DIA FOUNDATION
ONE
The Dia Art Foundation in New York put on an ambitious show of On Kawara's work in 1993. Month-by-month, a cumulative total of 1000 Date Paintings, all made in New York, were shown between January 1 and December 31, 1993. This was at Dia Chelsea in Manhattan, then known as Dia Center for the Arts.
On Kawara made sure to include a photo of each month's installation in the 1996 volume Whole and Parts, which he edited. Though, as you're about to see, the image for January doesn't give much away. But what it does suggest (and photos of later installations confirm) is that the monthly displays began at the beginning of 1966, and progressed chronologically.
One Million Years/One Thousand Days, Dia Center for the Arts, New York, 1993
But that was an exhibition back in 1993. The first donation of a Date Painting to the Dia Art Foundation was not made until 2003. 18 MAI 2000 was a gift from One Million Years Foundation. So, yes, OMYF was constituted by On Kawara long before his death in 2014. Its purpose then was the same as now, to disseminate On Kawara's philosophy and achievement throughout the world. Note that the Dates donated to Dia Art Foundation were not necessarily made in New York as the Dates in the massive 1993 show had been.
2003 was the year the the Lannan Foundation bought 13 Dates. In other words, this set of paintings was presumably located at Lannan HQ in Santa Fe from 2003, the year that the Dia Art Foundation in New York started a collection with a single one.
…
…
…
…
…
…
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Actually, I think Lannan's collection in Santa Fe would have needed two large rooms to do it justice.
Room two:
…
…
…
…
…
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
The collection of Dia Art Foundation in New York was then built up two per year on an annual basis starting from 2005. OMYF would donate a painting yearly from its massive stock, and the Lannan Foundation would also donate one of theirs. So in 2005, the gifts were:
Date Painting………….Accession number at Dia Art Foundation
MAY 22,1979................2005.020 Gift of OMYF
JUNE16,1966………….2005.021 Gift of Lannan Foundation (2003.34)
Someone behind the scenes (On Kawara, I suspect) was pulling the strings, so that ultimately Dia Art Foundation would have a Date for each year from 1966 to 2000, just as Frankfurt did. In 2006 the gifts were:
OCT.11,1980 ………….2006.007 Gift of OMYF
FEB.14,1967…………..2006.008 Gift of Lannan Foundation (2003.35)
Note that the Dates were given to Dia in chronological order. In other words, the One Million Years Foundation Dates began from 1979 and proceeded year by year. And the Lannan Dates began at 1966 and did the same thing.
And the following year:
AUG.3,1981……………2007.022 Gift of OMYF
5 ABR.68……………….2007.023 Gift of Lannan Foundation(2003.36)
As mentioned, each of the paintings was bought by the Lannan Foundation in 2003. And it seems that they were all size B and black. So when OMYF matched the Lannan donation they did so by contributing a black, size B also. Natch!
JAN.21,1982……………2008.002 Gift of OMYF
NOV.20.1969…………...2008:003 Gift of Lannan Foundation (2003.37)
What is this Lannan Foundation, you might ask? Its website declares that 'Lannan is dedicated to cultural freedom, diversity, and creativity in support of exceptional contemporary artists, writers, and activists.'
Fair enough. Its mission statement goes on to add: 'Lannan recognizes the profound and often unquantifiable value of the creative process and is willing to take risks and make substantial investments in ambitious and experimental thinking. Understanding that globalization threatens all cultures and ecosystems, the Foundation is particularly interested in projects that encourage freedom of inquiry, imagination, and expression.'
Got it. So what happened re Dia's burgeoning collection of Dates in 2009?
APR.25.1983…………….2009.004 Gift of OMYF
MAY 25,1970…………….2009.005 Gift of Lannan Foundation (2003.38)
In the 'History' section, the Lannan site says: 'In 1960 J. Patrick Lannan, Sr., entrepreneur and financier, established Lannan Foundation. A self-educated scholar and liberal thinker, he believed strongly in the social importance of charitable programs and in the cultural importance of innovative and controversial forms of visual and literary art. During his lifetime, Mr. Lannan assembled an extensive collection of contemporary and modern American and European art. Included in his collection were important early works by emerging artists who went on to develop international reputations.'
