DOUBLE DATE DAYS
INTRO
All the way through On Kawara's Date Painting career, the artist would occasionally paint more than one Date in any one day. And why not, providing he stuck to his own rules regarding the painting process? Why not, indeed? On Kawara did say that in the East, two was the most important number, that complements were everywhere. Whereas, in the West, 'one' was invariably the focus.
I don't want to overemphasise this. On Kawara made Date Paintings on about 2,700 occasions and only on about 60 of these did he make two Dates on the same day.
Nevertheless, this essay focuses on those 60-odd double Date days. Sometimes they would be the same size, but quite often they would be different sizes. Often they were black, but there are many of these double Dates that I haven't seen reproduced, so I don't know what colour they were. I hope to have seen substantially more of them by the end of this exercise.
What motivated On Kawara to paint more than one Date per day? One instinctively feels that a single Date Painting does the trick in emphasising the value to the artist (or anyone else) of being grounded, taking one day at a time, living in the present, and so on. But in taking on a second Date Painting perhaps what is emphasised is that the meditative qualities to be found in Date Painting are always present, and so if one is Date Painting all day long then that is as good as life gets. Consciousness, consciousness, all is consciousness.
Again, what motivated On Kawara to paint more than one Date per day? That is a complex question that could be answered in many ways. But I think the way I will answer it is to study On Kawara's behaviour year by year, and accept that his motivation for double Dating may have changed over time. Certainly, that's my tentative conclusion having taken a quick look at the data. But I imagine my conclusions will change as I now dive deeper into the record via this essay. In other words, the research and writing is part of the thinking process. It's a fun way to think!
How are double Date days identified? This part is relatively easy, except on the eye. On Kawara produced 100-year calendars on which each line, representing one year, contained the space for 365 dots or numbers. Where he turned the dot/number into a yellow spot, that was a day in his life. These start in December of 1932. Where the dot has been over-inked in blue, that indicates a Date Painting day. These start in 1966. And where the yellow dot is over-inked in red, that represents a day where multiple Dates were made. In other words, identifying double Date days is straightforward, providing you have a magnifying glass and access to a reproduction of On Kawara's 20th and 21st Century Calendars. 
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Above is a close up of part of the 20th Century Calendar, one that was made in 1980. The columns are months, and that is July and August we can see. The rows are years collected into decades. Most of the years are ones in which On Kawara was alive, hence the general impression of yellow. All the dark dots are days in which he Date Painted. And the red dots? There aren't many. Making more than one Date Painting in a day was a rare event, as I've already mentioned. Precisely 59 out of approximately 2700, being just one Date Painting day in every fifty. But if you find the 1971 line, you can make out three red dots in July and two in August.
The fact that the double Dates are readily identifiable might suggest that On Kawara thought they were important. I'm hoping to throw some light on that.
Structural note: I'm going to take us through the 1966 to 1979 years first. That's 41 of the 59 double Dates. That's mostly because of the existence of the book, On Kawara: continuity/discontinuity, which provides fairly full details of Dates painted on a day-by-day basis. Though not colour, alas.
Reproduced with the forbearance, I hope, of the copyright holder
Then the post-'I GOT UP', 'I WENT', 'I MET' years, 1980 to 2013, will follow, in the remaining parts of this essay.
These preliminaries aren't much more than an enthusiastic ramble, as I expect you've clocked. But do read on. I'm expecting revelations and fresh insight into On Kawara's process and achievement by the end of this exercise. And when I say 'achievement', I mean, of course, awesome accomplishment.
PART ONE: 1966 - 1979
A) 1966
The total number of double Date days from 1966 to 2013 is 59. And ten of those were in 1966 alone. So we need to focus on this year first.
The first double Date day was April 30, 1966. Until April all the Dates had been size 'A', but Kawara added size 'B' to his repertoire on April 12 and had painted three of them before April 30.
On April 30, the artist went straight from 'B' to 'E' (there were no size 'C' or 'D' paintings in existence yet.) On April 30, he painted the size 'E' Date first and then a size 'B' (still only the fourth Date at that size).
I imagine he was still testing and extending the limits of this new adventure. The Date Paintings had got bigger. Why not try doing two in one day?
The subtitle for the size 'E' is: "The world's most exciting resort hotel for a mere $10.50 a day? Now really, darling?" This is atypical. Though on April 21, the subtitle to a size 'A' had been: "An artificial heart by Dr DeBakey for Hiroko's birthday." If On Kawara was capable of joking about his relationship with his partner, which he clearly was at this point in time, it's not something he would take any further in his work.
Moving on to May, the Double Dates suddenly come thick and fast:
MAY, 17, 1966; 'B' then 'A'
MAY 18, 1966; 'B' then 'A'
MAY 24, 1966; 'B' then 'A'
MAY 27, 1966; 'A' then 'B'
MAY 28, 1966; 'B' then 'A'
I'm taking the order of the sizes from On Kawara's Journal, reprinted in the continuity/discontinuity book. And it does make sense to say that one Date was made before the other, as both would have had the coats of paint laid down on them, first one then the other. Then the same order would have been stuck to throughout the day. Not necessarily, but it does make sense to do it that way.
