The Art Institute of Chicago

The Date Paintings of On Kawara

Author(s): Anne Rorimer
Source: Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2 (1991), pp. 120-137+179-180
Published by: The Art Institute of Chicago
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4101587 .
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The Date Paintings of On Kawara

ANNERORIMER
Chicago

I havekeenlyexperienced consciousnessof myselftoday,at 81years,exactlyas I was

conscious at or
of myself f 6years. Andit is onlybecauseof
is motionless.
Consciousness
its motionlessnessthatwe areableto see themotionof thatwhichwe call time.If time
passes,it is necessary that thereshouldbe something whichremainsstatic.And it is
consciousness of selfwhichis static LEO TOLSTOI (191o)

Everylife is manydays,day after day. Wewalk throughourselves

meetingrobbers,
butalwaysmeeting
ghosts,giants,oldmen,youngmen,wives,widows,brothers-in-love,
ourselves. ULYSSES(1922)
JOYCE,
JAMES

When On Kawara painted his first date painting on January 4, 1966,

he inauguratedthe TodaySeries, an ongoing, open-ended work
now numberingmore than i,9oo canvases.Many of these paint-
ings have been exhibited in series as extensive as one year'sproduction,and
many have entered public and privatecollections either singly,in pairs,or in
groups. In contrast to the other works that form part of Kawara'stotal
oeuvre, the Today Series takesthe form of traditionalpainting.While preserv-
ing the conventions of two-dimensionality,rectilinearity,andpaintedsurface,
Oct. 31, 1978,TodaySeries("Tuesday")(fig. I), acquiredby the Art Institute
in 1980, exemplifies the way in which Kawara has redefined traditional
approachesto representionalimagery.1Furthermore,it raisesthe questionof
its place within contemporary developments in painting and within the
broaderspectrumof the artist'saestheticpractice. I. OnKawara
FIGURE born1933).
(Japanese,
Each of Kawara'spaintingsrepresentsa single day- the one designated Oct.Y3,1978,Today Series 1978.
("Tuesday"),
by the actualdate on which the work was made- and is consideredby him to Liquitexoncanvas; I55.8x 227.3cm.The
be a single component or detail of the TodaySeries as a whole. Letters, ofChicago,
ArtInstitute Twentieth-Century
numerals,and punctuationmarks,scaled to the size of the canvas,areplaced Purchase Fund(1980.2).Forthelasttwenty-five
years,theJapanese artistOnKawara
conceptual
laterallyacross its center.Although they give the impressionof havingbeen hasundertaken eachof
a seriesofpaintings,
stenciled,the letters of the month, renderedin capitalsand abbreviatedwhen whichrecordsthedateof itscreation.Almost
necessary,alongwith the numbersof the day andyear,areskillfully drawnby everyday,Kawara embarks ona newpainting,
handin white upon a darkbackground.The typeface, subjectivelychosen by largeorsmallinformat, whichhemayormay
the artist, subtly variesamong paintingsbut is not determinedby an objec- notfinishbytheendoftheday.Ifhedoesnot
tively definable rationaleor system. The earliest works in the series are a finishthecanvasinthatday,it isdestroyed.

121

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 I,
,jg
AN

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 cerulean blue, while others have been painted in red. For the most part,
however, the background hues of the paintings tend to be dark gray-browns,
gray-greens, or blues that verge on, but are never, black. Kawara applies four
or five layers of paint to the background of each canvas and uses an additional
six or seven layers of paint for the date. He obtains a rich matte surface but
effaces all traces of the activity of brushwork.
Always horizontal in format, the Today Series, or so-called "date paint-
ings," may be one of eight predetermined sizes, the smallest being 8 x io
inches (20.3 x 25.4 centimeters) and the largest 6i x 89 inches (155.8 x 227.3
centimeters), like the one belonging to the Art Institute. Aside from the fact
that a work must be started and completed on the actual day of its date, the
artist does not impose a preconceived system of production. When they are
small, as many as three paintings may be created in a day; on other days, none
may be painted at all. If not finished by the close of the day, the partially
completed painting is destroyed. Kawara, whose work has been exhibited
extensively in the United States, Europe, and his own native country, Japan,
and who has been based in New York City since the mid-sixties, travels
extensively. Thus, works of the easily manageable sizes are more likely to be
executed when the artist is away from home.
The significance of these paintings lies in the fact that they depict not
only a date, but also their own date. If, historically, paintings have been fixed
in time by a date on the front or back of the canvas, the date itself for Kawara
becomes the subject of the painting and the sole embodiment of the work's
viewofeightpaintings
FIGURE2. Installation figurative imagery. Each date painting, moreover, is unique if only by virtue
froma seriesof fifteenHaystacksthatClaude of its particular date. Despite the fact that paintings of dates necessarily
Monetpaintedin i89o-91,shownin the resemble each other, no combination of numerical or letter forms can ever be
exhibition"ADayin theCountry: Impression- identical with another. Letters and numbers, which may be perceived as
ismandtheFrenchLandscape,' on displayat
independent objects, allow an otherwise immaterial date to assume material
TheArtInstituteof Chicagoin 1984-85.In form. The date paintings thus succeed in turning abstract, temporal measure-
additionto haystacks,Monetuseda numberof
ment into the concrete reality of painting.
subjectsforhisseriespaintings,including
Because of their thematic involvement with temporality, the Today Series
cliffs,waterlilies,andRouenCathedral.
poplars,
Withineachseries,Monetexplored theeffect may tangentially be compared to the much earlier, nineteenth-century serial
of timeon a scenein nature. paintings of Claude Monet -to the fifteen Haystacks of I890-91, for example

