Artist Sol LeWitt Biographer Tells All At Mark Twain House Talk

On Thursday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m., I’ll be talking to author Lary Bloom at the Mark Twain House in Hartford.

Bloom, who was editor of The Hartford Courant’s NorthEast Sunday magazine for more than 20 years, has written a just-published biography “Sol LeWitt: A Life of Ideas” (Wesleyan University Press). LeWitt was a friend and neighbor, to Bloom, as well as one of the great artists of the 20th and early 21st Centuries.

The Hartford-born, New Britain-raised LeWitt, who died in 2007 at the age of 78,

is widely regarded as a master of conceptual and minimalist art and an innovator who proved art is in the idea, not just its physical construction.

“The work of the mind is more important than the work of the hand,” LeWitt once said.

But how can a friend write an objective biography? What does the widow of the artist think of the book, especially all the mentions of LeWitt’s relationships with women? What things did Bloom leave out of the book? What made LeWitt so great? And what was it like being at that infamous surprise 70th birthday party the Wadsworth Atheneum threw for the artist where he sabotaged his own celebration?

I’ll be asking these and other juicy questions when Bloom joins me for the “in conversation …” series called “A Little Harmless Fun.”

Tickets are just $10. Information: www.marktwainhouse.org and 860-247-0998.