Let's take a look at the subtitles. I will slightly edit them for concision. Too many nouns, adjectives and names are a distraction.
MAY, 17, 1966 (B) "A Yugoslav court has convicted an atheist poet on charges of offending the religious beliefs of his fellow citizens."
MAY, 17, 1966 (A) "In London, The NUS warned the Prime Minister that if he uses the Royal Navy to break the strike then it would take counter action."
MAY 18, 1966 (B) "America's first known atomic spy goes free after 16 years in prison."
MAY 18, 1966 (A) "New Zealand's fifth Maori King has died aged 54."
MAY 24, 1966 (B) "The second day of New York's public health nurses' work-stoppage."
MAY 24, 1966 (A) "A Soviet central Asian city was rocked by an earth tremor."
MAY 27, 1966 (A) "The mysterious crash of a French jet in southwestern Spain."
MAY 27, 1966 (B) "The Shah of Iran arrived in Rumania for a week-long state visit."
MAY 28, 1966 (B) "Hundreds of demonstrators led by 15 monks marched from the Buddhist Institute into the Chinese section of Saigon."
MAY 28, 1966 (A) "Are your ideas about computers worth shouting about?"
The last subtitle is an exception. But almost all these subtitles are taking an interest in something that's happening somewhere in the world. And by having two such subtitles in one day, On Kawara is pulling us around the globe. From Yugoslavia to London on May 17. From America to New Zealand on May 18. From New York to a Soviet city on May 24. And from France/Spain to Iran/Rumania on May 27.
What about colour? As you can see from the detail from the Journal, On Kawara was painting near-black canvases at this stage, though the exact tint would change very slightly from day to day. I've used pencil to identify the DD days, starting with the April DD and then the five May ones.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
I think it's clear that he mixes up a unique colour for each painting. Even if all the paintings are vey dark, nearly black.
So that's six of the ten DD days in 1966 now discussed. Which leaves one in June, July, August and December. Full disclosure coming up. We wouldn't want to rush this would we?
JUNE 14, 1966: (size 'A') Subtitle: "120 miles from Athens, two trains collided killing four people."
JUNE 14, 1966: (size 'B') Subtitle: "In Amsterdam, police used tear gas on demonstrators who were smashing up the city near the royal palace."
Different sized dates. One linked to Greece, the bigger one to Amsterdam. What next? Two dates of the same size (for the first time):
JULY 25, 1966 (size 'A')
JULY 25, 1966 (size 'A')
An interesting thing here is that this pair of Dates were selected for the exhibition On Kawara:1966, which was shown in 2015, a year after On Kawara's death. So this is the only one of the double Dates so far discussed that is reproduced in the literature, giving a misleading impression of what was going on. But perhaps pointing to what would become important to the artist when embarking on two Date Paintings in one day.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Note: The paintings are of a slightly different shade of black. I can tell you now, this is going to be significant. But I won't enlarge on the significance until later.
JULY 25, 1966:. Subtitle: "The South Vietnamese Premier said that Communist China was the real enemy of freedom in Southeast Asia and should be faced now."
JULY 25, 1966: Subtitle: "I make love to the days."
I suggest that this last subtitle tells us how On Kawara was feeling in the middle of this first year of Date Painting. By this time his Dates were still exclusively size 'A', 'B' or 'E'.
Next Date, August:
AUG. 31, 1966: (size 'A') Subtitle: "In Sicily, an 18-year-old girl who killed her boyfriend said it was an 'honor' killing."
AUG.31, 1966: (size 'B') Subtitle: "In Cambodia, the French President talked with North Vietnam's envoy in a royal palace barely 50 miles from the battlefront."
And finally in 1966, December:
DEC. 24, 1966: (size 'C') Subtitle: "Luna 13 on the moon."
DEC. 24, 1966: (size 'C') Subtitle: "'The Death of a President' by William Manchester." This is a book title and the name of its author.
So there we have it. Ten double Date days in 1966, including 5 in May and the reproduced one in July. There is no consistent pattern to be pointed out at this stage. But we bear in mind the data in case a pattern - or patterns - will emerge as we go on with this exercise.
"I make love to the days." Let's bear that in mind above all else.
B) 1968
There were no Double Date days in 1967.
Which means that when On Kawara went to Mexico in April of 1968 and immediately began to Date Paint a lot (he was probably lonely, living away from Hiroko and his friends in New York), the reason for double Dating could have been quite different from the reason for doing it in New York in 1966.
On Kawara painted every single day from April 25 to June 1. And in that time on four occasion he made two Dates in the day. So it may have simply been a matter of continuously immersing himself in Date Painting. Finished his Date for the day? Well, why not just plough on and do another one?
