Arty Farty Friday ~ Ralston Crawford, Sol LeWitt, Carl Andre - all with Sun in Virgo.

It seems fitting that artists with Sun in zodiac sign Virgo should gravitate towards precision and minimalism: geometric shapes, clean lines, that kind of thing. Here are three such Sun Virgo artists, from the 20th century.

For reference I've added a natal chart, set for 12 noon, for each artist. Clicking on the chart image should enlarge it. I'm not getting into interpretation here - other than the focus on Virgo Sun, a factor common to all three artists. Crawford and LeWitt each have just Sun in Virgo, Andre has Sun, Neptune and Venus all there. Another commonality, easily picked out: all three artists have (at least) two oppositions in their charts - perhaps not relevant to their art styles though.

Ralston Crawford born September 5, 1906, St. Catharines, Canada. (From age 10 lived in the USA)

Abstract painter, lithographer, and photographer, best known for his abstract representations of urban life and industry. His early work placed him with Precisionist artists... focus was on realistic, sharp portrayals of factories, bridges, and shipyards. Later work was geometrically abstract.
Short, interesting video narrated by the artist's son:

Sol LeWitt born September 9, 1928, Hartford, Connecticut. An artist linked to various movements, including Conceptual art and Minimalism; came to fame in the late 1960s with wall drawings and "structures" (a term he preferred instead of "sculptures") but was prolific in a wide range of media including drawing, printmaking, photography, and painting.

Carl Andre born September 16, 1935, Quincy, MA. Minimalist artist recognized for his ordered linear format and grid format sculptures. His sculptures range from large public artworks to more intimate tile patterns arranged on the floor of an exhibition space.

Hmm - in the course of preparing this post I kept hearing a bell tinkling in my memory banks - I now find that I did write a whole post on Carl Andre back in 2010: Artist Carl Andre, a True Virgo Type.

Arty Farty Friday ~~ Artist Carl Andre - A True Virgo-type

On a constant learning curve, as indicated by my blog's title, I frequently come across an artist unfamiliar to me, then attempt to learn something. One such artist: Carl Andre. After some research I discovered that he's an interesting subject astrologically, so...

To demonstrate that he clearly represents a Virgo-type artist, I've used the words of other writers, who have no interest in astrology, but demonstrate an astrological point.

Carl Andre has natal Sun (self) Neptune (creativity) and Venus (art) all in Virgo - a good candidate for the label "Virgo-type".





Bolding, in each quotation is my own, to indicate typically Virgoan traits.

Carl Andre was one of the founders of the art movement known as Minimal, Systemic, or ABC Art. It is an art that seeks to eliminate everything decorative, extraneous and additive, reducing all components to art's purest elements; it is precise, cerebral and austere rather than accessible. Andre once said that what was beautiful in art was "not that someone is original but that he can find a way of creating in the world the instance of his temperament." His own temperament is close to the tranquil philosophy of Taoism, and many critics refer to his work as "pacific." Link.

In 1965, Andre began working for a railway company. This blue collar working experience had a large impact on his sculptures, especially in terms of subject and medium. Andre interworked his experiences with hard labor and man-made simple structures into his art. ‘The railway completely tore me away from the pretensions of art, even my own, and I was back on the horizontal lines of steel and rust and great masses of coal and material, timber, with all kinds of hides and glue and the burdens and weights of the cars themselves’ Link.

Virgo, ruled by Mercury, has close links to communication of all types - including words.

Poetics play an important role in Andre’s work, manifested most literally by his experiments with linguistic equivalents to his sculpture. Since the 1960s he has created poems and, in the tradition of concrete poetry, situated the words on the page as if they were working drawings.......Andre’s consistent search for the simplest, most rational models embodies a moral philosophy as well as an artistic practice. (Cornelia Lauf)

Andre was married to the Performance Artist Ana Mendieta until her death in 1985. Her death, from falling from an open window, was judged suicide, after Carl Andre was tried, and acquitted, for her murder. (More HERE.)

Some examples of his work.

THREE RIGHT THRESHOLDS



SPATIAL SPECIFICITY




ACLOUD





TRABUM (part of the Element Series) Title is derived from the Latin for log or timber.


SPIRAL


ESSAY ON SCULPTURE



From MAP OF POETRY at Autobiography




POSTSCRIPT
Further to Gian Paul's comment (below), here's a chart showing Carl Andre's natal in the centre and a chart showing where the planets were the time of death of his wife in the outer circle. As I don't have a time of birth for Andre, anything connected to his Moon isn't relevant here, indication of ascendant and mid-heaven will also not be accurate. I found time of 4am for the wife's death somewhere on the net and have used it for the death chart.

Most significant, as I see it, is Sun over Andre's natal Neptune (Neptune = illusion/delusion). That swings both ways, so not decisive. Any ideas?