But this J. Patrick Lannan died in 1983, twenty years before his Foundation invested in On Kawara. So it was his successor, Patrick Lannan, that spent a lot of his father's money in 2003 getting hold of 13 On Kawara Dates. Lannan Foundation relocated its offices from Los Angeles to Santa Fe in 1997. So by my reckoning the 13 Dates were hanging in the Santa Fe HQ when they were bought in 2003.
So what happened in 2010 from Dia Art Foundation's perspective?
Date Painting……………..Accession number at Dia
4AUG.1984……………….2010.004 Gift of OMYF
2 JAN.1971……………….2010.005 Gift of Lannan Foundation (2003.39)
By 2011, six of the Lannan Kawaras had been given away to Dia Art Foundation in New York. It must have been strange for Patrick Lannan sitting in his office in Santa Fe and having the row of On Kawara Dates be reduced by one per year as the years of his own life passed one at a time.
I'm imagining that by this stage he was fitting the remaining eight Dates into one room at Santa Fe:
…
…
…
…
…
…
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Maybe that was just as satisfying. Less is (again) more.
Patrick Lannan was born in 1938. So in 2003 when he bought the 13 Date Paintings, he'd been 65. Two years later he'd began giving them away. When he was 67, he gave away his first Date Painting. When he was 68 he gave away his second, and so on. Christ, I say again: not only was he getting a year older, he was losing one of his On Kawara years on an annual basis.
Then this happened. Two gone in one year!
Date Painting………………Accession number at Dia
28 DEC.1972………………2011.004 Gift of Lannan Foundation (2003.40)
30NOV.1986……………….2011.005 Gift of OMYF
OCT.13,1973………………2011.006 Gift of Lannan Foundation (2003.41)
MAY 9,1985………………..2011.007 Gift of OMYF
Yes, in 2011, two of the Lannan Foundation's Date Paintings were given away. That must have been especially hard for Patrick Lannan to take. Almost an unnatural feeling to lose two of his On Kawara years in his own 73rd year.
Date Painting……………..Accession number at Dia
JAN.28,1987………………2012.001 Gift of OMYF
MAR.24,1974……………..2012.002 Gift of Lannan Foundation (2003.42)
By the time the 2012 donation had been given, Patrick only had four Date Paintings left in his office. As mentioned, he had been giving them away in date order, so it was the 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978 Dates he had left. I have little doubt he contemplated them often. 
…
…
…
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Just as I have no doubt that Patrick often went to the poetry of Seamus Heaney for consolation. In the dedication to the life of Patrick Lannan on the Lannan website, his fondness for the Irish poet is memorialised with this poem:
Reproduced with the forbearance, I hope, of Seamus Heaney's estate.
Just sometimes one has to give credit to collectors, those who match the money they invest with an imaginative use of their investment.
As for the poem, anyone who has painted Dates throughout 2022 (FEB.12, 2022, FEB. 22 2022…) knows all about the white necks of swans.
But let's get back into the room….
Date Painting…………Accession number at Dia
FEB.19,1975………….2013.032 Gift of Lannan Foundation (2003.43)
15 JUL. 1988…………2013.033 Gift of OMYF
So this is where we've got to - as we enter 2014 - at the offices of the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe. The year of On Kawara's death.
……
……
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Date Painting………….Accession number at Dia
26 JULI 1976………….2014.001 Gift of Lannan Foundation (2003.44)
NOV.3,1989…………...2014.002.1-2 Gift of OMYF
And so the offices of the Lannan Foundation are reduced (honed down) to this:
…………
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
Of course, On Kawara would have been aware of what Patrick Lannan was doing. And how could he not have approved? Both men knowing they were on the way out. Though each was STILL ALIVE until the day one of them sadly wasn't.
Two differences between Patrick Lannan and On Kawara at this point in time. Patrick had eight years left to live and two Date Paintings left to enjoy. On was in his final months but had a couple of thousand Date Paintings safely stored away.