30 ABR. 68 (B)
30 ABR. 68 (B)
4 MAY, 68 (A)
4 MAY, 68 (A)
21 MAY, 68 (A)
21 MAY, 68 (A)
29 MAY, 68 (A)
29 MAY, 68 (A)
SEPT. 21, 68 (A)
SEPT. 21 68 (A)
I haven't seen any of these reproduced. I imagine they are in the possession of One Million Years Foundation, but I don't know that for a fact. They may have been destroyed… Correction. Today I have come across the following double Date on David Zwirmer's website. David Zwirmer being the dealer working officially with One Million Years Foundation, On Kawara's estate. These Dates were on show in London in 2024, so I've seen them in the flesh, as it were. 
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
They could be exactly the same shade of black. But I would suggest that they're not.
I might as well take the opportunity of having the Mexican-Spanish subtitles translated into English:
30 ABR. 68: (B): "Today is Tuesday, April 30, one hundred twenty-first day of 1968. There are 245 days left until the end of the year."
30 ABR. 68 (B) "April 30, 1789, George Washington takes the oath of office in New York as the first President of the United States."
That's two very different ways of squeezing a lot out of 30th April. First, placing it in the sequence of 365 days in the year. Second, going back 179 years to a significant April 30 in the history of the artist's adopted nation.
Moving on:
4 MAY, 68: (A): "In Paris, diplomatic officials from the United States and North Vietnam contacted the French Foreign Ministry today, probably to discuss the location for preliminary talks between the two countries."
4 MAY, 68: (A): "Astronomy and cerebral physiology."
Hardly a pairing. But as we'll see, sentences from Mexican papers about Viet-Nam is a preoccupation of Kawara's at this time.
21 MAY, 68 (A): "'Despite North Vietnam's less-than-peaceful and demanding rhetoric, the United States is prepared to explore paths to peace in Southeast Asia,' Ambassador Averell Harriman, President Johnson's personal representative at the Paris talks, said today."
21 MAY, 68 (A): "In Paris, at six in the afternoon, the Sorbonne auditorium was full, students climbing on the statues of Descartes, Victor Hugo, and Emilio Zola."
One might suggest that this (above) is back to the pattern of pairing two events in different parts of the world.
29 MAY, 68 (A) "Senator Robert F. Kennedy indicated today in Los Angeles that he will withdraw from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination if he loses the California primary next week."
29 MAY, 68 (A) "The eruption of the Mount Nila volcano in Indonesia."
This too (above) pairs events in different parts of the world.
SEPT. 21, 68 (A) "Nonoalco-Tlatelolco."
SEPT. 21 68 (A) "El Zond-5."
And what are those? The first refers to a huge apartment complex in Mexico City. The second refers to a Soviet spaceship.
In conclusion, what can I say about 1968? The painting of differently sized Dates has been abandoned, at least temporarily. The September double Date is an outlier, date-wise. The first four double Dates from April/May simply illustrate On Kawara's appetite for Date Painting in his new studio (his hotel room) in his new home, Mexico City.
C) 1969
There are seven double Dates in 1969 (and these will be followed by eight in 1970 and 10 in 1971). Which means having to stick with a large amount of data for now, dear reader. But don't worry, by chopping down the trees we will soon be able to better appreciate the wood!
24 FEV. 1969 (A)
24 FEV. 1969 (A)
He was in Brazilia (on his post-Mexico tour of South America) when he made that pair of Dates.
NOV. 18, 1969 (B)
NOV. 18, 1969 (B)
On Kawara had been back in New York for several months before he made the above pair of Dates. But of much more significance was what happened the next day:
NOV. 19, 1969 (B)
NOV. 19, 1969 (C)
NOV. 19, 1969 (C)
The subtitles of each make reference to Apollo 12, its astronauts and its activities on the moon. So just as On Kawara pushed the boat out for Apollo 11 by making a huge size 'H' canvas for three mission days (blast off, walking on the moon and splashdown), so he has made a special effort here. The first time he had made three Dates in a single day, a feat he only achieved once more in his whole life.
The remaining four double Dates for 1969 are all from December. All eight paintings are size 'B'. The subtitles can almost be considered as a set. Or maybe as a poem.
DEC. 11, 1969: "North Vietnam kept its chief negotiator away from the peace conference in Paris today as a protest against what it called the 'sabotage' of the talks by the United States."
DEC. 11, 1969: "The United States has announced that it is planning an International Workshop on Earth Resources Survey Systems to share with other countries the developing technique of using satellites for earth resource surveys."
DEC. 16, 1969: "The Soviet Union announced today that defence spending would remain at record levels next year. The government also indicated that the economy had suffered a setback in the last 12 months and that the goals for 1970 had been reduced."
DEC. 16, 1969: "The House of Commons voted overwhelmingly tonight to abolish the death penalty in Britain."
DEC, 25, 1969: "Snow."
DEC, 25, 1969: "Neil Armstrong and Bob Hope at Da Nang, South Vietnam."
DEC. 27, 1969: "Snow."
DEC. 27, 1969 "Snow."
When it's snowing in New York over Christmas, and civilisation is taking as many steps back as it's taking steps forward, what can one do as a Date Painter except settle oneself in and make love to the days?
