Figure 9

Figure 9, created in 1969, is a significant color lithograph on Arjomari wove paper, representing a major collaboration between primary artist Jasper Johns and the technical team at the legendary print studio, Gemini G.E.L. This demanding project required the expertise of master printers Charles Ritt, Richard Wilke, James Webb, John Dill, and Stuart Henderson, reflecting the collaborative environment that defined American printmaking during this innovative era.

The work is classified as an important example of prints produced during the period spanning 1951 to 1975, a time when artists actively engaged with mass media and industrial processes. The classification of Figure 9 within Johns’s larger numerical series positions it centrally in his exploration of ordinary, often overlooked symbols. Johns consistently used numbers, flags, and targets in his compositions to question the relationship between object, representation, and abstraction. In this lithograph, the number nine serves as a powerful, ambiguous motif, allowing the artist to manipulate layered forms, colors, and textures across the wove paper surface.

The technical proficiency demonstrated by G.E.L. and its staff was essential to realizing the subtle tonal gradations and complex registrations required by Johns's method. Unlike traditional printmaking where the artist works alone, this piece underscores the critical partnership between the artist’s vision and the technical skill of the workshop, an arrangement that cemented G.E.L.’s status as a leading contemporary studio. This American collaboration resulted in a work that is both graphically immediate and conceptually rigorous.

Figure 9 is held in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., where it provides crucial insight into the graphic output of Johns and the technological advances in color lithography achieved in the late 1960s. The piece remains a key document for studying the development of post-war conceptual and Pop-influenced art.