Editing Jasper Johns (section)

===Commissions===
In 1963, the architect [[Philip Johnson]] commissioned Johns to make a work for what is now the David H. Koch Theater at [[Lincoln Center]].<ref name=":4" /> ''Numbers'' (1964), a 9-by-7-foot grid of numerals, debuted in 1964 and, after presiding over the theater's lobby for 35 years, was supposed to be sold by the center for a reported $15 million in 1979. ''Numbers'' is historically important because it is the largest work of the artist's Numbers motif, and each of its Sculp-metal and collage units is on a separate canvas.<ref name=":4" /> Responding to widespread criticism, the board of Lincoln Center decided to drop its plans to sell the work, which was Johns's first and only public commission.<ref>Carol Vogel (January 26, 1999), [https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/26/nyregion/lincoln-center-drops-plan-to-sell-its-jasper-johns-painting.html Lincoln Center Drops Plan to Sell Its Jasper Johns Painting] ''New York Times''.</ref>