Jasper Johns

Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns
Three Flags, 1958, Whitney Museum of American Art Birth name Jasper Johns, Jr. Born May 15, 1930 Augusta, Georgia, U.S.

Nationality American Field Movement Works Influenced Awards Painting, Printmaking Abstract Expressionism, Neo-Dada, Pop Art Flags, Numbers, Maps, Stenciled Words Pop Art (1988) Awarded the Grand Prize for Painting at the Venice Biennial Artist of the year (1989) Awards By MIR (1990) National Medal of Arts (1993) Praemium Imperiale (2011) Presidential Medal of Freedom

Jasper Johns, Jr. (born May 15, 1930) is an American contemporary artist who works primarily in painting and printmaking.

Life
Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina with his paternal grandparents after his parents' marriage failed. He then spent a year living with his mother in Columbia, South Carolina and thereafter he spent several years living with his aunt Gladys in Lake Murray, South Carolina, twenty-two miles from Columbia. He completed high school in Sumter, South Carolina, where he once again lived with his mother.[1] Recounting this period in his life, he once said, "In the place where I was a child, there were no artists and there was no art, so I really didn't know what that meant. I think I thought it meant that I would be in a situation different than the one that I was in." He began drawing when he was three and has continued doing art ever since.[2] Johns studied at the University of South Carolina from 1947 to 1948, a total of three semesters.[3] He then moved to New York City and studied briefly at the Parsons School of Design in 1949.[3] In 1952 and 1953 he was stationed in Sendai, Japan during the Korean War.[3] In 1954, after returning to New York, Johns met Robert Rauschenberg and they became long term lovers. For a time they lived in the same building as Rachel Rosenthal.[][4][5] In the same period he was strongly influenced by the gay couple Merce Cunningham (a choreographer) and John Cage (a composer).[][] Working together they explored the contemporary art scene, and began developing their ideas on art. In 1958, gallery owner Leo Castelli discovered Johns while visiting Rauschenberg's studio.[3] Castelli gave him his first solo show. It was here that Alfred Barr, the founding director of New York's Museum of Modern Art, purchased four works from his exhibition.[2] In 1963, Johns and Cage founded Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, now known as Foundation for Contemporary Arts in New York City. Johns currently lives in Sharon, Connecticut and the Island of Saint Martin.[6] Until 2012, he lived in a rustic 1930s farmhouse with a glass-walled studio in Stony Point, New York for close to three decades. He first began visiting St. Martin in the late 1960s and bought the property there in 1972. The architect Philip Johnson is the principal designer

Jasper Johns of his home, a long, white, rectangular structure divided into three distinct sections.[]

Work
Painting
Johns is best known for his painting Flag (195455), which he painted after having a dream of the American flag. His work is often described as a Neo-Dadaist, as opposed to pop art, even though his subject matter often includes images and objects from popular culture.[citation needed] Still, many compilations on pop art include Jasper Johns as a pop artist because of his artistic use of classical iconography. Early works were composed using simple schema such as flags, maps, targets, letters and numbers. Johns' treatment of the surface is often lush and painterly; he is famous for incorporating such media as encaustic and plaster relief in his paintings. Johns played with and presented opposites, contradictions, paradoxes, and ironies, much like Marcel Duchamp (who was associated with the Dada movement). Johns also produces intaglio prints, sculptures and lithographs with similar motifs. Johns' breakthrough move, which was to inform much later work by others, was to appropriate popular iconography for painting, thus allowing a set of familiar associations to answer the need for subject. Though the Abstract Expressionists disdained subject matter, it could be argued that in the end, they had simply changed subjects. Johns neutralized the subject, so that something like a pure painted surface could declare itself. For twenty years after Johns painted Flag, the surface could suffice for example, in Andy Warhol's silkscreens, or in Robert Irwin's illuminated ambient works. Abstract Expressionist figures like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning subscribed to the concept of a macho "artist hero," and their paintings are indexical in that they stand effectively as a signature on canvas. In contrast, Neo-Dadaists like Johns and Rauschenberg seemed preoccupied with a lessening of the reliance of their art on indexical qualities, seeking instead to create meaning solely through the use of conventional symbols. Some have interpreted this as a rejection of the hallowed individualism of the Abstract Expressionists. Their works also imply symbols existing outside of any referential context. Johns' Flag, for instance, is primarily a visual object, divorced from its symbolic connotations and reduced to something in-itself.

Sculpture
Johns makes his sculptures in wax first, working the surfaces in a complex pattern of textures, often layering collaged elements such as impressions of newsprint, or of a key, a cast of his friend Merce Cunninghams foot, or one of his own hand. He then casts the waxes in bronze, and, finally, works over the surface again, applying the patina.[7] Flashlight is one of his earliest pedestal-based sculptures.[8] One sculpture, a double-sided relief titled Fragment of a Letter (2009), incorporates part of a letter from Vincent van Gogh to his friend, the artist mile Bernard. Using blocks of type, Johns pressed the letters of van Goghs words into the wax. On the other side he spelled out the letter in the American Sign Language alphabet with stamps he made himself. Finally, he signed his name in the wax with his hands in sign language.[9] Numbers (2007) is the largest single bronze Johns has made and depicts his now classic pattern of stenciled numerals repeated in a grid.[10]

