1 from 0-9
Jasper Johns
American, born 1930
1963
A lithograph from Jasper Johns's 0–9 portfolio that presents the numeral 1 as a worked, painterly object, printed with layered tones, rubbed textures, and scribbled marks to make a familiar sign behave like visual matter.
The bold gray '1' sits like a faded, tactile monolith in the lower field while a horizontal band of smaller, distressed digits above reads like a weathered, typographic frieze punctuated by scratches and ghostly impressions.
By turning everyday numerals into textured, ambiguous images, Johns blurred painting and printmaking and helped open a path for Pop, Neo‑Dada, and Conceptual artists to rethink familiar symbols as subjects in their own right.
Medium
One from a portfolio of ten lithographs
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 15 15/16 x 12 1/8" (40.5 x 30.8 cm); sheet: 20 1/16 x 15 3/8" (51 x 39 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the Celeste and Armand Bartos Foundation
Accession
523.1964.2
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
