{"data":{"id":"11066","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":11066,"topgoose_id":14357,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":11066,"title":"The Eyes","display_artist_text":"Jay DeFeo","display_date":"1958","accession_number":"96.242.3","dimensions":"Sheet (Sight): 42 × 84 3/4 in. (106.7 × 215.3 cm)","medium":"Graphite pencil on paper","department":"collection","classification":"Drawings","credit_line":"Gift of the Lannan Foundation","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":null,"publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eJay DeFeo, \u003cem\u003eThe Eyes\u003c/em\u003e, 1958. Graphite pencil on paper, sheet (Sight): 42 × 84 3/4 in. (106.7 × 215.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of the Lannan Foundation 96.242.3. © The Jay DeFeo Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003eOne of several works in which Jay DeFeo addresses the act of seeing, either through title or subject matter, \u003ci\u003eThe Eyes\u003c/i\u003e was inspired by a photograph of the artist. DeFeo later spoke of \u003ci\u003eThe Eyes\u003c/i\u003e as having “something of a prophetic meaning,” a precursor to her envisioning her signature work, \u003ci\u003eThe Rose \u003c/i\u003e(1958-66)\u003ci\u003e. \u003c/i\u003eApart from personal references, DeFeo's ambitious sense of scale, along with the numerous vertical striations and erasures across the disembodied eyes, make this image of a familiar subject arresting and unexpected. DeFeo inscribed the back of this drawing with a stanza from a poem by Beat poet Philip Lamantia: “Tell him I have eyes only for Heaven as I look to you Queen Mirror of the Heavenly Court.”\u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"A pencil sketch of wide eyes with vertical and diagonal lines creating a fragmented, intense gaze.","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":false,"created_at":"2017-08-30T17:19:50.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T12:00:59.991-05:00","images":[{"id":101877,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/11066/96_242_3_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"3946","type":"artist"}]}}}}