49 x 49 (7 x 7 = 49)

Hanne Darboven

1972-73

A 7-by-7 assembly of lined sheets filled with meticulous graphite-pencil entries in which Hanne Darboven translates counting and calendar time into a visible, drawn system.

From a distance it reads as a cool, regular ledger-like grid across the wall, while up close the tiny, handwritten tallies, erasures, smudges and a single denser cluster make the human, temporal labor of the work unmistakable.

Part of Darboven’s serial method of inscribing time, this piece helped shift drawing into conceptual, durational practices by treating number, notation, and chronology as visual and autobiographical structure.

Palette

Art Terms

Drawing Graphite Pencil Conceptual art Monochrome Contemporary art

Exhibitions

European Drawings from the Collection

1972

Lettering by Hand

1962

Recent Drawings Acquisitions: National Endowment for the Arts

1974

Master Prints from the Collection

1987