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(see fig. 2). By working in series, Monet sought to capture the infinite, FIGURE 3.JasperJohns(American, born1930).
fleeting qualities of observed reality engendered by the ceaseless, but o through 9, 1959.Encaustic andcollageon
momentary, shifts in light - and, by extension, the passage of time-within canvas;52x 89cm.Aachen,NeueGalerie,
Sammlung Ludwig. Photocourtesy of theLeo
the static format of multiple canvases. Kawara, quite differently, is not con-
CastelliGallery,NewYork.Inhisnumberand
cerned with the specific effects of changing times on a given subject, as was of the 1950s,
alphabet paintings Johnsuseda
Monet, but seeks instead to depict the notion of time itself. painterlystyleto represent abstract
symbols.
The paintings of Kawara also may be viewed in comparison with the Muchof theinterestinJohns'so through 9 lies
number and alphabet paintings of the mid to late 195os by Jasper Johns (see in itsboldbrushwork; in contrast,
Kawara's date
fig. 3). For Johns, as for Kawara, the numeral or letter offered an already flat, paintings disguisetheartist'shand,thereby
abstract form as a subject for delineation, and, in the work of both artists, emphasizing theinformational aspectof the
these symbols achieve a visual self-sufficiency. With regard to the work of subjectmatter.
Johns, as opposed to that of Kawara, the number or letter is absorbed into
the dominant materiality of paint and brushwork. Johns subordinated
numerical or lexical symbols to the demands of painterliness rather than to
the demands of quantification or semantics. In canvases by Kawara, however,
numbers and letters retain their informational purpose. If, for Johns, num-
bers and letters used as formal images primarily played a painterly role, for
Kawara they maintain their symbolic function within the structure of a given
date, as well as within the structure of the painted surface per se.
The Today Series reflects Kawara's understanding of the critical issues
associated with painting that, as of the late 195os and early i960s, confronted
artists internationally. The date paintings acknowledge and elaborate upon
the significant ideas of artists such as Frank Stella or Robert Ryman in
America, or Piero Manzoni in Europe, while they introduce original and
unprecedented considerations of their own. At the end of the 1950s, in the
wake of Abstract Expressionism and the School of Paris, a number of artists
sought to revitalize painting, having found that the gestural handling of paint
characteristic of the decade had been drained of its original power and

THE DATEPAINTINGSOF ON KAWARA 123

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FIGURE 4. FrankStella(American, born1936).
Clinton Plaza,1959.Blackenamelon canvas;
251X189cm.Chicago, privatecollection.
Kawara's datepaintings arenotunlikeStella's
blackpaintings of thelate195osandRobert
Ryman's post-i957paintings(seefig. 5)in their
preoccupation withissuesof representation.
Clinton Plazamakesno clearreference to a
realityoutsidetheworkitself,leavingthe
viewerto wonderabouttheroleof illusion
in art.

meaning.Speakingin generalterms,it may be said that a numberof artistson

both sides of the Atlantic during this period sought to define a pictorial
surfaceas somethingtotally separatefrom any realityexternalto it. For this
reason, these artists aimed to negate forms of expressionovertly possessing
emotionalor transcendentalovertones.
The question of how to make a painting that might exist as its own,
nonreferentialreality may be seen as the most crucial considerationof the
yearsjust prior to Kawara'sfirst datepainting.An often quoted statementof
FrankStella'sis that in his paintings"only what can be seen is there,"andthat
there is nothing there "besides the paint on the canvas."2This statement
succinctly summarizesthe goals of those artistsdesiringto removepersonal
and illusionisticreferencesfrom painting.Stella'sblack paintingsof 1958-60
(see fig. 4), for example,display neither figurativerepresentationnor hier-
archicalcompositionalarrangement.They seek to conceal signs of the artist's
interventioninto the process of creationby eliminatingthe brushstrokewith
its tell-tale evidence of the artist'shand. Foregroundand backgroundmerge
in works that attemptto abolish illusionismof any kind.

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 Similarly,Robert Ryman took issue with earlierconcepts of painting,
maintainingas well that "whatpaintingis, is exactlywhat people see."3Since
1957,he has devoted himself to paintingswhose "image"is the paint surface
itself once it has been applied to its support (see fig. 5). "Thereis never a
questionof what to paint,"accordingto Ryman,"butonly how to paint.The
how of paintinghas alwaysbeen the image- the end product."4Paintingsby
Ryman are purely self-referentialin as much as they reflect only upon the
activitybehind their own painting.Canvasescoveredin white acrylicsuggest
the endless variationof surfacetexture brought about by the applicationof
paint.In works by Ryman,this applicationis observedas being the visual end
itself.
Beforehis death in 1963at the age of thirty,Piero Manzoni had come to
certain far-reachingconclusions, as his "Achrome"(meaning "no color")
paintingsattest.With the adventof his first Achromein 1957,Manzonibegan
to realizethe principlesof his painting,laterexpressedin his I960 text, "Free
Dimension":
It is not a questionof shapingthings, nor of articulatingmessages. ....For arenot
abstraction
fantasising, emptyfictions?Thereis nothingto be
andself-expression
said: there is only to be, to live.5
Ratherthan being painted,eachAchromesimply came"to be."The first
Achromeswere made from canvassquares,which were soaked in the white,
water-absorbantclay known as kaolin and then glued together side by side.
When dry, the kaolin-soakedcanvasbecame an earthy presence. Manzoni
embraceda rangeof differentmaterials- from cloth to fur to kaolin-covered
breadrolls-in his quest for a "white surfacethat is simply a white surface

FIGURE 5.RobertRyman(American, born

1930).TheElliottRoom:Charter V,1987.
Acryliconfiberglass withaluminum; 243x 243
cm.TheArtInstituteof Chicago, Giftof Gerald
Sincetheearlyi96os,
S. Elliott(1990.132.5).
RobertRymanhaspaintedexclusively in white,
exploring thesubtletyof its huesandcreating
worksthatinvitecontemplative attentionto the
natureandtextureof theirpaintedsurface.

