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Alfred Jensen

Great Mystery I [Chinese Origin of the Decimal System! External Placement.]

1960

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Although Alfred Jensen was associated with Abstract Expressionist artists in New York in the 1950s, it is difficult to align his idiosyncratic practice with a specific movement or school of the time. He eschewed the spontaneous, expressive gesture as a method for accessing subjective experience, yet he shared the belief of many of his contemporaries that employing non-Western symbolic systems was a way of rendering the chaos of the modern universe meaningful, if ultimately untranslatable. In "Great Mystery I [Chinese Origin of the Decimal System! External Placement.]" ancient Chinese numerals are painted over small squares of color, which are ordered by an underlying black-and-white pattern to create a painting that is perfectly symmetrical on both its horizontal and vertical axes. The numerals are arranged so that each quadrant of nine numbers forms a Lo Shu diagram, the oldest known example of a magic square, using figures one through nine in a three-by-three grid in such combinations that the sum of each vertical, horizontal, and diagonal line adds up to fifteen. Although the complex system of numbers and colored squares invites decoding, the solution is ultimately mysterious and impenetrable, pointing to the unintelligible meaning of the universe itself. [Exhibition label, 2015]

  • Artist Alfred Jensen (American, b. Guatemala, 1903–1981)
  • Title Great Mystery I [Chinese Origin of the Decimal System! External Placement.]
  • Date 1960
  • Medium Mixed media on canvas
  • Dimensions unframed | 50 x 42 in.
  • Credit line Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Weil, 1963
  • Object number WU 4062

From Picasso to Fontana: Collecting Modern and Postwar Art in the Eisendrath Years, 1960–1968
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/23/2015 - 04/19/2015

Models and Prototypes
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 10/25/2006 - 12/31/2006

Models and Prototypes 2006

1963
Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Weil

Label Verso, upper right corner on stretcher, orange rectangular label with printed black text and inscriptions in black ink: [illegible] e 69 st - new york 21/ MARTHA JACKSON GALLERY / [skip a few lines] / No [large space] 5555 / ARTIST [inscribed:] ALFRED JENSEN / [printed:] TITLE [inscribed:] THE GREAT MYSTERY I / [printed:] MEDIUM [inscribed:] o/c [printed:] SIZE [inscribed:] 50 x 42" / [printed:] DATE [inscribed:] 1960 [printed:] PRICE / [illegible]

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.

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