Have I got reproductions of any 1969 Double Dates? Yes, but just one, in a book printed in Frankfurt in 1991. Please note that the colours are slightly different. Just as they were in the 1966 pairing selected for the 2015 show.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
This pair ended up as part of the collection at MMK Frankfurt. Basically, Kasper König ensured that there was a gallery in Europe that had a Date Painting (or in this case a pair of Dates) for each year between 1966 and 2000.
They are still hung the above way on the MMK Frankfurt website.
Subtitle for the top Date: "The Soviet Union announced today that defence spending would remain at record levels next year. The government also indicated that the economy had suffered a setback in the last 12 months and that the goals for 1970 had been reduced."
Subtitle for the bottom Date "The House of Commons voted overwhelmingly tonight to abolish the death penalty in Britain."
Ha! It makes me feel proud to be British. Indeed, surely the humane Date should be placed above the war-mongering one.
I wish I had a reproduction of the 'Snow' pair from December 27. Then it wouldn't matter which one was placed above the other. Indeed an open-minded curator might place the two Dates in different rooms. For surely a double Date is an invitation to get imaginative with the curation. But hold that thought. It might not be what On Kawara had in mind. After all, if the Dates were hung on different walls one wouldn't realise they were of a slightly different hue.
D) 1970
In 1970 there are eight double Date days (one a triple), all size 'B'. The first five are in that three-month period where On Kawara was making a Date Painting at least every day. That is, 96 Dates in 90 days due to the six extra days produced by four doubles and one triple. So let's consider these five as a block:
JAN. 9, 1970: (B) "French officials acknowledged they had sold Mirage fighter planes to Libya."
JAN. 9, 1970: (B) "Diamond sales set a record amount in 1969, De Beers said in London."
FEB. 3, 1970: (B) "Of 90,000 policemen in Britain, exactly 19 are coloured."
FEB. 3, 1970: (B) "The United States Embassy in Thailand confirmed the theft of 12 rockets from an air base 400 miles north of Bangkok."
MAR. 6, 1970: (B) "The New York Times."
MAR. 6, 1970: (B) "Three explosions killed Aman and destroyed a four-storey building at 118 West 11th Street, New York."
MAR. 18, 1970: (B) "The Chief of State of Cambodia was overthrown in his absence, Pnompenh radio announced."
MAR. 18, 1970: (B) "A retreat from a US-supported base in Laos following its fall to 2,000 North Vietnamese troops.
MAR. 18, 1970: (B) "United States postal system's first strike started today in the New York metropolitan area."
MAR. 30, 1970: (B) "Monday."
MAR. 30, 1970: (B) "Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales and Princess Anne arrived in Sydney for five-week tour of Australia to mark the 200th anniversary of its discovery by Captain Cook."
In other words, On Kawara kept it going, the daily Date Painting and his daily reading of the world news as recorded in The New York Times. The production of double Dates was more or less incidental.
The 96 Dates are reproduced in On Kawara: Silence. Every one would seem to be the same shade of black. The artist had in mind seeing the Dates all in a row on a single wall, or at least all at the same height going around the rooms of a gallery. Which is how they were displayed at the Pompidou Centre and in Japan.
And the other three double Dates from 1970? These could be considered a self-contained block as well, as they were made in the course of a week when On Kawara was travelling in Canada with Hiroko. The cities with the double Dates were Toronto, Quebec and Montreal. Again, all size 'B' Dates:
AUG. 27, 1970: "4,800 pounds of lead daily are being dumped into the lower Mississippi river."
AUG. 27, 1970: "Three carloads of gunmen assassinated one of Argentina's most Peronist labour leaders as he drove too his office."
AUG. 31, 1970: "Francois Mauriac, 1885 - 1970."
AUG. 31, 1970: "Federalism would have cost Quebec $1 billion in five years."
SEP. 3, 1970: "Thursday."
SEP. 3, 1970: "Minis and midis."
One of these pairs is reproduced in the literature. Here it is, courtesy of the Glenstone volume published in 2018. 
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
In other words, the pair of Dates were in the possession of One Million Years Foundation until Glenstone established its superb collection of Dates (1966 to 2013) after the death of On Kawara.
The two Dates are slightly different colours. And at this stage one can say that there is strong pattern here. When On Kawara made a pair of equal-sized Dates, and they were not part of a long sequence of total immersion in Date Painting, he would make each of the Dates a slightly different shade of black. What was he getting at? I must have a go at explaining this before the end of the essay.
E) 1971
Ten double Dates in 1971.
The first three were connected with On Kawara's attempt to paint a size 'B' each day of the month of May. In other words, on the double Date days, he also painted a size 'A' just to keep his hand in, as it were.
MAY 7, 1971 (A) "The United States formally cleared the way for the resumption of trade with China for the first time in 21 years."
MAY 7, 1971 (B) "French President Pompidou, in an explicit challenge to critics of the French-British supersonic aircraft venture, flew at twice the speed of sound in the Concorde."
