GIANT ON: 1984 and 1987
The last three size 'H' Dates.
Should they be considered as a threesome? Or split into a 1984 pair and a 1987 singleton?
Here is how On Kawara displayed them in Dallas Museum of Art in 2008:
Reproduced from the website of Dallas Museum of Art.
If the artist had wanted the 1987 Date considered as a single picture would he not have placed it elsewhere in the exhibition?
In other words he could have hung MAY 1, 1987 outside the top right room. But that would have been less aesthetically pleasing. After all, the three Dates in the top right gallery balance the three 1969 Dates in the bottom left.
In any case, these three Dates give us 'Friday', 'Saturday' and 'Sunday' to add to the first four days of the week. A week of size 'H' days that it has taken the artist ten years (1978 to 1987) to complete. Very impressive.
But is there more to say?
Let's take them one by one. 
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation.
That is one week before the clock sprung forward on April 29. Close but no cigar. It was also Earth Day, something that had begun as an annual event in 1970. So On Kawara could have been ready for it and acknowledged it in his own way.
As for the 'I READ":
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation.
Britain breaks diplomatic relations with Libya? That is just run-of-the-mill geopolitics.
In 2008, Hauser and Wirth owned this painting, lending it to the show in Dallas. And though they have since sold it to a private collector, a director was kind enough to provide me with this image of the accompanying New York Times.
Courtesy of Hauser and Wirth, Zurich.
As with the size 'H' Date, JULY 21, 1969, there were two papers that were kept. Though in this case, they were both kept in one box:
Courtesy of Hauser and Wirth, Zurich.
An obvious difference between the newspapers kept on JULY 21, 1969 and APR. 22, 1984, is their direct relevance. The Daily News in July, 1969 would have been packed full of photos of Armstrong and Aldrin walking on the Moon, with the command module orbiting above and taking pictures of the Moon's surface and the distant Earth. Whereas it's not clear what, if anything, On Kawara was picking up on in April 1984.
Hang on! Is that the Pope on the front of The Daily News? Something about Easter, then? Ha! - It was Easter Sunday. The anniversary of the resurrection of Christ. The very event that gave us the structure of the dating system that On Kawara was using in every single Date Painting. 1984 being 1984 years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
So that makes sense. Big-time. Except there is no mention of the religion-inspiring event on the front page of the New York Times. The NYT fitted On Kawara's purposes, but not every time.
Let's move on while the going is good.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation.
One of On Kawara's parents was Christian and the other a Buddhist. For members of the Soka Gakkai, a global Buddhist lay organization, September 8 marks the anniversary of second president Josei Toda's 'Declaration Calling for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons'. On this day in 1957, amid the escalating nuclear arms race, Toda made a bold call condemning nuclear weapons as a "manifestation of the darkest aspects of the human heart" and urged young people to work for their abolition. This declaration is considered the symbolic start of the Soka Gakkai's ongoing peace activities and is commemorated annually. (Thanks to Google/AI for this paragraph.)
September 8 is also a significant date in Japan's post-WW2 history, notably the day in 1951 when the Treaty of San Francisco was signed, officially ending the Allied occupation and Japan's status as an imperial power. The signing of the US-Japan Security Treaty on the same day established the ongoing military alliance between the two countries. (Thanks to Michael Wynne for pointing this out.)
What about 'I READ'?
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation.
I can't help feeling that doesn't help.
In 2008, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art lent SEPT.8, 1984 to the Dallas Museum of Art. And once a public institution gets hold of a significant work of art, it holds onto the ownership, though it may lend the work. I have been told by the museum that SEPT. 8, 1984 comes with three newspapers, the New York Times, New York Post and Daily News. Perhaps I will be able to get photos of the front pages of these papers as they lie folded in their boxes? And some info as to whether the papers are kept in one, two or three boxes. Watch this space.
