Tom Johnson, counting system on cloth, undated ca. 1985

Black marker notation on checkered piece of tablecloth, 122 x 96 cm (folded). Apart from a small stain in fine condition. Stunning work by the American composer, musician, writer and visual artist (born 1939), belonging to the first generation of minimal composers.

The work derives from the private collection of Paul and Helene Panhuysen, who ran the Apollohuis in Eindhoven (NL), a space for experimental music and art. Johnson performed there in 1984 and 1985. In 1989 the Apollohuis published Johnson's 'The Voice of New Music', an anthology of articles on the evolution of minimal music in New York in 1972-1982, originally written for the Village Voice. In 1985 Johnson presented The Chord Catalogue at the Apollohuis, a musical listing of all the 8178 chords possible in one octave, of which this work is an example.