THEDATEPAINTINGSOF ON KAWARA 125

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 and nothing else."6Although their means are as disparateas their results,
artistslike Stella,Ryman, and Manzoni havein common the basic motive of
endowing paintingwith its own reality,exemptfrom any figurative,compo-
sitional,or psychologicalreferences.
Worksin Kawara'sTodaySeriesdispensewith illusionisticreferencein a
mannerparallelto the paintingsof these threeartists.Thelettersandnumbers
of the day's date replace traditionalimagery and composition. Instead, the
placement and resulting "configuration"of abstractsymbols lead naturally
to "figuration,"while the conventionsof composition yield to the demands
of "composing"the date. Kawara'spaintings,like those of Stella, Ryman,
or Manzoni, are self-sufficient and self-reflexive statements.The elements
of each date serve as the curvilinearand linear parts of a coherent visual
viewofa datepainting
6.Installation
FIGURE
whole. In the sense that one cannot actually"see"a date, the paintingsoffer
fromtheToday byOnKawara.
Series Cincinnati
ArtMuseum, RSMCompany Photo:
Collection. no information about their relationshipto external reality,but within the
JohnVinci.While Kawara'sdatepaintings
are confines of the painted canvas,the date-otherwise a mere abstraction-
and
inthesensethatStella's
self-referential assumes a concrete form and shape.Within the very content of the work,
Ryman'sworks dorefer
are,theynevertheless therefore,the TodaySeriesdemonstrateshow a paintingcan be a self-reliant
toanoutside with
reality their The
dates.
presence,independentof (yet not disregarding)externalpoints of reference.
ofthedatepaintings
relation tothemeasure-
mentandrepresentationoftimeispowerfully By virtue of existing as a date, each painting by Kawaraasserts that it is
suggested viewfroma
bythisinstallation "present,"althoughparadoxicallyits date, perforce, refers to a time already
business where
office, Kawara'sMar21, 1975is past (see fig. 6).
surrounded a a
by calendar,message pad,and The solid backgroundhue of each date paintingvariesslightly from day
thatarenodoubtdated.
otherparaphernalia to day and may changefrom gray to blue or, occasionally,to red so that the

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 FIGURE7.AdReinhardt (American, i913-1967).
Abstract Painting# II, 1961-66.Oilon canvas;
152.4x 152.4cm.TheArtInstituteof Chicago,
Giftof Dr.andMrs.IrvingForman (1985.Io67).
Forthelastthirteenyearsof hislife,Ad
Reinhardt pushedhis abstractartto newlimits
in blackpaintings thatexamined themeans
of distilling
paintingto its ownessencewithin
a fieldof monochromatic color.Reinhardt's
approach to colorhasmuchin common with
thatof Kawara, whousesa uniformtonein
eachpaintingas hevariesthecolorfromwork
to work.

question arises as to what role color performs in these works. Stella's early
black paintings, Ryman's white paintings, and Manzoni's "colorless" works
similarly aim to avoid the representational, symbolic, or emotional associa-
tions that color can create. In the late 195os, the issue of color was explicitly
dealt with in contrasting manners by Ad Reinhardt in America and by Yves
Klein in Europe. Their similar use of one hue bears comparison with the
single background color of Kawara'sdate paintings, although in each instance
their ultimate intentions differ.
Whereas Reinhardt after 1953 began to paint only with black in order to
employ, like Manzoni, a "noncolor," Klein after 1957 turned to the almost
exclusive use of the deep, electric cobalt blue now known as "International
Klein Blue." With the desire to eradicate all extraneous and distracting visual
elements from painting, Reinhardt sought the reduction of color to noncolor
by pushing it to the edge of perception (see fig. 7). Klein operated in quite the
opposite spirit, attempting to elevate color to mythical proportions while
claiming that "through color, I experience a complete identification with
space, I am truly free."7 Reinhardt wrote that "there is something wrong,
irresponsible and mindless about color, something impossible to control."8
Klein, however, declared that "before the colored surface one finds oneself
directly before the matter of the soul."' From opposite vantage points, both
artists defined painting as a reality unto itself, with Reinhardt wishing to
distill it to its own essence1o and Klein believing that "paintings are living,
autonomous presences.""'1Reinhardt viewed color as an interference in the
expression of purity, while Klein considered it the means of envisioning an
infinite and immaterial reality outside of "the psychological world of our
inherited optics."12

THEDATEPAINTINGSOF ON KAWARA 127

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FIGURE 8.OnKawara. Cardboard boxand Kawara'sattitudetoward color falls in between the opposing aesthetic
newspapersforOct.3Y,1978,Today Series positions of Reinhardtand Klein. In contrast to both, Kawaramakes no
("Tuesday') AnneRorimer.
(seefig.i). Photo: claim for color in either a positive or negativeway. He neither attempts to
Inthisfigureandthenext,wecanseean
of ofeachdateon suppress it nor does he espouse a belief in its power to surpass mundane
expressiontheparticularity
which Kawara paints.Eachofthedatepaintings reality.Color, for Kawara,indicatesthe subtractionof light.The white letter-
is accompaniedbyanewspaper (or,asinthe ing and colored backgroundof the date paintings,alludes,in essence, to the
caseoffig.9,a portion ofa newspaper)from contrastbetween the light of day and the dark of night.13While color lends
thedayandplacethatKawara paintedthework. definitionto objects,it may also carrywith it symbolic or emotionalassocia-
tions; but in Kawara'swork, color does not carry such associations,and can
be analyzed, finally, only in terms of saturation,value, or hue. Within its
painted context, the color of each work is as unequivocalas its date, and no
two paintingsare exactly alike.
The question of how color might relate to the events of the day or to
Kawara'sstate of mind-the question, that is, of why the artist chooses a
certaincolor for a datepainting- cannot be definitivelyanswered.Whethera
date paintingis brightred or darkblue or one of many dark graysmakesno
thematicdifferenceexceptfor the fact of differenceitself. Slightchangesfrom
one gray to another,as well as greatershifts from gray to blue or red, spare
these works from any dogmatism.Rather,the backgroundcolor of the date
paintings,unspecifiedwith regardto particularassociations,allows for infi-
nite diversity.A red or blue is as meaningfulas one of the many variedtones
of grayfound in the majorityof date paintings.
By imposing limits but not restrictionson his choice of color, Kawara
establishesan endless potential for nuance.The unlimited variationof color
means that the artist's choice of shade or hue loses its explicit meaning.
Subjectivityand objectivity of selection cancel out each other, for the subtle
differentiationin color leads to the appearanceof sameness while simulta-

