an isometric drawing technique that initially suggests depth and volume, but in fact is rendered in a non-perspectival manner and does not rely on illusionism to create a form. As in many of the isometric drawings, LeWitt evidences the way in which much can be suggested through the use of limited means and stringent technique.

The ink wash style of rendering used in Wall Drawing 527 and related works lends the work a rich surface quality. LeWitt began working with ink washes in the early 1980s perfecting a specific and complicated process for the application of ink. This work encompasses both the formal strength of LeWitt’’s practice, through the carefully applied vivid color and the intelligible directness of his ideas, through the simplicity of the overall composition.