Four Basic Kinds of Line and Color

This publication is a facsimile edition of Sol LeWitt’s iconic Four Basic Kinds of Lines & Colour. Originally published in 1977, the publication stands as an enduring example of LeWitt’s rigorous process-driven practice, which utilized simple conceptual parameters to generate complex and formally-diverse visual works.

Four Basic Kinds of Lines & Colour is a composite of two earlier publications—Four Basic Kinds of Straight Lines (1969) and Four Basic Colours and Their Combinations (1971). Each left-hand page offers a black and white study of four types of lines (vertical, horizontal, right-facing diagonal, left-facing diagonal) executed in all possible combinations, while right-hand pages present a combinatory system of lines in four colors (yellow, black, red, blue). The book opens with a two-page key overviewing all permutations that follow.

It is no secret that as a founder of American Conceptualism and one of its early theoreticians, LeWitt valued the idea and logical formulations of an artwork over the art-object. However, while one might suspect that such an adherence would prevent the creation of an aesthetically pleasing work, LeWitt’s efforts here and beyond prove otherwise.