Cincinnati I 1969

Jim Dine made Cincinnati I out of lithographic crayon and tusche wash on paper. At first glance, this print seems to be an abstract composition, a flurry of marks. But look closer, and you'll see it's composed of many names, scrawled and overlapping. Dine has created a kind of social map. He has rendered a dense web of relationships in ink, an almost complete list of the artist's family and friends from his childhood. Dine has approached the act of mark-making in a free and intuitive way. Names appear to tumble across the page, defying any clear order or hierarchy. Areas of denser ink create pools of shadow, while other areas are light and airy, allowing the white of the paper to breathe through. The lithographic process suits this approach perfectly, allowing for a direct and gestural application of the medium. Dine’s print collapses traditional distinctions between fine art and craft. By emphasizing materials, making, and context, we can better understand the full meaning of the artwork.