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Seven Panels and Index

Seven square panels of gray patterned lines on cream paper, wach with five rows and seven columns of neat marks.

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  • Seven square panels of gray patterned lines on cream paper, wach with five rows and seven columns of neat marks.

Date:

1973

Artist:

Hanne Darboven
German, 1941–2009

About this artwork

Hanne Darboven is known for ordered notations that utilize numbers, particularly permutations of the calendar, as their systematic focus and structure. In the 1970s, she introduced transcriptions of texts (including those by Charles Baudelaire and Jean-Paul Sartre), diagrams, and abstract marks into her work. Monumental in scale, Seven Panels and Index exemplifies the artist’s practice of covering ordinary composition paper with undulating lines associated with handwriting; here her lines resemble the cursive form of the lowercase letter l. Darboven’s compulsively detailed, laboriously produced script emphasizes the process of mark making by evoking text while remaining abstract, and explores the passage of time as it is experienced both historically and personally.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Hanne Darboven

Title

Seven Panels and Index

Place

Munich (Artist's nationality)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1973

Medium

Graphite and gray ink on white wove paper

Dimensions

Each panel: 183 × 183 cm (72 × 72 in.); Index: 109 × 183 cm (43 × 72 in.); Installed: 381 × 767 cm (150 × 302 in.); 381 × 767.1 cm (150 × 302 in.)

Credit Line

Barbara Neff Smith Memorial Fund, Barbara Neff Smith and Solomon H. Smith Purchase Fund

Reference Number

1977.600a-h

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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