10/02/2020
Recent Acquisition 10-02-2020
Raymond Jonson
Abstract Two
1929
Oil on canvas
24 x 15 inches
Signed: lower left
Contact for price
The Digits Series
In 1929, Raymond Jonson began the Digits series (1929-1930). These ten paintings are expansions on the numerical symbols representing the numbers. These symbols were chosen because they were “cool” subjects, that is, they did not come out of a reactive emotion. Therefore, they offered the possibility of a freer invention and organization of the painting.
Each digit is also an abstraction of the human figure, adding to its complexity. In these small, tightly knit works, the play between lyrical and dramatic elements is woven into a unity. Additionally, color is a specific part of the subject matter—a particular color emphasis was assigned to each of the ten digits. From this point on, color functions in Jonson’s work as an independent expressive force which, nevertheless, is still embedded in the unity demanded by design.
For Jonson, the painting of the digits held special importance. In these works, he felt he had achieved “real” abstraction. Although partly based on objective ingredients, this was abstraction of a sort that was very close to freedom from the demands of such subject matter. Concerning them he wrote:
"There is the group of abstract organizations which mean more to me than anything done to date. Here I believe I have, or am, touching on an approach to realization. But the birth pangs are at times terrific…. Isn’t it amazing what variations of all the elements are possible when once one has felt? Rhythm with guts—color with life—form that moves with a thunderclap and feeling with all the subtle items present are the things in a work of art… there is no limit."
The success of the Digits suggested a comparable use of the letters of the alphabet. In 1930, the first of twenty-six Variations on a Rhythm (1930-36) was painted.
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