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neously disprovingit. Becausepigmentationis an elementof perceptionthat
"colors" whatever is seen in an inexplicablebut multifacetedmanner,the
color of each date painting, like its date, may elicit certain thoughts but
remainsa qualityunto itself without referringto particularideas or feelings.
The indeterminabledegreeto which physiologicaland psychologicalfactors
play a part in humanvision thus enhancesthe dual sense of factualimme-
diacy and impenetrablemystery manifestedby these works.
Kawara'sdatepaintingsarebased on a realityexperiencedas the tempo-
ral segments that record the continuous change from night to day and vice
versa. Each work possesses a subtitle and, also, is accompaniedeither by a
hand-madecardboardbox that contains a newspaperof that day from the
city where the work was painted (see fig. 8), or by a portion of a newspaper
page that is glued to the inside lid of the box (see fig. 9). The subtitlesrange
in content from long quotations to short phrases, from a notation of a
personalthought to an internationalevent. In recent years,they merely have FIGURE 9. OnKawara. Dec.I7, 1979,Today
stated the day of the week. The box affirms the painting'sdefinition as an Series("Monday")(withcardboard boxand
newspaper),1979.Liquitexon canvas;46.2x
object in its own right,while the subtitlesand newspaperanchorthe work of
art to - while juxtaposingit with - the existing, daily reality. 61.7cm.NewYork,TheMuseumof Modern
Art,BlanchetteRockefeller
Fund.As thisfigure
The inclusion of a newspaper or section of a newspaper in the box shows,a datepaintingmaybe displayed in
belongingto eachpaintingaccentuatesthe dichotomy between art andevery- conjunctionwithits accompanying newspaper
day actualitywhile simultaneouslylinking them together.The fact that the andbox.

I I] VAL

THE DATEPAINTINGSOF ON KAWARA 129

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 FIGUREIO.PabloPicasso(Spanish,1881-1973).
Bottleof VieuxMarc,Glass,Newspaper,
19i3.
Charcoal andpastedpapers;62.6x 46.9cm.
Paris,LeMuseenational d'artmoderne.
Kawara's useof newspapers hasa distinguished
lineage:Picassodrew fromthem
inspiration
duringtheearlypartof thecentury, andAndy
Warhol (seefig.11)usedthemin the i96osto
comment on thepervasiveness
ironically of
mass-produced images.

boxed newspaper may or may not be exhibited with its painting emphasizes
the independence and interdependence of the two. Since the early part of this
century, when Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso introduced newsprint into
their collages (papiers colles), the daily newspaper has acted as a representa-
tive from the nonart, material world, as distinct from the fictional world of
the painted canvas or drawing. In Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Newspaper of
1913 (fig. io), Picasso, interestingly enough, curtailed the word "Journal"
(newspaper) to "Jour" (day), perhaps as an "in" joke within the work, since
the penciled bottle of marc is "vieux" (old) while the newsprint pertains to
that day. In contradistinction to the artists of Cubist collage, who integrated
newspaper fragments into an overall pictorial fabric, Kawara deliberately
keeps the newpaper physically separate from the painting. Metaphorically
drawing a distinct line between the reality of art and nonart, Kawara none-
theless refers to their "real," if intangible, connection. Painting and news-
paper are thus cross-referenced by Kawara without being literally grafted
together.
The newspaper accompanying the date paintings grounds them in the
world of constant flux and continuing events (as opposed to the supposed
"timeless" context of art). In this regard, one is reminded of paintings by
Andy Warhol of the early i96os that depict front-page headlines from tab-

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loids or newspapers (see fig. ii). In Warhol's case, the newspaper provided
already existing mass-produced, gripping, nonart imagery with an emphasis
on shock-value. For Kawara, the newspaper is not subject matter for direct
translation into painting as it is for Warhol, but rather is a temporal gauge of
ongoing, daily reality. The newspaper is part of a date painting in its entirety,
but remains in its own nonart domain at the same time, thereby providing a
link to those phenomena-however down-to-earth yet ungraspable they
may be-that, available to all, transpire from day to day. In addition, the
conjunction of newpaper and date painting substitutes for the artist's hand-
written signature an "authoritative" mark of validation based on real, if
sensational, occurences.
Transitional works by Kawara of the early I960s suggest artistic interests
that would culminate in the date paintings. A work entitled Nothing, Some-
thing, Everything (fig. 12), for example - one of hundreds of drawings of this
period - anticipates the Today Series in various ways. Black, Letraset, capital
letters form the word "something." A pencil line encloses the letters within a
rectangular perimeter that follows the shape of the paper. The word "some-

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FIGURE II. AndyWarhol (American,

1928-
1987).A BoyforMeg,1962.Synthetic polymer
on canvas;182.9 x 132cm.Washington, D.C.,
NationalGallery of Art(1971.87.11).
Photo
courtesyof theLeoCastelliGallery,
NewYork.

THEDATE
PAINTINGS
OFONKAWARA131

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 thing" is singled out, isolated, aggrandized. As the subject of pictorial repre-
sentation, it stands alone and demands consideration as to exactly what it
might stand for: a quantity or an object? For how much or what? Literally
out of context and therefore providing no supporting verbal information, the
letters of Nothing, Something, Everything assume a visual form. Set within
the outline of the traditional rectangular format, they come to be "read" as
shapes. The word, therefore, becomes the subject of the picture as both a
two-dimensional object and as an abstract signifier.
A drawing entitled Egg (1964), whose capital letters, outlined in pencil,
nearly fill a rectangular penciled boundary, and a 1964 drawing called Rulers,
depicting two suspended yardsticks, similarly set the stage for Kawara's
major work to come. The three letters spelling "egg" proclaim their
independence as visual elements that still partake in the creation of verbal
meaning. Rulers subtly confronts the question of perspective and illusion.
The yardsticks, drawn in pencil, appear to hang at different distances from
the spectator, in the space of a sketchily implied room, because the left-hand
ruler, appearing closer, is longer than the right-hand one. By having drawn
FIGURE 12. OnKawara. Nothing,Something, tools, which in practical life convey precise information about reality, Kawara
Everything, 1963.Letrasetandpencilon paper;
points to the paradoxical nature of two-dimensional representation. In this
20.5x 30.5cm.Photocourtesy of theartist.
drawing the two rulers have significance solely as pictorial elements, and not
Earlyin his career,Kawarabeganto use as useful implements that register distance factually. As such, they "rule out,"
languageas a subjectforhisdrawings and
otherworks.Theword"something" hereexists so to speak, the false rendition of three-dimensional space by revealing its
outsidea clearverbalcontext,andtherefore fictitious nature. In these early works, image and language merge as "some-
assumesa compelling visualdimension. thing" or "egg" on the pictorial plane, which, as Rulers reminds us, remains

SSO METING

132 RORIMER

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 6
,\,,??
o--c;ka~t
A~o
..'1 . foE-k 4~?,~o:

