: The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is presenting an important
exhibition by one of America's foremost artists, Jasper Johns
(born 1930), which is the first in-depth exploration of his use
of numbers as a subject, as well as a major exhibition of works
on paper by the Twentieth Century's most important artists from
the well-known private collection of native Clevelander and
nationally recognized philanthropist Agnes Gund.
Thirty-nine pieces between 1955 and 1996 lent by the artist,
private collectors and museums in the United States and Europe
will show how Johns treats a similar theme in subtle variations
using a variety of media. "Jasper Johns: Numbers" will be on view
from October 26 to January 11, then continues to the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art (February 1-April 18, 2004).
Also on view from October 26 to January 11, the Gund collection
exhibit features 65 works by 57 artists, representing some of the
major movements of the Twentieth Century, including Pop art,
minimalism, conceptual art and more recent trends in figuration
and abstraction. It offers visitors a glimpse into the private
realm of one person's temperament, passions and connoisseurship
in creating a singular collection. Artists in the exhibition
include Louise Bourgeois, Arshile Gorky, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns,
Ellsworth Kelly, Paul Klee, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden, Bruce
Nauman, Roni Horn, Robert Rauschenberg, Dorothea Rockburne, Cy
Twombly, Gabriel Orozco, Glenn Ligon, William Kentridge, Frank
Stella and Rosemary Trockel.
"Jasper Johns: Numbers" was inspired by the museum's 2001
acquisition of a set of charcoal drawings by Johns, "Ten
Numbers," 1960. The CMA's curator of drawings Carter Foster and
guest curator Roberta Bernstein, professor of art history at the
State University of New York, Albany, conceived the show as a
focused, carefully chosen group of objects that elucidate the
subtlety and complexity of Johns's treatment of this motif
throughout his career.
Built over the past 35 years, Gund's comprehensive collection has
become rich in works from the 1950s to today. Highlights of the
exhibition include Vitrine-Flipbook Drawings, 1999, by William
Kentridge (South African, born 1955), renowned worldwide for his
animated films made from charcoal drawings as well as his theater
productions focusing on the complex and often violent history of
South Africa. These drawings, rendered directly on sheets from a
Catalan grammar text, represent images that create a brief
narrative that shows an average man with desires and strictures
created by culture, technology and politics.
Chuck Close's (American, born 1940) "John/Finger-print," 1983, is
part of a group that he "painted" in stages, applying each of
three basic hues (magenta, cyan and yellow, as in the
color-printing process) separately so that they fused on paper to
create the full-color image. Here, by contrast, he used his
fingers to apply stamp-pad ink in these three hues directly to
the paper.
The Cleveland Museum of Art is at 11150 East Boulevard. For
information, 216-421-7350 or 1-888-CMA-0033 or .
CMA/ Jasper Johns: Numbers - 1