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
The two May 7 Dates were part of the very first sale of Date Paintings, which was to Dr. Jost Herbig. The above illustration is the only one I've seen which shows a double Date day, where one is size 'A' and the other is a 'B'. Even though this happened at least 13 times. Which makes me think that on such occasions, the artist didn't think of them as a pair. When the above photo was taken, On Kawara was no longer in control of how the Dates were reproduced.
MAY 14, 1971 (B) "I got up at 12.21 P.M. and painted this."
MAY 14, 1971 (A) "Gustav Husak, Czechoslovakia's Communist Party chief, lashed out today against the nation's leading popular singer in an attempt to warn his people against 'the influence of Western propaganda'."
MAY 29, 1971 (A) "Arkady A. Shpilberg, Boris M. Master, Mikhail Z. Shepshelovich and Ruth I. Aleksandrovich."
MAY 29, 1971 (B) "I got up at 12.06 P.M. and painted this."
The four names in the subtitle of the size 'A' Date were a group of Jewish activists from Riga, Latvia (then part of the Soviet Union) who were arrested and tried by the Soviet government in May 1971 for their Zionist activities and attempts to emigrate to Israel.
Note that two of the three size 'B's being considered had subtitles that link up with the 'I GOT UP' postcards being made at the time. In fact six of the Date Paintings made in May are subtitled in this way.
Five more double Dates were made between July 17 and August 7. All ten Dates are size 'A'. I would expect each pair to be slightly different shades of black.
JULY 17, 1971: "Cepheus Nova 1971." (A new star discovered by an amateur Japanese astronomer.)
JULY 17, 1971: "I got up at 11.38 A.M. and painted this."
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
This illustration is taken from On Kawara: Silence, the book that On Kawara contributed to shortly before his death. Different colours? I think so. The bottom Date is, once again, slightly darker.
JULY 18, 1971: "Six Persian Gulf emirates announced that they had reached agreement to establish federation before the British leave the area at end of year."
JULY 18, 1971: "New York's Health Commissioner kept the oil-fouled Coney Island beaches closed to bathers today.
JULY 25 , 1971: "I got up at 12.53 P.M. and painted this."
JULY 25 , 1971: "Arnold Palmer posted a record winning score of 270 in the Westchester Golf Classic."
This latest pair of Dates is reproduced in Candida Höfer's Date Paintings in Private Collections. 
Reproduced with the forbearance, I hope, of the copyright holder, Candida Hofer..
Please note that the colour of the Dates is subtly but definitely different. The Date on the right has more blue in its background.
AUG. 1, 1971: Apollo 15's moon explorers took their second Rover ride and discovered on the slope of the massive Apennine Mountains a crystalline rock that scientists believe may be a sample of the original lunar crust."
AUG. 1, 1971: "SCOTT — it is green. IRWIN — I told you it was green."
I would like to see this pair. But there is nothing on the record.
AUG. 7, 1971: "The astronauts of Apollo 15 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean and brought to a safe conclusion their 12-day moon-exploring mission."
AUG. 7, 1971: 'I got up at 1.28 P.M. and painted this."
Again, nothing on the record in terms of reproductions.
Right, that just leaves two more double Date days in 1971, one in October and one in November. And once again, we draw a blank in terms of reproductions.
OCT. 19, 1971 (A) "In Washington, the Nixon administration delivered to congress proposed legislation that would provide it with the power and machinery to continue economic controls during phase two of the anti-inflation program."
OCT. 19, 1971 (B) "Body art."
NOV. 22, 1971 (B) "Pakistan charged that India has launched an all-out military offensive without a declaration of war."
NOV. 22, 1971 (B) "Swan Islands to Honduras."
F) 1973
There was no double Date day in 1972 and just one in 1973. With a whole year since the previous effort, On Kawara could have been coming at the double Date from a different angle. Was he?
APR.15, 1973 (A) "Sunday."
APR.15, 1973 (B) "Sunday."
By this time, subtitles were simply days of the week, so that doesn't tell us much. He made the pair in Boston on the way back to New York from Halifax, Nova Scotia. He would return to Nova Scotia for much of the summer. But I can't tell why he was making a double Date day out of April 15. No special reason, perhaps. I expect he had time on his hands.
Oh, and the paintings are not reproduced anywhere, as far as I can see.
PART TWO: 1987 - 1995
After the 1973 effort, On Kawara gave up on double Dates for a long time. None were painted in the 14 years until 1987. So when he did come back to paint them, he may have had a completely different motivation for doing so.
By this time, he was no longer giving his dates subtitles other than the day of the week on which they were painted. Thus a very obvious way of setting up a pairing (via words in the subtitles) is removed for the viewer.
Also, we have moved beyond the remit of On Kawara: continuity/discontinuity. However, luckily for us, each time he made a Date, On Kawara would produce a page for his 'I READ' file, on the top of which he would stamp a few details about any Dates painted that day. In particular, the number of Dates and their size. He stopped doing this in 1995, but until then, that's my first port of call.
A) 1987
SEPT. 21, 1987 (A)
SEPT. 21, 1987 (A)
The fruits of this double Date day are reproduced in Candida Höfer's book showing Date Paintings in private collections.