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flat despite its potential ability to deceive. Having rejected the use of illusion- FIGURE 13. On Kawara.Questions:"Give
istic devices, these drawings foreshadow the literal and factual quality of the Sentences...," 1964.Pencilon paper;35.5x 43
cm.Photocourtesyof theartist.Kawara's
ensuing date paintings.
Other works preceding the date paintings, such as Questions: "Give understanding of thevisualpatterning
ofwords
is evidentin thisearlywork,wherethemyriad
Sentences..." (fig. 13) and Code (1965), lend further insight into Kawara's
forsentenceswiththeverb"to
possibilities
artistic method. The former work presents two columns of different idioms, take"arelistedmatter-of-factly.
handwritten within a square, using the verb "to take" as a point of departure
for phrases such as to take off, to take out, to take part in, etc. Written above
the two columns is the directive, "Give sentences with the following." Pro-
vided with the building blocks for producing endless sentences, the viewer
nonetheless has access only to what is visibly there, to the pattern made by
the handwritten words. The latter work, Code, translates the text of a narra-
tive into horizontal lines comprised of colored markings. Resembling a kind
of generic script, they forfeit their original verbal content. Even if a computer
were to break the code by translating the colors determined by the artist into
words, the answer to the question, inherent in this piece, as to what distin-
guishes one form of meaning from another - the verbal or the visual - would
not ultimately be answered. Evolving from works such as these, the date

THEDATEPAINTINGS
OFONKAWARA 133

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 PARIS ET SES
5478 - L'eglise de la Madeleine (1806).
'
30 19J76
JIN MERVEILLES,

I GOTUP AT.RANK ONEGAN

1018 A.M 221 E. 28 THST.
SAPT. 15-
NEW
i0.i. YORK
.. 6---
- ...... N.Y.
............
..........................
- 10016,
FIGURE14. OnKawara.
I GotUpat io. 8A.M,
1976.Rubber-stamped inkon postcard.Photo On KawaraTATS
courtesyof theartist.Forelevenyears,Kawara Hotel Le ET-- UNIS
U-
senta seriesof postcardsto selectedpeople Royal
whenhe beganeachday.Eachof
212. Bd. Raspail I
announcing 75014 Paris
Kawara'spostcards andtelegrams (seefig.15) Franceo ouction
LECONTE
marked clearlythedateandplaceof its origin,
------
andfunctioned as partof anongoingseries.

paintings rely on the components of written communicationin order to

maketheirparticularvisual statement.
Paintingsby Kawara,with their stark and striking presentationof the
date on which each was created,point to the moment of their genesis and
thus demarcatetheir own place within the span of history.If, on one level, a
date is mute as an image,on anotherlevel it standsfor the infinite numberof
events- from the most personalto the most universal- that "takeplace"on
specific dates. Like temporal signposts, the date paintings emblematically
punctuate their environment,whether they are inserted into the midst of
other works of art or isolated on a wall by themselves.
By means of his art, Kawarabrings time-which may be thought of as
the major organizationalforce behind human experience and conscious-
ness- into tangible, representationalview. In addition to the TodaySeries,
Kawara'sactivity as an artist encompasses a number of other significant,
ongoing works that similarlyseek to position themselves- and by extension,
the viewer-with referenceto his own, ultimatelyfinite lifespan,invisibly set

134 RORIMER

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against the background of spatial and temporal infinity. Since 1966, in tandem
with the introduction of the date paintings, Kawara has maintained a series of
loose-leaf notebooks that comprise a work entitled I Read. Sequential pages,
correlated with each day of the year on which he has made a painting, contain
clippings from the daily press, which Kawara glues on a single, standard sheet
of ordinary graph paper stamped with the day, month, and year. The early
clippings for I Read provided Kawara with the subtitles for the paintings of
that particular day and, in this way, initially inspired the idea for this work.
Additionally, the clippings are taken from newspapers published in the place
where the date painting was done.
Furthermore, each day since 1968 Kawara has kept a similar series of
notebooks to form the work I Went, as well as a work in the same notebook
format called I Met. The former group of notebook volumes contains a
record of the artist's itinerary that he marks in red ink on a xeroxed map of
the city where he happens to be. Documenting his daily course along city
streets, Kawara translates his movement from one destination to another
(necessitated by errands, sightseeing, or the normal demands of life in gen-
eral) into the planar linearity of drawing. The latter set of volumes consist of
individual pages, also stamped with the date, on which Kawara has typed the
name(s) of anyone known to him whom he might have encountered through-
out the twenty-four hour period. In this work, language, in place of line,
reveals those points of interpersonal contact that connect over time to form a
social framework for individual existence. Kept together by the artist, these
three works (I Read, I Went, and I Met) bring abstract time into view vis-a"-
vis the concrete reality of people, places, or events by utilizing available
systems of representation - the news media, maps, or proper names - to
formally convey their content.
Kawara also takes advantage of existing modes of communication to
deliver, quite literally, his aesthetic message. From 1968 until 1979, he consis-
tently mailed a series of postcards, one per day, to two selected people. In

IZ 10 NANNUCOI,,
LT MAUR
Mn.3 0-EOd i 719 7

S
____________
God.092200
4 FIRENZE
CSMELA VIA MARSALA

~
nn mnn L
Onninnnidet

n,", e
15 21 11Q1i
2ZCZC Z OZC1i LMF444 HONGKSN n?? nnut ortu! 'fi, 9

..... ...
0nI oAMSTILL ALIVE SN KAWARA

FIGURE15. On Kawara.IAm StillAlive, 1978.

Photocourtesyof theartist.
Telegram.

