Wall Drawing 87

A square divided horizontally and vertically into four equal parts, each with lines and colors in four directions superimposed progressively.

June 1971

Colored pencil

Glenstone, Potomac, MD

First Installation

LeWitt residence, New York

First Drawn By

Sol LeWitt

MASS MoCA Building 7
Ground Floor

Wall Drawing 87 was first installed by Sol LeWitt in his own home in 1971. Like many of the wall drawings from this time, the work consists of a system of parallel lines drawn on a white wall in four directions (vertical, horizontal, diagonal left, and diagonal right.) In this case, the draftsman uses colored pencil, and superimposes the lines, or layers them progressively, producing variations in hue. LeWitt had created a black pencil iteration of this superimposed system, Wall Drawing 56, the previous year.

Backstory

One of the challenges that the draftsmen working with colored pencil face is that the different color leads possess varying strengths. For example, the yellow lead is very weak, so it bends or snaps easily. Thus, draftsmen working with yellow must be careful not to bear down too hard when drawing lines on the wall.