Introduction to Mirage Notebook by Joan Jonas
This notebook dates from around the period when I was working on the Mirage project and includes drawings related to the Stage Sets installation at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The 1970s notebooks are much more detailed, with sketches and stage directions. When I worked in the ’70s and into the ’80s, there were many more notes related to specific works.
—Joan Jonas, April 2020
Further Reading
For further reading, see Notebooks Introduction by Joan Jonas.
Notebook
Note on Selection of Notebook Pages
The selected notebook pages include drawings related to Jonas’s installation Stage Sets (1976), created for her first solo exhibition. These drawings also include motifs from the chalkboard drawings in Mirage (1976). The notebook shows the “double drawings” that Jonas exhibited as wall drawings in Stage Sets, in addition to drawings of the sloped table and related drawings that form another part of the installation.
Note on Notebook Numbering
In recent years, Jonas’s notebooks were assigned numbers and approximate dates to aid in tracking and inventorying them. The numbers are not strictly chronological as several notebooks were often in use at any given moment, and were often returned to later.
—KP
Notebook, 1976
Additional Materials
- Joan Jonas, Untitled (Mirage installation drawing), from untitled notebook (number 7a), 1991. (Notebook Images)