Date Painting…………Accession number at Dia
26 OTT.1990…………2015.047 Gift of OMYF
SEPT.12.1977………..2016.001 Gift of Lannan Foundation (2003.45)
6 MRT.1991…………..2016.020 Gift of OMYF
27 DEC.1978…………2016.021 Gift of Lannan Foundation (2003.46)
Two in one year again! So suddenly everything had changed. Patrick, aged 78, had given away all his Dates. Although I suppose it's always possible that he had bought fourteen Dates in 2003 and that he still had the fourteenth, being a 1979 Date. In some ways that would make sense, as the making of 'I GOT UP', 'I WENT' and 'I MET' went on until 1979. It was 1979 when On Kawara truly raised the drawbridge between himself and the world.
Date Painting…………Accession number at Dia
AUG.29,1992…………2017.038 Gift of OMYF
JAN.1,1993……………2018.024 Gift of OMYF
JUNE 7, 1994…………2019.033 Gift of OMYF
27 MARS 1995………..2020.002 Gift of OMYF
SEPT.8,1996………….2021.014 Gift of OMYF
FEB.11,1997………….2022.026 Gift of OMYF
2022 was the year that Patrick Lannan died. I wonder if he missed his collection of Date Paintings in those last years. I expect he was aware that the collection of On Kawara Dates from 1966 to 2000 at Dia Art Foundation was almost complete. On Kawara and he had set something in motion and the plan was almost achieved. The Date Painting for year 2000 had been the first to go into the collection, back in 2003. In fact, as I've already said, the whole plan must have been set in motion at that point, as agreed by Patrick Lannan and On Kawara.
Date Painting…………Accession number at Dia
19 DEC. 1998…………2023.055 Gift of OMYF
And now both of them were dead, but their plan was still playing out for the benefit of others. Just one to go…
Date Painting…………Accession number at Dia
APR.30.1999………….2024.114 Gift of OMYF
And there we have it. A complete 1966-2000 set of Date Paintings for the people of New York to enjoy in perpetuiti. The collection is at Dia Beacon, upstate in New York, an hour and a half's drive from Manhattan.
Just to compare and contrast the build up of the Frankfurt and the New York state collections.
The Frankfurt collection was largely made in 1990 (Date Paintings 1966 to 1990). Then it was completed when Kawara died in 2014 (Date Paintings 1992 to 2000). Kasper Konig was an important go-between as he had known On Kawara's work since 1967 and lived in Frankfurt from 1998 to 2000.
Whereas the Dia Art Foundation's collection was only begun in 2003, when a May, 2000 Date was bought. Then, from 2005, OMYF and Lannan Foundation contributed a matched number (thirteen) of annual paintings until 2016. Then OMYF donated a painting year for eight years until the Dia collection was complete in 2024.
I may have to run through that one more time.
TWO
There is just one private collection of Date Paintings that is/was anything like the set that the Lannan Foundation acquired in 2003. This photo was taken by Candida Höfer in Brussels in December 2006. 
Reproduced with the forbearance, I hope, of Candida Hofer.
Dear reader, you may not be able to make out the dates. They are, from left to right:
11 JUN.68
OCT.9,1969
AUG.29,1970
MAR.24,1971
FEB.2,1972
MAR.25,1973
APR.3,1974
JAN.6,1975
10 NOV.1976
DEC.19,1977
JULY 12, 1978
SEPT.4,1979
So 12 rather than 13 paintings. One per year from 1968 (not 1966) to 1979 (not 1978). In other words, one for each year that 'I GOT UP', 'I WENT' and 'I MET' were in progress.
The private collector in Brussels is not named in Höfer's book, so let's leave them out of this. Instead, I see On Kawara lying on the couch under the set of Dates while I see Patrick Lannan lying upon the chaise longue in the foreground. Excellent.
OK: "How old are you, Patrick? In years, not days."
PL: "sixty-eight."
OK: "Still young, then?"
PL: "I like to think so. But we don't know, do we?"
OK: "I AM STILL ALIVE."
PL: "Of course you are! By the way, these Dates are those special ones in between Milliion Years Past and Million Years Future, aren't they?"
