Die-cut and stencil on paper. Hand-signed and dated lower left. Reference: ULAE 148

'M. D.' by Jasper Johns is a mixed media work from 1974, measuring 55.9 × 45.3 cm. On a uniform sheet of warm buff card, a large irregular quadrilateral is defined by a faint, nearly colourless impressed line — the paper's surface catching light rather than ink. Along the right edge of this shape, a continuous contour breaks into an unmistakable facial profile in silhouette: forehead, nose, lips, and chin rendered in a single unbroken line before rejoining the geometric border. The initials 'M. D.' are stamped in bold serif type at the lower right — a clear reference to Marcel Duchamp, who died in 1968. Johns had a long personal friendship with Duchamp and absorbed his readymade logic deeply into his own practice. The work sits within a cluster of Johns's early 1970s tributes to Duchamp, where portraiture is reduced to the barest notational gesture and the support itself becomes the primary material.