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By Ed McDevitt, Class of 2010

As a member of the Tour Committee, I recently went on a demo of the new Chinatown tour given by Kathleen Carpenter, the Tour Director. One of the stops was at the Nine-Dragon Wall at the northeast corner of Wentworth Street and Cermak Road.

As Kathleen talked about the Nine-Dragon Wall and noted that “9” is a most auspicious number in Chinese culture, I got curious. She mentioned that “9” represents power and good fortune as the symbol of the Emperor. I got distracted (see below) and didn’t hear if Kathleen said the significance of the number exists because the Chinese word for “9” sounds very much like the word for “long-lasting,” so the number has also come to signify longevity.

I looked it up. As it turns out, the number 9 itself is associated with the dragon figure. According to an article by Donald Alexander:

“Nine is strongly associated with the Chinese dragon, a symbol of magic and power. There are nine forms of the dragon, it is described in terms of nine attributes, and it has nine children. It has 9×13 scales, 9×9 being yang (masculine, or bad influence) and 9×4 being yin (feminine, or good influence)”

The citation reference is http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/9_(number) .

The reason I got interested – and became distracted – was that I looked at the Chinatown wall and immediately thought of an object on our Hidden (Mostly Outdoor) Art tour, Yaacov Agam’s Communication X9 at 150 North Michigan (Stone Container/Smurfit-Stone/Crain Communications) and wondered if “9” had numerological significance to Agam.

Even later in the day it occurred to me to google “Agam and Numerology”. Amazingly enough, there’s a short article by Morris Shapiro, Director of Park West Gallery in Southfield, Michigan, on this very topic: https://www.parkwestgallery.com/yaacov-agam-and-the-mystical-number-nine/8999

Here’s the core of that article (hang with it – it’s a bit dense):

In the language of Hebrew (one of the world’s most ancient still in use) every letter of the alphabet has a hidden meaning found in each letter, vowel and accent. Each letter in Hebrew also represents a number. Hebrew, unlike many other languages, never developed separate numerical symbols. The ancient Hebrews also believed that God’s “language” could be perceived in mathematics. When contemplating the perfection of mathematics, formulae, its infiniteness (microcosm/macrocosm) and man’s need for mathematics to create our physical existence, it is easy to see a “metaphysical” aspect to numbers as well. This is the basis for the pursuit and penetration into the mysticism of numbers and mathematics in Kabbala.

The Hebrew word for “life” is “chai.” The word chai is composed of two letters (two numbers) which add up to the number “18.” So in “life” we find a factor of “9.” Now “9” is also a “magical” number. Perhaps you’ve noticed that for each factor of 9: 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81, 90… when the numbers are added together equal 9 (18…1 + 8 = 9, etc.). This continues: 108, 117, 126, 135, 144, etc.

As Agam considers his works of art to be “visual prayers” or creations which each reflect upon the metaphysical, he chooses to incorporate factors of 9 into each work to “resonate” this purpose. Therefore, in an Agam “prismograph” for example, there are 9 prisms used. The edition size (180) is a factor of 9. The number of colors used in the print is divisible by 9 (I don’t know how many there are, but trust me). If you measure the distance between the prisms, the length, width and depth of the prisms, the sizes of each rectangular space used, the distance from the edge of the frame (white acrylic) to the image, the thickness of the frame, etc. these dimensions will all be divisible by 9 in centimeters. Agam incorporates his Kabbalistic beliefs directly into the physicality (form) of the art he creates.

So now we have an inkling about what, if you think about it, is a rather odd thing: there are 9 ribs on each side of Communication X9, not 8 or 5 or 11. I’m surprised that this fact escaped me as significant. Just goes to show you: there’s always more to learn.

Now, of course, I’ll have to go and count how many colors the work has, what the distance between ribs is and how wide and long the ribs are. I’m sure building security won’t mind if I put a ladder up and start with my ruler . . . Or maybe I can call Andrzej Dajnowski at The Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio, where the piece was restored in 2008. Or possibly I’m way too deep in this . . .