Born the son of Russian immigrants in Connecticut in 1928, has been since the 1960’s one of the most prolific and influential figures in contemporary American art and the conceptual art movement. He began taking art classes as a child, and by the time of his graduation from high school had decided to pursue art as a career.
His art education included a degree in art from Syracuse University, graduate work at the University of Illinois, and extensive travel and study in Europe. After a tour in the Korean War, LeWitt attended the Cartoonists and Illustrators School (now the School for Visual Arts) in New York. His jobs included working in the design department at Seventeen magazine and as a graphic designer for the architect I.M. Pei.
In late 1959 the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition Sixteen Americans introduced LeWitt to the work of artists such as Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Rauschenberg, and Frank Stella. This exhibition proved the catalyst for LeWitt’s development of his theory of conceptual art. By the early Sixties LeWitt was experimenting with his method of working in series and permutations. His first one-man exhibition was held in 1965.
His extensive career spans more than four decades and many media including sculpture, painting, drawing, books, and prints. He stands as one of the key figures of the 1960’s, bridging the movements of Minimal and Conceptual Art.