Jasper Johns Figure 6 1969 ULAE 65 Original Signed Color Lithograph

Jasper Johns
Figure 6 (ULAE 65), 1969
color lithograph on Arjomari paper
image: 27 ½ x 21 ¼ inches
paper: 38 x 31 inches
frame: 42 x 35 inches
edition: 40 + 12 AP's, 1 PP
signed & dated "J.Johns 1969" in red pencil lower right recto
numbered in pencil lower left recto 
published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, with their blindstamp and inkstamp on  reverse

Condition
Pristine condition, the colors fresh, the margins full. 
Floated archival blonde wood frame with UV plexiglass.

Literature
Michael Crichton, Jasper Johns, Harry N.Abrams, Inc./The Whitney Museum of Art, New York, 1977, plate 139, n.p., another impression reproduced.
Carlo Huber, Jasper Johns: Graphik, Verlag Klipstein und Kornfeld, Bern, 1970, plate 110, n.p., another impression reproduced in color.
Shigeo Chiba, Jasper Johns Prints Exhibition 1960–1989, Tokyo, 1990, Japan Art and Culture Association/Kokusai Geijutsu Bunka Shinkokai, n.p., plate 8, another impression reproduced.
Michel Butor, Kathleen Slavin, Jasper Johns Gravures Dessins 1960-1991, Foundation Vincent Van Gogh, 1992, no. 7, pg. 52, another impression reproduced in color.
Richard Field, The Prints of Jasper Johns 1960-1993: A Catalogue Raisonne, ULAE, New York, 1994, Catalogue Reference ULAE 65, n.p., another impression reproduced full-page color.
Susan Lorence, Technique and Collaboration in the Prints of Jasper Johns, Castelli Gallery, New York, 1996, Catalogue Reference 12g, n.p., another impression reproduced in black and white.
Roberta Bernstein, Carter E. Foster, Jasper Johns Numbers, Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003, pg. 79, another impression reproduced in color.
Carlos Basualdo, Scott Rothkopf, Jasper Johns Mind/Mirror, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2021, another impression reproduced plate 46, pg. 86.

Exhibited
Kunsthalle, Bern, Die Grafik Jasper Johns, April 17-May 29, 1971, another impression exhibited.
Whitney Museum of America Art, New York, Jasper Johns, October 18, 1977-January 22, 1978, another impression exhibited.
The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Prints Exhibition 1960–1989, Traveled to The Seibu Department Store, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, April 26th—May 15th, 1990, Isetan Department Store, Niigata, June 7-19, 1990, Isetan Department Store, Urawa, July 18-24, 1990, Isetan Department Store, Matsudo, August 9—August 14, 1990, Isetan Department Store, Shizuoka, August 23—August 28, 1990, another impression exhibited.
Foundation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, Jasper Johns Prints and Drawings from the Castelli collection, July 4-September 30, 1992, another impression exhibited.
Jasper Johns Mind/Mirror, Whitney Museum of American Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Museum Collections
The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
National Gallery of Art, Australia
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Fransisco
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge

About
Since the mid-1950's, Jasper Johns has reworked key motifs—Flags, Targets, Maps, the Alphabet and Numbers. Johns depicts subjects that "the mind already knows" but overlooks due to constant exposure. Published by Gemini G.E.L., Jasper Johns' color Numeral 6 elevates the number, its form derived from a commercial stencil, to a striking, orange-yellow hued portrait.

Johns’s basic instructions to himself, written in his sketchbook "Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it" reveal the overarching logic of his artistic approach. 

For example, the lithographic stones and plates that Jasper Johns used to print his set of 10 Color Numerals, (ULAE 59-68), 1969 had been reworked from those used to produce the set of 10 Black Numerals, (ULAE 44-53), 1968, a series Johns created the previous year at Gemini GEL. Most single 0-9 number impressions are part of complete sets of 10 Numbers owned by museums and/or private collectors. As a result, there are not many single Jasper Johns Numbers impressions on the market, particularly in outstanding condition. Accordingly, this 1969 signed, dated and numbered Jasper Johns Number 6 color lithograph published five decades ago is not only a great value but also highly desirable and collectible.

Jasper Johns observations about printmaking:

"it’s the techniques that interest me. My impulse to make prints has nothing to do with my thinking it’s a good way to express myself. It’s more a means to experiment in the technique. What interests me is the technical innovation possible for me in printmaking." His fascination with the possibilities of printmaking and Gemini GEL’s commitment to innovation made for a successful working relationship, to which the lustrous Color Numerals are testament."

Jasper Johns Prints at Joseph K. Levene Fine Art, Ltd.