Letter (page 1), from the portfolio "Letter and Indices to 24 Songs"
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Darboven’s work is premised on accumulation, permutation, and infinitude. The artist often visualized both time and music with numbers, and to this end, she developed a system for representing information in graphic form, which she called "mathematical prose." This work consists of a four-page letter to a friend, the artist Sol LeWitt, and the indices to six of the songs that make up her composition 24 Gesänge (24 Songs). According to Darboven’s letter, "Each song is dedicated to a letter of the alphabet, a through x, and each is composed in three parts (I, II, III) and two forms (‘A’ and ‘B’). A form uses numbers 1–61 and B form uses numbers 1–10." These notations are joined by one of the artist’s signature motifs: "u," the German equivalent of an ampersand. Repeated throughout the work, this shortened form of und (and) symbolizes boundless repetition. When displayed, the pages proceed from top to bottom and then from left to right.
Artwork Details
- Title: Letter (page 1), from the portfolio "Letter and Indices to 24 Songs"
- Artist: Hanne Darboven (German, Munich 1941–2009 Hamburg)
- Date: 1974
- Medium: Black ink on translucent vellum paper
- Dimensions: Each: 16 1/16 × 11 in. (40.8 × 28 cm)
Framed: 20 3/4 in. × 15 3/4 in. × 1 1/4 in. (52.7 × 40 × 3.2 cm) - Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of Sol and Carol LeWitt
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photograph Harvard Art Museums, Harvard University, Cambridge
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art