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May 14, 2025
A significant, large-scale work by the late artist Sol LeWitt has vanished from the exterior of a federally-owned downtown building — and the government agency in charge of the piece is refusing to say why.
Lines in Four Directions, a 90-foot by 72-foot work, had been mounted on the west facade 10 W. Jackson Blvd., an office building owned by the U.S. General Services Administration.
The rectangular work rendered in aluminum featured a grid of four squares, each with painted aluminum strips that were oriented either vertically, horizontally and diagonally.
The strips are set in relief, which gave the sculpture a 3D quality that changed moods with the movement of the sun.
Passersby along Jackson Blvd., last week noticed the LeWitt work was missing. A GSA spokesperson went silent Tuesday after promising since last week to find out what happened to the work.
Also troubling: The GSA removed an entry on the piece from the portion of its website dedicated to the agency's fine art collection.
Rhona Hoffman, owner of Rhona Hoffman Gallery, was a personal friend of LeWitt's and among the sponsors instrumental in getting Lines in Four Directions installed in 1985.
"Holy [Cow] !" Hoffman said when I told her the work had been removed. "Oh my gosh, I don't wanna lose that or lose sight of where it is ... wow."
LeWitt, who died in 2007 at age 78, was a celebrated artist whose works often explored abstract lines and forms. The Art Institute of Chicago has 80 of his pieces in its permanent collection.
Lines in Four Directions was funded by a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and donations raised by Art in Public Places, a non-profit that wa
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