Pay Attention
1973
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph on Arjomari wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 97 x 71.7 cm (38 3/16 x 28 1/4 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Benjamin B. Smith
Accession Number
1985.47.137
Art Historical Context
**Pay Attention**, a striking 1973 lithograph Bruce Nauman, invites visitors to engage directly with its commanding title. Printed on high-quality Arjomari wove paper, this large-scale work measures 97 x 71.7 cm, making it an imposing presence in the National Gallery of Art's collection (Department CG-W). Acquired as a gift from Benjamin B. Smith, it exemplifies the museum's commitment to modern prints that push artistic boundaries. Nauman, a key figure in conceptual and postminimalist art during the 1970s, frequently employed stark text and language to provoke thought, disrupt complacency, a...
About the Artist
Bruce Nauman
Bruce Nauman, born on December 6, 1941, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, grew up in a family frequently uprooted by his father's career as a General Electric engineer. After studying mathematics, physics, and art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned a BS in 1964, Nauman pursued an MFA at the University of California, Davis in 1966. There, he studied under William T. Wiley and Robert Arne...