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Decade: Autoportrait 1965

1975

Images

Decade: Autoportrait 1965, a 72-inch square painting with a red ground and a circle containing a blue decagon dominating the canvas. In the center of the circle is a large red and white numeral one. Painted on top of the one is a red and white star, and on top of the star is a red, white, and blue numeral five. Text, arrows and numbers are painted in the spaces between the arms of the stars. On the right side Washington is painted in red letters, with a red arrow painted underneath the letters H and I. Below the last N is a white arrow, and below that the number 72, painted in red. Indiana is painted in white at the bottom of the circle, with a white five containing a blue six above. The words "Chief" and "Spring" are painted in red in the left side of the circle, and a white arrow is painted to the right of the word "spring."

Decade: Autoportrait 1965

1975

Oil on canvas

72 × 72 in. (182.9 × 182.9 cm)

 

Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Excerpt from a letter from Indiana to the gallerist Rolf Nelson, dated June 22, 1965,  

Excerpt from a letter from Indiana to the gallerist Rolf Nelson, dated June 22, 1965

 

Rolf Nelson Gallery records, 1953–1973, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 2010.M.38

Description

5 has always been to me . . . it is the prime of life. Or one of the high points of a man’s life. It is its relationship to the star. And the star, after all, is the real symbol of the United States. So it is always an American 5 . . . ’65, it was an important year because then I moved to Spring Street. I left Coenties Slip. And probably, I can’t really recall about the CHIEF . . . but what am I saying, of course I know why the CHIEF is there. In ’65 I had an exhibition in Washington. I was at the White House. I was a guest of President Johnson. One of my paintings [The Calumet] was exhibited . . . CHIEF is the president and he lives in Washington.  

— Robert Indiana

 

Excerpt from Susan Elizabeth Ryan, interview with Robert Indiana, May 5, 1992, Robert Indiana: Figures of Speech Archive, 1987–2005.