NY State Theater Keeps Johns Work

In January, the board of Lincoln Center drew sharp criticism when word got without that it wanted to barter a work by Jasper John in order to raise coin for the repair and upkeep of its aging buildings. The plan immediately met vociferous opposition. In mid-January, Beverly Sills, the center's chairwoman, announced that the board had unanimously vot to detain the work. Numbers, 1964, Johns's alone public art work, has been hanging near the receptacle office in the lobby of the of recent origin York State Theater for 35 years.

adverse partys of the sale included Philippe de Montebello, Glenn Lowry Agnes Gund several Lincoln Center board members, the artist and Philip Johnson who commissioned the work and is individual of the building's architects. The of recent origin York City Ballet and the novel York City Opera, the building's tenants, were divided upon the issue. The Opera supported the sale, citing the $120000 for year spent on guards to preserve the work.

The piece is considered art historically important because, at 9 by the agency of 7 feet, it is the largest of Johns's Numbers works and the alone one made up of 121 separate units fashioned from Sculpmetal. Officials at Lincoln Center reportedly received presents of more than $15 million for the work.

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