OFONKAWARA 135
THEDATEPAINTINGS

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136 RORIMER

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every case, the cardspresenta typical,horizontalscene from, or overviewof,
the place where Kawarawas living or visiting at the time (see fig. 14).The
recipient of a card would thus be informed as to the artist'sgeographical
whereabouts by means of a pictorial short-hand image from a particular
location.On the other side of the card,Kawarastampedthe time, to the exact
minute, at which he startedthe day,prefacedby "I got up at."The custom of
sending postcards,in essence, provided him with a method for questioning
the "timelessness"of art, allowinghim insteadto emphasizeits potential as a
vehicle for communicationand representationover its (market)value as a
permanent,preciousobject."4
Telegrams(and, more recently, Mailgrams), which Kawara has sent
intermittentlysince 1970 to selected recipients,likewise rely on modern-day
modes of communication(see fig. i5). The urgent message from the artist
reads, "I am still alive,"remindingthe receiverof the brevity of individual
existence. Kawarademonstrates,as well, the fact that a work of art need not
be restrictedto traditionalrepresentationalforms, or exist as a singularand
unique object, or be acquiredthrough the commercialchannels of buying
and selling.
Two works, One Million Years-Past (fig. I6) and One Million Years-
Future(fig. 17),convey the vast,yet measurable,expanseof time from 998031
B.C. through A.D. 1969and from A.D. 1981 through IooI98o.'1Nine rows
of sequentiallytyped columns of individualyears,separatedby decade,cover
the white, 81/2 X II-inch pages that are contained within the two sets of
notebooks, numbering ten volumes apiece. By representing the last one
million years and the next million to follow within the real space of a book
or, more precisely, within a "volume,"in the double sense of the word,
Kawara imbues the otherwise immaterial concept of time with concrete
materiality.As in all of his works, numbersand letters fuse their symbolic,
representationalpurpose with their function as visual shapes. In this way,
Kawaraintegratesphysical form with thematiccontent in the realizationof
works that illustratethe humancapacityto grasptime and space in abstract,
visible terms.

FIGURE16.OnKawara.
PagesfromOneMillion
Years-Past,1969.Photocourtesyof theartist.
Thisworkandits companion piece,OneMillion
Years-Future (fig.17),visualizea vastexpanse
of timein theconcretetermsof numerical
herecontained
representation, withinthese
massivevolumes.

FIGUREI7. OnKawara. OneMillion Years--

Future,1981.Photocourtesyof theartist.

THEDATEPAINTINGSOF ON KAWARA 137

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Notes 12.TheBustof CardinalAntonioBarberiniwasfirstidentifiedby Lavin(note
io), pp. 138-39.
13. Forthe bust,whichis in the Museodi Roma,see FrancescoMochi(note
4), p. 71, no. 18.
"ANewAttribution
WARDROPPER, to FrancescoMochi"pp. 102-119.
14.Lavin(note ic), pp. 137-38.V. Martinelli,"Alcuneopereineditedi Fran-
i. Thebustmeasures40.5cm high,33cmwide,and29 cmdeep;withits socle Arti Figurativi2 (1946),pp. 72-79, proposeda laterdating.
cesco Mochi',"
it is 69 cm high.It is not clearwhetherthe socleis originalto the bust.It was
not used to displaythe bustwhenphotographed in 1917(see note I5),when 15.CharlesOulmont,"CollectionM. E Gentilidi Giuseppi',"
LesArts 162
it appearedon a standcoveredwithbrocadedvelvet.Thesilhouette,however, ('917),
p. i8.
is compatiblewith periodsocles (see fig. 13),and Mochiis knownto have i6. See Lavin(note o0).
usedblackmarblesocles(seefig. ii). AnthonyRothfirstproposedidentifying
thisbustas Mochi's,andhe contributed manyideasin supportof thisattribu- 17. See Wittkower
(note4), p. 199, no. 31.
tion.A numberof scholarshavegenerouslyofferedobservations on the bust, i8. See, forexample,NewYork,TheMetropolitan Museumof Art, TheArt of
and I wouldparticularly like to thankJenniferMontagu,AnthonyRadcliffe,
Caravaggio,exh. cat. (I985),no. 66; or MaurizioFagulodell'Arco,Bernini:
andDianeDavid. Unaintroduzione al gran teatrodel baroco(Rome,1967),nos. 40, 248.
RudolfWittkower,
2. Art andArchitecture in Italy:i6ro- 170, 3rded. (Har- 19. UlrichMiddeldorf,Sculptures from the SamuelH. KressCollection:
Euro-
mondsworth
andBaltimore,1973),p. 85-.
pean Schools,Fourteenthto NineteenthCenturies(Londonand New York,
3. HowardHibbard,Bernini(Harmondsworth
andBaltimore,1971),p. 84. 1976), pp. 23-24, figs. 43-44; John Pope-Hennessy, Catalogueof Italian
Sculpturein theVictoriaandAlbertMuseum(London,1964),no. 176,fig. 187.
4. In responseto the fundamental studyby RudolfWittkower, GianLorenzo
Bernini:TheSculptorof theRomanBaroque,2nd ed. (London,1966),Irving 2c. See MarietteL. Fransolet,FrancoisDuquesnoy,
sculpteurd'UrbainVIII,
Lavinhasmaderevolutionary contributions
rangingfromtheredatingof early I197-1643(Brussels,1942).
worksin "FiveNew YouthfulSculpturesby Gian LorenzoBerniniand a di GianAntonioe EugenioBianchi,Fran-
21. G. Fiori,"Notiziebiographiche
RevisedChronology" Art Bulletin 50o,3 (970), to a synthetic cescoMochie GiulioMazzoni,BolletinoStoricoPiacentino(Jan.-Junei98o),
PP-223-48,
analysisof the works'meaningin Berniniand the Unityof tbe VisualArts pp. 63-75.
(NewYorkandLondon,i980). Recentstudiesof Algardihavebeen crowned
22. See Lavin(note ic).
by JenniferMontagu'sAlessandro Algardi(NewHaven,Conn.,and London,
1985). WhileMochistill lacksa majormonograph, the cataloguespublished
23. GiovanniBattistaPasseri,Vitedepittori,scultoried architetticbebanno
aroundthe anniversary of his birthin I980advancedknowledgeof his career, lavoratoin Roma.. .(772; reprint,LeipzigandVienna,1934),p. 133.
Francesco
particularly Mochi,1y8o-I654, exh. cat. (Florence,1981).
Romavistada Roma(Rome,1967),pp. 150-53,415-16.This
24. C.D'Onofrio,
5. See JackSpalding,Santi di Tito (New York,1982). An excellentrecent possibilitywas suggestedby DianeDavidin a letterto the author.
overviewis AnthonyRadcliffeandCharlesAvery,Giambologna, Iy29- i6c8.
BarberiniDocumentsand Inventoriesof Art
25. MarilynAronberg-Lavin,
Sculptorto theMedici,exh.cat. (London,1978).
(NewYork,1975).
6. In additionto G. Fiocco'sbasic studyon Marianiin LeArti 3 (194c-41),
M. C. DonatiexaminedMariani,Maderno,and Mochiin "Gliscultoridelle 26. Italianby birth,Gentiledi Giuseppelivedin Parisearlyin the twentieth
Hewroteoccasionalarticleson art,suchas "Apropositodella'Morte
CappellaPaolinain S. M.Maggiore," Commentari2-3 (1967),pp. 231-60.See century.
also A. NavaCellini,"StefanoMaderno,FrancescoVannie GuidoRenia S. dellaVergine'attribuitaa Giotto,"
Rassegnad'arte15(1915),pp. 187-88.His
Ceciliain Trastevere," collectionwasprimarilyItalianpaintingsof the RenaissanceandBaroque,but
Paragone20 (1969), no. 227, p. i8f; and RogerCraig
also includednorthernpainting(byPeterPaulRubensandothers),as wellas
Burns,"CamilloMariani:Catalystof the Sculptureof the RomanBaroque"
some sculpture,such as a terracottastudyattributedto Bernini.Someof his
(Ph.D.diss.,JohnsHopkinsUniversity,I980).
worksnow in importantcollectionsincludeEl Greco'sHoly Familyin the
7. Theseobservations weremadeby Maddalena
DeLucaSavelliin Francesco ClevelandMuseumof Art,Gentileda Fabriano's Madonnain the Museumof
Mochi(note4), p. 40, no. 3. FineArts,Houston,andtwoCanalettovedutasin TheArtInstituteof Chicago
8. Fora discussionof the equestrianmonuments,particularly
with regardto (whichenteredthe collectionmuchearlierthanthe Bustof a Youth).
theirrecentconservation, see Bologna,MuseoCivicoArcheologico, I bronzi
di Piacenza:Rilievi e figure di FrancescoMochidai monumentiequestri
farnesiani,exh.cat. (1986).See also GaetanoPantaleoni,
II Barocodel Mocbhi "TheDatePaintingsof On Kawara,"'
RORIMER, pp. 120-137.
nei CavalliFarnesiani(Piacenza,1975).
Thisarticleis basedon an earlieressaypublishedin LeConsortium
Dijon,On
9. See IrvingLavin,Berniniand theCrossingof St. Peters(NewYork,1968). Kawara,exh. cat. (1985).
Togetherwith Bernini'sand Mochi'ssculptures,Duquesnoy'sSaintAndrew i. This paintingwas exhibitedin the museum's73rdAmericanExhibition,
andAndreaBolgi'sSaintHelenacompletedthe planforfourstatues.See also
June 9-August 5, 1979,organizedby A. JamesSpeyerand Anne Rorimer,
JenniferMontagu,"A Modelby FrancescoMochifor the 'SaintVeronica,"'
alongwith otherworksby Kawara.It was installednextto anotherpainting
BurlingtonMagazine124 (July1982), pp. 432-36. of the same size, July 16, i969, TodaySeries("NeilArmstrong,EdwinE.
io. IrvingLavin,"Duquesnoy's'Nanodi Crequi'andTwoBustsby Francesco Aldrin,Jr.,MichaelCollins"),whichwas paintedon the dayof the launching
Mochi,'Art Bulletin52 (1970),p. 144. of the Apollo11to the moon,as its subtitle(whichnamesthe astronautsof
thatvoyage)suggests.
II. See, forexample,C. GnudiandDenisMahon,II Guercino(Bologna,1968),
p. 163f;LosAngelesCountyMuseumof Art,GuidoReni,i175- 642,exh.cat. 2. Quotedin Gregory Battcock,ed., MinimalArt:A CriticalAnthology(New
(1988). York,1968),p. 157.
FORPAGES103-125
NOTES 179

