SCHWARZ, Dieter. Sol LeWITT Folds and Rips 1966-1980.

(Cologne, Germany): Walther König, 2020. First edition. 32cm by 24cm. 175 pages. The first comprehensive monograph devoted to one of the most intriguing yet historically understudied facets of Sol LeWitt’s prolific practice — his folded and torn paper works. As pioneered by LeWitt beginning in 1966, these pieces represent a distinctive extension of his conceptual methodology, described by the artist as “drawings without drawing”: rather than markmaking with pencil or pigment, the gesture of folding and the act of ripping the paper itself become the generative system of line and form. LeWitt originally made his Folds — creased compositions deriving geometric structures through sequential folding — as informal gifts to friends beginning in 1969, before incorporating them into his dealer-represented oeuvre. With the addition of Rips beginning in 1971 — works composed by tearing and piercing paper — the series expanded into a large, serial body of work creating abstract fields of negative space and altered plane. The practice later extended to map cuttings and aerial photograph manipulations, further complicating the formal logic of these “drawn” surfaces. The volume, edited and with critical text by Dieter Schwarz, offers a historical essay contextualising these works within LeWitt’s broader conceptual investigations, accompanied by extensive documentation. It brings together full-colour reproductions and thumbnail plates covering approximately 200 Folds and 900 Rips. A very good copy in wrappers with integral flaps.