Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink print by Jennie C. Jones. It dates from 2016 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Jennie C.
About this work
Overview
The work belongs to MoMA’s collection and exemplifies Jones’s interest in reducing visual elements to their essential forms while evoking auditory experiences.
Jennie C. Jones created this 2016 print series as a pair of lithographs combined with letterpress text. Each sheet features a single, faint black line on a white ground, one vertical, the other diagonal. The edges show subtle irregularities, suggesting hand-cut paper. The work belongs to MoMA’s collection and exemplifies Jones’s interest in reducing visual elements to their essential forms while evoking auditory experiences.
Subject & Meaning
The two lines function as abstract notations rather than representations. Their simplicity invites associations with musical scores, architectural drafts, or sonic waveforms. The vertical line may suggest a sustained tone; the diagonal, a rising pitch or temporal shift. Jones’s practice often links visual minimalism to jazz’s improvisational structures, transforming silence and spacing into compositional elements.
Technique & Style
Lithography allowed Jones to achieve subtle tonal gradations, while the letterpress added textured, faint typographic elements unseen in the image. The lines are drawn with restraint—thin, lightly inked, and deliberately unembellished. The paper’s torn edges disrupt the purity of the format, introducing material imperfection into an otherwise reductive aesthetic, echoing the human hand behind mechanical processes.
History & Provenance
Created in 2016, the work entered The Museum of Modern Art’s collection shortly after its production. Jones, active since the 1990s, has developed a practice that bridges visual art and sound, informed by her studies in music and art history. This piece aligns with her broader body of work that reinterprets modernist abstraction through the lens of African American cultural traditions.
Context
Jones’s work emerges from a lineage of post-minimalist artists who question the neutrality of abstraction. By integrating references to jazz, architecture, and acoustic space, she expands the boundaries of printmaking beyond formalism. The inclusion of letterpress—often used for textual communication—adds a layer of cultural memory, subtly grounding the abstract in lived experience.
Legacy
This print contributes to a growing recognition of Jones’s role in redefining abstraction through interdisciplinary methods. Her use of print to mediate between visual and sonic perception has influenced younger artists exploring materiality and memory. The work’s quiet presence in MoMA’s collection affirms its place within contemporary dialogues on minimalism and cultural resonance.
Artist & collection
Artist
Jennie C. Jones (born 1968) is an American artist best known for her abstract works in painting, sculpture, and sound art. Much of Jones's work is inspired by minimalism and color field painting, along with jazz and…