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
3. Quoted in Phyllis
Tuchman, "AnInterview
withRobert Artforum Oeuvres sur
papier, exh. cat. (1984), no. 106. The drawing bears a
strange
Rvman,"
(May1971),p. 53. inscription on the bottom, "Esquisse 1937," labeling it as a sketch on the
drawing itself, a unique occurrence in Chagall's work. Such information is
4. Quotedin Christel Sauer,"Robert
Ryman: in Zurich,
Introduction," InK. usual y writ en later on the back of a mount (e.g., no. 104), either when a work
Hallefir internationale
neueKunst,Robert
Ryman, exh.cat.(1980),
p. 15. is catalogued or when it is sent of for exhibition. The drawing also contains
al of the details of the original work, in contradistinction to Chagall's usual
5. Quotedin London, TateGallery,
PieroManzoni: Reliefsand
Paintings,
sketching method (e.g., nos. 12, 30-32, 37, 15, 129), even when the sketch
Objects,exh.cat.(0974),
P.47. is blocked-out cartoon for It thus
a a
painting (e.g., nos.
76-77). se ms logical
6. Ibid. to conclude that the sketch was drawn after rather than for the painting.
Chagall's practice of making sketches after his paintings is amply docu-
7.QuotedinYvesKlein,"TheMonochrome inHouston,
Adventure," Institute mented, although this is not always acknowledged (e.g., nos.
38, i0 ). If the
fortheArts,RiceUniversity,
Yves ARetrospective,
Klein,1928-1i962, exh.cat. sketch was done at the time Chagall changed the painting, it would also
(1982-83),p. 220. explain his mistake in dating, as though he were
trying to remember afterward
when it had be n painted.
8.Quoted
inMargit "AdReinhardt:
Rowell, StyleasRecurrence',"
inNewYork,
Mever (note and
Solomon
R.Guggenheim
Museum,AdReinhardtandColor,
exh.cat.(I98c), 5. 3), p. 414, p. 609 n.
9.

P.23. 6. Cabiers dart 15, 1-2 (1940), p. 34. There is no

photograph of the painting
in the catalogue for this show at the Galerie Mai in Paris (Jan. 26-Feb. 26,
9.YvesKlein,"TheWar:A LittlePersonal oftheMonochrome"'
Mythology in Alexandre Benois's which the exhibition
194.) However, review, accompanied
Institute
Houston, fortheArts,RiceUniversity
(note7),P.218. in Cabiers dart, (but does not that the
photographs suggests state) original
details stil visible (se cited in
io. SeeNewYork,Solomon
R.Guggenheim
Museum
(note8),p.26. were
quotation on
page 143, note 16).

