Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
In 1967, artist Sol LeWitt wrote that in “Conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.” He was giving a name to an art movement that had emerged in the 1960s in which artists were less focused on their medium being something traditionally “artistic” and instead engaged in using any object, movement, form, action or place to express an idea.
LeWitt’s work was featured alongside an assemblage of notes, drawings and outlines by other artists in “Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art,” a groundbreaking show at New York City’s School of Visual Arts curated by Mel Bochner, another leading exponent of Conceptualism. Building on radical 20th-century statements, like Fountain (1917) by French artist Marcel Duchamp, Conceptual artists around Europe and North and South America were not interested in the commercial art scene and rather directly challenged its systems and values.
Stretching into the 1970s, this movement has also been called Post-Object art and Dematerialized art. Conceptual art reflected a larger era of social and political upheaval. Pieces associated with the style range from Roelof Louw’s Soul City (Pyramid of Oranges) (1967) — a work of installation art that sees fresh oranges stacked into a pyramid from which visitors are allowed to take one orange away — to On Kawara’s “Today” series, which saw the Japanese artist carefully painting a date in white acrylic on canvases consisting of a single color from 1966 to his death in 2014. Artists such as Ed Ruscha, who created the Twentysix Gasoline Stations book — a collection of photos of gas stations that is widely said to be the first modern artists’ book — made photography a major platform for Conceptual art, as did Bruce Nauman, who burned one of Ruscha's books and then photographed it for his own.
Conceptual art’s legacy of questioning artistic authorship, ownership and how to work with complex ideas of space and time had a significant influence on the decades of culture that followed, and it continues to inform art today.
The collection of Conceptual photography, paintings and sculptures on 1stDibs includes artworks by John Baldessari, Jenny Holzer, Lawrence Weiner, Joseph Kosuth and others.
1990s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Color Pencil, Graphite, Watercolor
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink, Cardboard
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink, Cardboard
Late 20th Century Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Film, Graphite, Pigment
21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
1970s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Graphite
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
1990s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Permanent Marker
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Engraving, Paper
Early 2000s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Charcoal
Early 2000s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Charcoal
20th Century Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Monoprint, Monotype
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
20th Century Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Monoprint, Monotype
20th Century Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Monoprint, Monotype
20th Century Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Monoprint, Monotype
20th Century Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Monoprint, Monotype
20th Century Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Monoprint, Monotype
20th Century Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Monoprint, Monotype
20th Century Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Monoprint, Monotype
20th Century Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Monoprint, Monotype
20th Century Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Monoprint, Monotype
20th Century Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Monoprint, Monotype
Early 2000s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Charcoal
1970s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink
1920s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink, Color Pencil, Graphite
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel, Acrylic, Watercolor, Archival Paper
Early 2000s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal, Paper
Early 2000s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal, Paper
Early 2000s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Charcoal
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Color Pencil
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Canvas
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Canvas
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Canvas
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Canvas
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Canvas
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Canvas
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Canvas
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Canvas
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Lithograph
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink
1960s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink, Gouache, Color Pencil
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1960s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache, Ink
1980s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Lithograph
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Wax Crayon
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink, Spray Paint, Watercolor, Pencil
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink, Watercolor, Graphite
2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink, Spray Paint, Watercolor, Pencil