![]() Their miniature size is still determined by the market, though even by the end of 1958, it would feel a bit much for someone to give a full-scale, “real” artwork, one that could be seen as having “real” market value. Part of the appeal of these works is that they exist outside the market–or at least they were created and first exchanged that way. image via the JJCRīesides the major concerns of Johns’ practice, these instantly recognizable works come with bonus content–like 2 for the second–and bonus context, marking the artist’s social network, his community of supporters and interlocutors. encaustic on collage on canvas, originally made as a baby gift for a friend’s second kid. In addition to the tiny silk flag encased in wax Johns made for Merce Cunningham, barely the size of a credit card, my favorite was the 3-inch encaustic Figure 2 (1959) made for Astrid and David Myers to celebrate the birth of their second child. The Whitney had a whole gallery of them, miniature examples of some of Johns’ most relevant motifs. Which is interesting, but is only a part of the fascinating intimacy of the very small artworks Johns created (creates?). Jasper Johns, Flag (P56), 1958, silk printed flag, paraffin, in wooden frame, 2 3/4 x 3 3/4 in., via JJCR The precise-enough brushstrokes of the back make their simulating point in the same way Small Numbers echoes Numbers. The verso is an approximation of the front, reversed, as if it were painted on a transparent ground, not canvas. The 9×6 painting is framed so that both sides are visible. Figure 3 (P84), from 1960, is Johns’ only double-sided painting. The other standout from the same gallery is even smaller. Jasper Johns, Figure 3 (1960), a double-sided painting, installed in a column at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Mind/Mirror. Actually, Johns Friend Craig Starr might know the last time it was exhibited publicly was at the inaugural show of his gallery, in 2004. Who knows? There is almost no discussion of the work online. Given the CR chronology (P58 vs P74), Small Numbers is presumably a documentation, or a memorialization, of Numbers, maybe made before the large painting shipped off to Buffalo. It looks to me like it replicates the basic color composition of Numbers In Color, a large (67 x 49.5 in.) painting from 1958-59 which went into the Albright Knox Museum collection soon after it was completed. None of that is evident from looking at the front all you see is a tiny riot of color with an over-all grid, and then, the shapes of individual numbers coalescing into a whole. The catalogue raisonné (P74, btw) says the wood is “the reverse side of a printer’s block with metal type.” It’s small, around 10 x 7 inches, and painted in encaustic on wood. Small Numbers In Color is extraordinary, one of two superlative works in the gallery devoted to Johns’ use of numbers. ![]() The absolute winner for me was a little painting, rarely shown, which Johns has kept for himself since making it in 1959. There’s a lot to like, and a few things to love. I went to the Philadelphia Museum today to see the Jasper Johns exhibition before it closes. ![]() Jasper Johns, Small Numbers in Color, 1959, 10 1/8 x 7 1/8 in., encaustic & collage on wood printing block, installed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for Mind/Mirror, collection:the artist ![]()
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