Reproduced with the forbearance, I hope, of the copyright holder, Candida Hofer.
The way the pair of Dates is hung is conventional. I think there is good reason for it though. The two paintings are, once again, not quite the same colour. But it's not something that you would notice if the Dates were hung on adjoining walls, for example.
NOV. 10, 1987 (B)
NOV. 10, 1987 (B)
As already mentioned, On Kawara was still making 'I READ' pages each time he made a Date Painting. And those are reproduced on Tama Art University's website. 
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
The info stamped along the top edge of the 'I READ' tells us that the two Dates made on November 10 were size 'B'. That they were the 1st and 2nd dates of the month, and the 32nd and 33rd Dates made in the year.
I haven't seen any reproduction of the November double Dates. All I know about them is that they were painted in New York.
B) 1988
OCT. 12, 1988 ('A')
OCT. 12, 1988 ('A')
Again these were painted in New York. On Kawara's Paris dealer, Yvon Lambert, got hold of them and they are currently on view at the Lambert Collection in Avignon. The gallery sent me this image, where it looks as if both Dates may be black. (But I suspect not the same black.)
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
This next image is from On Kawara: Whole and Parts, published in 1996, suggests that once again the same-size Dates are not quite the same colour. Though it's possible that the darkness of the lower Date is caused by the shadow of the upper Date falling on it.
When I was trying to track these dates down, AI suggested to me that one was red and the other blue. It did not surprise me that this did not turn out to be the case. It seems that On Kawara was playing around with the concept of 'shadow'. Which I'll try and come back to.
C) 1989
NOV. 3, 1989
NOV. 3, 1989
These were also made in New York. Both dark grey, size 'B'. I know that because they were a gift from One Million Years Foundation to the Dia Art Foundation in 2014, the year of On Kawara's death. Photos courtesy of the Dia website:
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Are they the same colour? I suspect not, though it's difficult to say. Again, I'll come back to that.
D) 1991
Nothing in 1990, but three double Dates in 1991. All painted in New York.
JUNE 6, 1991 (A)
JUNE 6, 1991 (B)
The two canvases were deliberately separated. One went to MMK Frankfurt for the show of 1,000 Date Paintings at Dia Art Foundation, New York, in 1992.
The other entered the art market and was sold. In 2007 the painting was put up for auction 'Selections from the Pierre Huber Collection' and was sold along with APR. 3, 1990.
Perhaps the artist didn't feel that the two JUNE 6 Dates were a pair as they were of different sizes. Yes, that's my considered view. If they were of different sizes they were not a pair and could be split up.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
NOV. 11, 1991 (B)
NOV. 11, 1991 (B)
I can't find a reproduction of either of these Dates. 
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Are they in a private collection or still with One Million Years Foundation?
NOV. 21, 1991 (A)
NOV. 21, 1991 (A)
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
These two are still together. Last sold at Sotheby's Paris in 2019. They had been bought from On Kawara's Paris dealer in 1995.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Note that they are nearly the same colour, but not quite.
E) 1993
JUNE 16, 1993 (A)
JUNE 16, 1993 (B)
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
These two, of different sizes, were made in New York.
No reproductions.
F) 1994
NOV. 18, 1994
NOV. 18, 1994
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
These two, both size 'A', were made in France. I think this is the only pair of double Dates made in France, where the Kawaras had a flat from 1993. I don't think he ever made a double Date in Tokyo though the Kawaras also had a flat there in which On Kawara painted Dates every year from about 1980 to 2008.
No reproductions of the 1994 Date.
G) 1995
JULY 7, 1995
JULY 7, 1995
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
These two, both size 'A', were made in New York. They are reproduced in the book Date Painting(s) in New York and 136 Other Cities. 
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
The repro is of excellent quality in the book itself, and I say with confidence that the one hanging lower on the wall is slightly darker than the one above it.
Perhaps On Kawara understood one of them to be his Date Painting and the other its shadow. Or perhaps he thought of them as two Date Paintings of the infinite number that it would have been possible to paint on that day.
Can I get behind that last theory and give it some oomph? I'm not sure I can. Not just yet.
PART THREE: 1996 to 2013
At the end of 1995, On Kawara stopped making an 'I READ' page each time he made a Date Painting. Which is a nuisance for my present purposes.
However, he only made another eight double Dates in his lifetime, and his fame - by this stage - was such that there is every chance these remaining Dates are documented elsewhere. We'll soon see…
A) 1996
DEC. 12, 1996 ('A')
DEC. 12, 1996 ('A')
Reproduced with the forbearance, I hope, of the copyright holder.
This pair seem to have been for sale in a Berlin gallery the year after they were painted. I have asked the gallery if they were identically black and whether the paintings were sold separately or as a pair. I suspect I won't get an answer.
DEC. 18, 1996 ('B')
DEC. 18, 1996 ('B')
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
These two paintings were bought by Glenstone from One Million Years Foundation (as was a 1970 double Date) shortly after On Kawara's death. The reproduction is from the Glenstone catalogue published in 2018, and its superb quality makes it all too obvious that the two Dates are of a slightly different black.