OK: "More or less. Million Years Past, ends with 1969AD. While Million Years Future begins with 1981AD
PL: "Locked into the present. Alive, alive-oh! On, do you know the Seamus Heaney poem, Postscript?"
OK: "No. Tell me about it."
PL: "It begins: 'And some time make the time to drive out west.
Into County Clare, along the Flaggy shore.
In September or October, when the wind
And the light are working off each other…'"
OK: "You know what that has me visualising?"
PL: "A Date made in Ireland?"
OK: "I have not had the pleasure of making a Date in Ireland. So, no, rather: SEPT.4,1979."
Silence… 
Reproduced (detail) with the forbearance, I hope, of Candida Hofer.
…Which lasts. Until…
PL: "Okay, down to business. What is it you want, On?"
OK: "I want the Dia Foundation to have a complete run of Date Paintings from 1966 to 2000."
PL: "And I want to help you with that as well as live with a few Date Paintings in my remaining years. I'll buy thirteen and then drip feed them to Dia."
OK: "Ha-ha. How long do you think you'll live?"
PL: "Oh, not for much longer."
OK: "I understand, but we are setting out a contract here, so pick a year."
PL: "Very well. I think I will live until 2016. I'll be 78 by then. A good innings."
OK: "So you and One Million Years Foundation, which is to say, me, will each give 13 Date Paintings in the period from 2005 to 2016. And after that One Million Years Foundation will give away a painting a year until 2022, at which point the Dia Art Foundation will have a full collection of my dates from 1966 to 2000."
PL: "What if I die young?"
OK: "Makes no difference. The Dates will change hands as I've just set out."
PL: "What if I live until 100?"
OK: "You will be living those extra, unexpected years, without having my Date Paintings to look at."
PL: "Should I risk it?"
And they both laugh.
THREE
So there is one collection of 1966 to 2000 Date Paintings in Europe and two (including Glenstone) in America. "What about us?" ask the people of Asia.
After all, On Kawara had a home and studio in Tokyo as well as in New York and Paris. Not for the whole time, of course. He was based in New York from 1966 until his death, but was in Tokyo from 1984 or so, and in Paris from 1993. He did not paint anywhere but in New York from 2009 until his demise.
So perhaps it's appropriate that in 2023 the Anzai Gallery in Tokyo, in association with One Million Years Foundation, put on a show of Dates from 2001 to 2010. Which is to say:
DEC.20, 2001
JULY17, 2002
MAR.9, 2003
AUG.25, 2004
FEB.14, 2005
OCT.8, 2006
2 AOUT 2007
JUNE 21, 2008
NOV.16, 2009
MAY 1, 2010
I don't know the colours or sizes of the above Dates. Below is the super-cool image that was used to publicise the show:
Reproduced thanks to the understanding of the One Million Years Foundation
That was a temporary show at the Anzai Gallery. But then everything is temporary. However, it would not surprise me if within a decade or two there was a complete set of Dates in Asia from 1966 to 2013. The most likely place for that would be a public institution in Tokyo, but the Far East has been slow to embrace its Japanese-born Time Master.
And will the splendid Frankfurt and Dia collections be extended to include Dates 2001 to 2013? I am not sure about that. On Kawara was an outstanding artist of the Twentieth Century. The 21st Century will be for other artists to struggle with.
Oh, but what am I saying? Look at those big empty zeroes between the 2 and the 1 in the right hand side of the image above! It must have been a complicated feeling for Kawara to suddenly be done with the painting of so many of the numbers 1 and 9, and to be continually confronted instead with the numbers 2 and 0.
If the Frankfurt and Dia collections eventually get 2001 to 2013 Dates, that will radically change the feel of these collections. Right now, I couldn't say whether that would be for the better or worse.
The phrase 'ground zero' haunts me. That happened in New York in 2001 and seems to have been pertinent ever since.
20000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
Another phrase that should haunt me is 'Glenstone Museum'. When I first began this suite of essays I didn't realise that a private institution near Washington D.C. contains a complete set of size 'B' Date paintings from 1966 to 2013, called '48 Years and 16 Cities'. The fact that it does calls for another essay, see next page.