Is there a connection between APR. 22, 1984 and SEPT. 8, 1984? Well, we don't really need a connection. But I will just mention the artist's movements. I mean, by this time, On Kawara's kids were being educated in both Japan and New York, and he was spending summers in Tokyo. Most years, the pattern of Date Painting suggests that he was in Japan from June to August, inclusive. How about in 1984? Size 'H' Dates in bold:
New York Dates: APR. 22, 1984… MAY 12, 1984….………………………………SEPT. 8 1984
Japan Dates: 14 JUN. 1984…18 JUN. 1984… 20 JUN. 1984… 6 JUL.1984…7 JUL.1984… 15 JUL.1984… 4 AUG.1984…12 AUG.1984
Between the painting of the size 'H' Dates in New York, there were eight smaller Dates painted in Japan. But what about MAY 12, 1984, which was painted in New York before the trip to Japan? That spoils the pattern somewhat. Maybe there was a change in travel plans. On had intended on travelling to Japan with Hiroko and the kids at the beginning of May, but the trip had to be postponed because one of the party couldn't fly then? It's plausible, but hardly convincing.
Bearing what we've learned about the two 1984 Dates, let's move onto the final size 'H' date: 
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation.
'I READ' is not particularly enlightening. Though it does ask us to bear in mind that May 1 is 'May Day'.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation.
This particular size 'H' Date painting has been sold several times over the years. Here it is in one collector's setting:
I can't help thinking that the four seats are gender-coded. Large men would know instinctively to sit on the wide, hard, wooden chairs. Wives would rest their delicate rears on the soft, round, wool seats. 'Boys Keep Swinging,' anyone?
And when Sotheby's listed the Date in 2014, the listing stated that the canvas came with three complete newspapers from the day (as did the Hiroshima picture, SEPT, 8, 1984 and the Art Institute of Chicago picture, OCT. 31, 1978). One of those papers was the New York Times, and below is a picture of its front page from that day, which I accessed from the NYT archive:
Reproduced with the forbearance, I hope, of The New York Times.
The meeting of the Japanese Prime Minister and the American President would surely have excited On Kawara's imagination. And it would have been a scheduled meeting which the artist could have organised himself around. Having painted 'Saturday' and 'Sunday' in 1984, perhaps with a world peace theme in his mind, On must have been delighted to realise that President Reagan was going to meet the Prime Minister of Japan on a Thursday in May of 1987, a meeting that would be front page news in Friday's papers. As good a way as any of bringing the ten-year week to a finish:
Reproduced with the forbearance, I hope, of The New York Times/Paul Hosefros.
Yasuhiro Hakasone: "Ah, Captain America, what day of the week is it?"
Ronald Reagan: "I was going to ask you the exact same question."
I wonder what was on the front page of the other two newspapers, which I have no easy way of accessing. Though it seems I am not finished with this one:
Yasuhiro Hakasone: "Ah, Mr President, this is an H-day for Japan."
Ronald Reagan: "And, I assure you, Yasuhiro-san, this is an H-day for America."
I should say in passing that the artist did include the cardboard boxes with newspapers in the July, 1969 room. You can see them at the left edge of this image:
Reproduced from the website of Dallas Museum of Art.
But he didn't include the boxes with newspapers anywhere else in the show. In other words NOV. 13, 1978; APR. 22, 1984; SEPT.8, 1984. and MAY 1, 1987 - which I know came with newspapers in boxes - were left to stand on their size 'H' own in the Dallas installation.
But I can't end this essay on that downbeat loose-end:
Reproduced with the forbearance, I hope, of The New York Times/Paul Hosefros.
Yasuhiro Hakasone: "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday born, I was Thursday's child."
Ronald Reagan: "Monday mornin' feels so bad. Ev'rybody seems to nag me."
Yasuhiro: "Comin' Tuesday I feel better. Even my old man looks good."
Ronnie: "Wed'sday just don't go."
Yasuhiro: "Thursday goes too slow."
Both: "I got Friday on my mind."
Maybe I should take a look at those other two newspapers, The Daily News and The New York Post. Or maybe I should quit while it feels I'm miles ahead.
Concluding essay.