Let me see if I can get a better photo of the illustration in my conservatory:
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
That is not perfect, but hopefully you can see that the lower Date is darker.
Can you imagine a column of DEC. 18, 1996 stretching up and down to infinity? I'm still not sure if that's what On Kawara was getting at.
B) 1997
MAY 30, 1997 ('B')
MAY 30, 1997 ('B')
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Bingo again, because the Kröller-Müller Museum in Rotterdam (second best collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world), decided to buy this pair in 2007. Their website provides a high quality image, but it's not possible to say if the two size 'B' Dates are the exact same hue or not. I would say they were slightly different. I have written to the gallery asking for clarification.
C) 1998
AUG. 23, 1998 ('A')
AUG. 23, 1998 ('A')
This pair of Dates is well-travelled. They were the only double Date in the 'On Kawara: Consciousness, Meditation, Watcher on the Hills' show that began in Ikon Gallery in 2002 and went clockwise round the world to many cities in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Here it is in Birmingham at the start of its journey:
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Is the bottom one darker? I can't tell.
I have asked Jonathan Watkins who was director of Ikon when the Dates passed through his care. He may remember about their tonal qualities. I remember Jonathan telling me that the show came 'off the shelf' from On Kawara. In other words, the artist had planned the show in detail.
Further questions for Jonathan Watkins: Was there any discussion about the inclusion of a double Date in the sequence of Sunday Dates? And did the artist specify that he wanted the two Dates painted the same day placed one above the other, drawing attention to the pairing in the midst of a long line of near-black Date Paintings?
The pair would have gone back into storage only to be got out again in 2014 to be exhibited in 'On Kawara: Silence', and to be photographed for the catalogue:
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Is the bottom one lighter? Maybe. But I'm hoping that Jonathan will get back to me about it.
D) 1999 and 2000
APR.1, 1999
APR.1, 1999
APR.1, 2000 ('B')
APR.1, 2000
These have gone under the radar. One of the 2000 pair was used in a show in Japan that consisted in one painting from each of six decades.
But it looks as if On Kawara had something else in mind at the time. These were the only double Dates he did in either year. If the two pairs were of slightly different blacks then one can imagine a 1999/2000 set-up invoking an infinite number of possible Date Paintings from the same day in different centuries. Do I want to spell that out? No, it's too speculative.
E) 2005
NOV. 3, 2005 ('B')
NOV. 3, 2005
Again I only know the size of one of these. It was used at Leo König's gallery in Seoul for a group show 'Measure by Measure'. Here it is hanging beside NOV. 8, 2007. Superbly lit, I have to say. Or is that down to the photographer?
Reproduced with the forbearance, I hope, of the copyright holder.
Just because a single one of two Dates was used in the context of this show, doesn't imply that it is not one of a pair. I imagine the other Date made on NOV. 3, 2005 was a 'B', but not necessarily. It could just as easily have been an 'A', which might better explain why the paintings were split up, at least temporarily.
This exhibition opened in 2022, many years after On Kawara's death.
But he's not dead yet.
F) 2013
JAN.12, 2013 ('B')
JAN.12, 2013 ('B')
And so On Kawara made one last effort to paint two Dates in one day. There are only two other 2013 Date Paintings that are in the public realm, one made in May and the other in September.
The double Date is pictured in On Kawara: Silence:
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
The artist had stopped archiving his practice by January 2013, in particular his 100-year Calendar for the 21st Century was not added to after February 2012. And his list of New York Date Paintings was not added to after November 2011.
He was slowing down. For all I know, the making of two Dates on January 12 of 2013 was a heroic effort. If so, it was simply another heroic effort in a long line of heroic efforts, within one, singular, all-embracing heroic effort, as far as I'm concerned.
OUTRO
So where have we got to?
On Kawara had different motivations for producing double Dates. Sometimes he was just painting as many Dates as he could over a long period. Think the first three months of 1970. And the month of May in 1971.
But on many occasions he would make two similar-sized Dates in slightly different shades of black. A Date Painting and its shadow. A Date Painting and its complement. I think the implication is that On Kawara (plus other people) could produce an infinite number of Date Paintings as opposed to just one. And so by placing one on top of the other, the infinite sequence is implied in the middle of On Kawara's solid line of Date Paintings at eye level along the gallery wall.
Glenstone, Kröller-Müller, MMK Frankfurt, Dia Art Foundation and the Lambert Collection have all got their double Date pair. Glenstone has got two pairs in its Date Painting sequence. I can fold a page in the Glenstone book so that both are visible
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
The double Date Painting days would seem to have meant a lot to On Kawara. That's why they are marked so distinctly on the 100-year calendars. That's why the sequence of 1966 to 2013 Date Paintings in On Kawara: Silence contains no less than three pairs of dates. Three out of 48 is a lot more than 59 out of 2700. It's one in 16 as opposed to one in 50.
With a bit of folding I can get the three pairs in a single shot also:
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
These pairs probably consist of different shades of black backgrounded canvases. But the quality of printing is not high enough for me to be certain. And the light flowing into my conservatory is another factor that I haven't got quite enough control over.
