When the Walker Art Center opened its new Edward Larrabee Barnes-designed building in 1971, it ushered in exciting new possibilities for exhibiting and collecting the art of its time.

The Barnes building, with its sweeping, rectangular galleries and white terrazzo floors, was one of the first U.S. museums designed to showcase sculpture and other works that abandoned the pedestal to be shown directly on the floor, resulting in a more direct relationship between viewer and object.

Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) was one of the first artists whose work graced the Barnes building. LeWitt and the Walker enjoyed a relationship that spanned more than 35 years. It began with the museum’s purchase of sculptures (LeWitt called them “structures”) in the mid-1960s and includes approximately 200 pieces donated by the artist during his lifetime. His work is featured prominently in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, and his enduring wall drawings have graced the Walker’s public spaces since the early 1980s.

The exhibition Sol LeWitt: 2D+3D, on view November 18, 2010 (from 5-9 pm)-April 24, 2011, presents for the first time the full range of the Walker’s LeWitt holdings, highlighting the artist’s three-dimensional structures, wall drawings, models, unique works on paper, prints, and artist’s books.

walkerart.org

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