Sol LeWitt

American, 1928-2007

Wall Drawing # 1268: Scribbles: Staircase (AKAG)

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

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© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Sol LeWitt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Wall Drawing # 1268: Scribbles: Staircase (AKAG), conceived 2006 (executed 2010)

Artwork Details

Collection Highlight

Materials

graphite on three walls

Measurements

dimensions variable

Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Credit

George B. and Jenny R. Mathews Fund, 2007

Accession ID

2007:24a-c

First Drawn by: Darren Adair, Takeshi Arita, Kyle Butler, Roshen Carman, Andrew Colbert, Cynthia Cui, Katharine Gaudy, Aviva Grossman, John Hogan, Ani Hoover, Gabriel Hurier, Roland Lusk, Amanda Maciuba, Allison Midgley, Alyssa Morasco, and Joshua Turner
First Installation: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, October 2010

In 1969, Sol LeWitt created a groundbreaking work of art by drawing directly on the wall. This revolutionary gesture transformed a simple graphite line into something as heroic as the architecture on which it was inscribed. Since that time, thousands of LeWitt’s wall drawings have been executed in a vast array of materials, from the humble pencil to Crayola crayons. The artist’s work challenged some of the most fundamental beliefs about the necessity of the artist’s hand in the creation of a work of art. Instead, LeWitt emphasized the idea (which came in the form of written instructions) rather than the final outcome. 

Although Wall Drawing #1268: Scribbles: Staircase (AKAG) was installed following the artist’s death, plans for the work and its location within the museum were completed during his lifetime. Built up from thousands of graphite marks that cover more than 2,200 square feet of wall surface, this drawing was scribbled into existence over the course of nine weeks by a crew of sixteen people, who labored for seven hours a day for fifty-four days between the months of August and October 2010. Following LeWitt’s set of directives—Line, continuous gradation, and feel of steel—it took a total of 5,026 hours and 1,717 pencil leads to complete this project.

Label from Drawing: The Beginning of Everything, July 8–October 15, 2017

Other Works by This Artist