Lot Essay
0-9 is based on a theme initiated in a series of paintings created in 1955. In these small paintings, Johns imbedded fragments of numbers in a layer of collage and encaustic. Johns created 0-9 five years later at ULAE. Each print was created from a single stone which enabled him to create a sequence of unique numbers yet retain the history of the previous number. Beginning with numeral O, each number was redrawn on the same stone leaving traces of the previous number. 0-9 is a perfect example of a central theme in Johns' oeuvre: the revisitation and translation of signigicant iconographic images.