This could have be n either before Chagall moved to Gordes in Easter 1940
11.Kleinquotedin Houston,
Institute
fortheArts,RiceUniversity
(note7), 7.
or
during the year he remained there, while the Germans occupied France.
p. 221. this the in his hands.
During time, painting was

12.Ibid.,p. 224. Mever and Sidnev Mlarc

8. (note 3), p. 4'1-,2; Alexander, Chagall (New

13.Suggested bytheartistin conversation

withtheauthor, January 1985. 0ork, 1978), p. 327, 332-33.
9. Liturgi-al Arts 12 (May 194 ), 65. Although the painting se ms to have
14.Theseriesstoppedin 1979,whentherubber stampKawara usedon the
be n exhibited the United
p.
between and
in States 1941 (Marc Chagall,
postcardswasstolenfromhis briefcase in Stockholm. Thisworkmaybe i946
"Chronology"' p. j, typescript, Museum of Modern Art Library, New York), I
resumed someday. SeeStockholm, Moderna Museet, OnKawara: continuitv/ have be n unable to find a a or of
catalogue listing, description, photograph
discontinuity,
I963-i79, exh. cat. p.
(1980-81), IO5. it preceding 194 . However, it se ms unlikely that the changes were made at

that date in fact, in New York. A pre-New York dating is also suggested
15.Thebeginning/concluding
or,
datesvaryaccording to the yearin which
the fact that similar "smudged" "Ich bin Jude" signs in other works
Kawara startedthevolumes. OneMillionYears-Pastexistsin twelveedi- by appear
executed in New York-such as The )Ml ow Cru*cifi on of 194' (lower right)
tions,whileeditions
of OneMillionYears-Future arestillin progress,
eight and The of (main (se Mever and
Cruciped 194 figure) [note 3 , P. 456-57;
orninehavingbeencompleted. Lionel o Venturi, York, -but there are no
Chagall [.New 194 5, pl. 59) photo-
graphs to indicate that these signs were altered rather than painted that way
from the start.

AMISHAI-MAISELS, White
"Chagall's Crucifixion,"
pp.138-153. io. Chagall, "Chronologv" (note 9), p. 3; and James Johnson Sweenev, lMarc
Chagall (New York, 1946), p. 62.
I. See,forexample, Fr.A.-M.,"Tune feraspasd'images," L'Artsacr (July-
Ii. Se , for Gerhard Schoenberner, The Star (London,
Aug.i96i),pp.7-8;JeanCassou, (London,
Chagall 1965),pp.240-48;Jean- example, Mel ow 1969),
PaulCrespelle, i8-i9; and Reichental, "Arbeit Macht Frei"
Chagall(NewYork,1970),P.214;Walter Erben, MarcChagall p. Fr. (Bratislava, 1946), pl. i.

(London, I966),pp.112-16;Raissa Maritain, L'Art

"Chagall," sacr (July-Aug. 12.
Encnclopedia judaica, vol. 8 (Jerusalem, 1971), p. 839.
1950),pp. 26-30;Cornelia SiissmanandIrvingSiissman, "Marc Chagall,
PainteroftheCrucified,"TheBridgei (1955), Abraham "Al Tira Avdi Ya'akov" not servant
pp.96-117;Hans-Martin Roter- ,3. Walt, ("Fear mv Jacob"),
Poemen
mund,"DieGekreuzigte inWerkChagalls," Mouseion:Studien ausKunst und Lieder un (in Yiddish), Vol. 2 (New York, 1938), p. 284-86.
Geschichtefiir OttoH. Firster(Cologne,1960),pp.265-75;andAllynWein- 14. Chagall had just finished his major painting, Revolution of 1937, celebrat-
stein,"Iconography of Chagall,"
Kenyon Review16(1954), pp.41-45. ing the Russian Revolution and its aftermath, in which he had taken part as

2.Forcomparisons Commissar for Art in Vitebsk. Se Mever (note

withRussian icons,seeMiraFriedman,"IconPainting and 3), P. 392, 412-14.
Russian Popular ArtasSources of SomeWorks byChagall"'Journal ofJewish 15. David G. Roskies, Against the Apocalpse (Cambridge, Mas ., 1984), p.
Art 5 (1978),P. 96. Forcompositions withcompartmentalized descriptive 32-3 ; and Jfidrash Rabbah: Lamentations, trans. A. Cohen (London, 1939),
scenes arounda mainimage,see TamaraTalbot-Rice, A ConciseHistoryof PP?42-43-?
RussianArt (London,1963),p. 73.Thistraditionwouldalsohavebeenknown
to ChagallfromByzantineand Westernmedievalsources:see KurtWeitz- 16.AlexandreBenois,"LesExupositions:
Chagall,Oeuvres recentes,"
Cabiers
mann,ManolisChatzidakis, KrstoMiatev,andSvetozarRadojcic,Iconsfrom inthetextarebytheauthor.
d'art15,I-2(1940),p.33.Alltranslations
SouthEasternEuropeand Sinai (London,I968),pl. 76; andPaolod'Ancona, I7.L.Leneman,"Marc Chagallwegen zeineChristus-figurenalsSymbol
fun
LesPrimitifsitaliensdu XIeau XllIe siecles(Paris,i935),figs. 12, 14, 3I, 54. Martyrertum,"
Y'idishe L'nzer
Wo~rt (inYiddish)(Jan.22,I977),P?4?
3. Cabiersd'art 5-IO(1939),P. I52;andParis,GalerieMai,Chagall,exh. 18.Hugh Thomas,Goyla:Th~e
Th~irdofitay;808(New York, I973\,PP-
Ir-r4;
cat. (i940), no. I4,
I. On Chagall'ssystem of dating,see RaymondCogniat, andGeorge Grosz,
Hintergrund (Berlin,I928),pl. I0.SeealsoBoardman
Chagall(Paris,i965),p. 6; andFranzMeyer,MarcChagall(NewYork,I963), Robinson's cartoon
1916 inwihich themanofpeace,
Jesus, isshotasadeserter;
pp. io-ii, 599n. 3. andBohdan Nowak'sUn~known Soldierof r930inD.J.R.Bruckner, Sevinour
Chwast,andStev?en
Heller,A-rtagainst
Itar(NLew York, 1984),pp.soilr,
76.
4. Cahiersd'art(note3);andParis,CentreGeorgesPompidou,
MarcChagall,

180 NOTES FOR PAGES 126-145

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