Lines and Points: Caroline Shaw’s <i>Partita for 8 Voices</i> and Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawings

A Wall Drawing Retrospective at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA).As the analysis in this article shows, in addition to featuring these texts from LeWitt's rule-based instructions for executing these wall drawings, Shaw responds compositionally to LeWitt's visual art in significant and structural ways.Partita bears evidence of influences from these drawings in construction, content, shape, and conception.Furthermore, both the execution of her Pulitzer-Prize winning piece by performers and her approach to the creation of the piece directly depend on the place (MASS MoCA) and subject (LeWitt's wall drawings) that inspired her compositionally.Shaw's music suggests aspects of the lines and points drawn on walls by drafters, following LeWitt's accompanying instructions.Movement involved with changing perspectives, as viewers of drawings shift locations in the gallery space, suggests a similar experience to listeners of Partita, as sung notes move toward and away from spoken texts.In some ways Shaw's approach to musical composition and performance in this piece closely resembles LeWitt's approach to creating and rendering visual artworks with these wall drawings.