The Figure Five

Robert Indiana, The Figure Five, 1963, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1984.51, © 1963, Robert Indiana
Robert Indiana, The Figure Five, 1963, oil on canvas, 60 x 50 in. (152.4 x 127.0 cm) frame: 62 x 51 7⁄8 x 2 in. (157.5 x 131.9 x 5.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1984.51, © 1963, Robert Indiana

Artwork Details

Title
The Figure Five
Artist
Date
1963
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
60 x 50 in. (152.4 x 127.0 cm) frame: 62 x 51 7⁄8 x 2 in. (157.5 x 131.9 x 5.1 cm)
Copyright
© 1963, Robert Indiana
Credit Line
Museum purchase
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Object — numeral
  • Object — letter
  • Abstract
Object Number
1984.51
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1984.51

Artwork Description

Robert Indiana based this work on Charles Demuth's famous painting of 1928, The Figure Five in Gold, which was itself based on William Carlos Williams's poem "The Great Figure," scribbled on a sheet of paper while he was walking in Manhattan:

Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure 5
in gold
on a red
fire truck
moving
tense
unheeded
to gong clangs
siren howls
and wheels rumbling
through the dark city.

Indiana created five paintings in this series, all of which contain three-letter words that conjure images of billboards, carnival signs, or targets. The three fives suggest the swelling of the "siren howls" as the fire engine roars past. But the numbers also symbolize the thirty-five years that lay between Indiana's painting and Demuth's earlier version. They lead us back to the years when Demuth and Williams were creating modern art and poetry for the "American Century." With The Figure Five, Indiana acknowledged his debt to earlier artists whose work, like his, merged high culture and low.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006

Works by this artist (1036 items)

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William H. Johnson, For India and China, ca. 1944-1945, oil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.662
For India and China
Artist
Dateca. 1944-1945
oil on paperboard
On view
William H. Johnson, Sun Setting, Denmark, ca. 1930, oil on burlap, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.720
Sun Setting, Denmark
Artist
Dateca. 1930
oil on burlap
On view
William H. Johnson, Young Pastry Cook, ca. 1928-1930, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.693
Young Pastry Cook
Artist
Dateca. 1928-1930
oil on canvas
On view
William H. Johnson, Breakdown with Flat Tire, ca. 1940-1941, oil on plywood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.587
Breakdown with Flat Tire
Artist
Dateca. 1940-1941
oil on plywood
On view

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Children Playing at Dockside
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William H. Johnson, Mining Scene, ca. 1942-1944, tempera, pen and ink, and pencil on paper mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.140
Mining Scene
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Dateca. 1942-1944
tempera, pen and ink, and pencil on paper mounted on paperboard
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William H. Johnson, Farewell, ca. 1942, tempera and pen and ink with pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.1070R-V
Farewell
Artist
Dateca. 1942
tempera and pen and ink with pencil on paper
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William H. Johnson, Children at Ice Cream Stand, ca. 1939-1942, tempera and pen and ink with pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.1097R
Children at Ice Cream Stand
Artist
Dateca. 1939-1942
tempera and pen and ink with pencil on paper
Not on view