Numbers
Since the mid-1950s, Johns has focused on everyday icons and emblems, or what the artist famously referred to as "things the mind already knows." A key motif has been numbers, which address modes of perception and knowledge. While numbers are depicted both individually and in serial formation, here, Johns layered them on top of one another, resulting in an image so tangled and intertwined as to appear nearly abstract. Without a function, the numbers become pure image. They are elegant and impersonal, as if stenciled, thus signaling an absence of the artist’s touch and creating associations with the official information-granting capacity in which numbers are frequently employed. This is among the many works by Johns that Florence and Joseph Singer donated to the Museum.
Artwork Details
- Title: Numbers
- Artist: Jasper Johns (American, born Augusta, Georgia, 1930)
- Printer: Donn Steward
- Publisher: Published by Universal Limited Art Editions
- Date: 1967, published in 1st Etchings, 2nd State 1967–69
- Medium: Etching and open-bite
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Florence and Joseph Singer Collection, 1972
- Object Number: 1972.732.6
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Jasper Johns
Universal Limited Art Editions
1964
Jasper Johns
Gemini G.E.L.
1969
Multiple artists/makers
1967
Jasper Johns
Universal Limited Art Editions
1967–68
Jasper Johns
Gemini G.E.L.
1969
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.