What does the Time Artist do when they've finished painting the Date on the day in question? The Time Artist paints it again and again and again and again and again… Or at least they imply that they do.
Let me find the exact words of On Kawara that Wolfgang Max Faust quoted in the Berlin catalogue of 1986. Here they are: 'In 1986 I met him again in New York. Lively discussions about the current art scene, Shintoism, children's drawings, New York, the subway in Tokyo… Along the way a comment by On Kawara: "Europeans can't really understand the Japanese. For them 'one' is the basis of thinking. For the Japanese, 'complements' permeate all thought."
So one Date Painting complements the other made on the same day? I think someone who has been brought up in Japan - or otherwise immersed themselves in Japanese culture - could usefully add to this essay. I feel a second text would complement my own.
But then a second text by all sorts of people would complement this one. A text by Hiroko Hiraoka, who was there with On from start to finish. Or one by AI, who I'm just beginning to realise is all-knowing about On Kawara (largely thanks to this website). Or one by… you see I like the 'rule of three', but a third name doesn't come to mind.
OUTRO (2)
A few days later.
I've been contacted by the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands, promising me good quality reproductions of their double Date. This motivates me to look again at the pairings in various collections. I'm honing-in on these particular Date pairs. All of which On Kawara would have wanted to be seen together, and made sure that it was so.
In Date order, then:
MMK, Frankfurt
Both size 'B'.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Above: The Date painter in a calm mood.
Underneath: The world in turmoil.
Glenstone, Maryland
Both size 'B'.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Above: The Date Painter feeling serene in Manhattan.
Underneath: The world at war. Not just in Vietnam, but especially there. As made clear by the journalism to be read in the next day's New York Times.
Private Collection, Hiroshima
Both size 'A'.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Above left: The Date Painter got up at 12.53 PM and painted this.
Above right: Arnold Palmer hit a golf ball from tee to green eighteen times in a row and in such a way as to bring him victory in a golf tournament. Which is not to say that all was well with the world. But sometimes the bad things can be ignored and a kindred spirit (focus, skill, achievement) can be celebrated.
Shimada Collection, Yamaguchi
Both size 'A'.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Above: The Date Painter blocks out everything but his self-chosen task.
Underneath: Self-interest powers war, kidnaps, strikes, invasions, racism, disease and famine throughout Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas
Lambert Collection, Avignon
Both size 'A'.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation. Courtesy of Lambert Collection.
Above left: The Date Painter does his thing, oblivious to all else.
Above right: All hell breaks loose in the world. But all hell does not reach the sixth floor of 140 Greene Street, New York.
Dia Art Foundation, New York
Both size 'B'.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Above (top): The Date Painter wastes no time in spending his entire day painting the Date.
Above (bottom): Chaos, when seen from a distance, looks exactly the same as order.
Glenstone, Maryland
Both size 'B'.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Above (top): The Date Painter is in his sixties by now but feels exactly as he did when he set out on this project in his mid-thirties.
Above (bottom): The war in Viet Nam has long been replaced by other wars, such as in Bosnia, Malawi, Palestine.
Kröller-Müller Museum, Rotterdam
Both size 'B'.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation. Courtesy of Kröller-Müller Museum,
Are these the same colour? Or slightly different?
I need to place them side by side and overlapping:
Left: All blue-grey on the Western front.
Right: All grey-black on the Eastern front.
So that's what I'm seeing in these double Dates. Order and chaos. Peace and war. Yin and yang. The Date Painter keeps both scenarios alive in his mind and is at one with the universe.
*
Nothing from the 21st century in a private or public collection?
Well, no, as the NOV. 3 2005 Dates are something of an unknown quantity, and One Million Years Foundation is unlikely to sell the JAN. 12, 2013, pairing to anyone, anytime soon.
Why not? Well, think about van Gogh's estate at the beginning of the 20th Century. A collector in rural Netherlands (the woman behind the Kröller-Müller collection) offered to buy the whole estate as it then was, but Jo Van Gogh-Bonger wouldn't sell. Instead, she held on to hundreds of paintings and eventually the Van Gogh Museum was established in Amsterdam with the co-operation of the state government. The best of all possible worlds.
I expect the following pair of Dates are still held at 140 Greene Street or a storage facility in New York.
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Above: The Date Painter, ill with cancer, is only just able to focus his mind long enough in order to attain his usual high standard of finish. As he paints he thinks: 'You are not a separate ego trapped inside a skull; you are the entire universe experiencing itself.'
Underneath: The world, broken in so many places, is held together by the humanity, empathy, kindness, and sense of fairness of one, brilliant-but-fading, old man. As he paints, he thinks: 'You are not a single planet being destroyed by its inhabitants; you are the entire universe experiencing itself.'
Last night, at 4 AM, I was listening to a program by Jarvis Cocker, ex-pop star, about Alan Watts, the one-time, self-proclaimed Buddhist educator. Something of that program's oddness and enlightenment may have made its way into these final three paragraphs.