Prints
Since 1960 Johns has worked closely with Universal Limited Art Editions, Inc (ULAE) in a variety of printmaking techniques to investigate and develop existing compositions.[11] Initially, lithography suited Johns and enabled him to create print versions of iconic depiction of flags, maps, and targets that filled his paintings. In 1971, Johns became the first artist at ULAE to use the handfed offset lithographic press, resulting in Decoy - an image realized in printmaking before it was made in drawing or painting. However, apart from the Lead Reliefs series of 1969, he has concentrated his efforts on lithography at Gemini G.E.L.[12] In 1976, Johns partnered with writer Samuel Beckett to

Jasper Johns create Foirades/Fizzles; the book includes 33 etchings, which revisit an earlier work by Johns and five text fragments by Beckett. He has also worked with Atelier Crommelynck in Paris, in association with Petersburg Press of London and New York; and Simca Print Artists in New York.[13]

Collaborations
For decades Johns worked with others to raise both funds and attention for Cunninghams choreography. He privately assisted Robert Rauschenberg in some of his 1950s designs for Merce Cunningham. In spring 1963, Johns helped start the Foundation of Contemporary Performance Arts, then intended to sponsor and raise funds in the performance field; the other founders were John Cage, Elaine de Kooning, the designer David Hayes, and the theater producer Lewis B. Lloyd. Johns later was the Merce Cunningham Dance Companys artistic adviser from 1967 to 1980. In 1968 Johns and Cunningham made a Duchamp-inspired theater piece, Walkaround Time, in which Johnss dcor replicates elements of Duchamps work The Large Glass (1915-23).[14]

Commissions
In 1964, architect Philip Johnson, a friend, commissioned Johns to make a piece for what is now the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center.[15] After presiding over the theatres lobby for 35 years, Numbers (1964), an enormous 9-foot-by-7-foot grid of numerals, was supposed to be sold by the center for a reported $15m. Art historians consider Numbers a historically important work in part because it is the largest of the artist's numbers motifs and the only one where each unit is on a separate stretcher, fashioned from a material called Sculpmetal, which was chosen by the artist for its durability.[16] Responding to widespread criticism, the board of Lincoln Center had to drop its selling plans.[17]

Collections
In 1998, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York bought Johns' White Flag. While the Met would not disclose how much was paid, "experts estimate [the painting's] value at more than $20 million."[18] The National Gallery of Art acquired about 1,700 of Johns' proofs in 2007. This made the Gallery home to the largest number of Johns' works held by a single institution. The exhibition showed works from many points in Johns' career, including recent proofs of his prints.[19] The Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina, has several of his pieces in their permanent collection.

Recognition
Johns was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1984.[] In 1990, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. On February 15, 2011 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, becoming the first painter or sculptor to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom since Alexander Calder in 1977. His text Statement (1959) has been published in Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings.[20]

Art market
Since the 1980s, Johns produces paintings at four to five a year, sometimes not at all during a year. His large scale paintings are much favored by collectors and because of their rarity, Johns' works are extremely difficult to acquire. His works from the mid to late 1950s, typically viewed as his period of rebellion against Abstract Expressionism, remain his most sought after.[21] Skates Art Market Research (Skate Press, Ltd.), a New York based advisory firm servicing private and institutional investors in the art market, has ranked Jasper Johns as the 30th most valuable artist.[22] The firms index of the 1,000 most valuable works of art sold at auction Skates Top 1000 contains 7

Jasper Johns works by Johns. Already in 1980 the Whitney Museum of American Art spent $1 million for Three Flags (1958), then the highest price ever paid for the work of a living artist.[] In 2006, private collectors Anne and Kenneth Griffin (founder of the Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel LLC) bought Johns' False Start (1959) from David Geffen[21] for $80 million, making it the most expensive painting by a living artist.[]

Other work
Flag (195455) White Flag (1955) [23] Device (1962-3) Periscope (Hart Crane) (1963) Figure Five (196364) The Critic Sees (1964) Voice (1967) Skull (1973) Titanic (197678) Tantric Detail (1980) Perilous Night (1982) Seasons (1986)

Target with Plaster Casts (1955) Target with Four Faces" (1955) Numbers in Color (195859) False Start (1959) Three Flags (1958) Coathanger (1960) Painting With Two Balls (1960) Painted Bronze (1960) Study for Skin (1962)

In popular culture
In Mom and Pop Art, a 1999 episode of the animated television series The Simpsons, Johns guest stars as himself. In the Undergrads episode Drunks, Gimpy complains that the students for which he creates fake ID's do not appreciate his art. One of his customers rebuffs him, calling him Jasper Johns and stating that he only cares about getting a drink. In Tim Vigil and David Quinn's comic book series Faust, the protagonist is an artist named John Jaspers.

References
Notes
[1] Georgian Encyclopedia.org (http:/ / www. georgiaencyclopedia. org/ nge/ Article. jsp?id=h-3436), New Georgia Encyclopedia 16 January 2009. [2] Finkel, Jori. Artist Dossier: Jasper Johns (http:/ / www. artinfo. com/ news/ story/ 31232/ jasper-johns/ ). May 2009, Art+Auction. [3] Jasper Johns (born 1930) (http:/ / www. metmuseum. org/ toah/ hd/ john/ hd_john. htm); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York [6] Betti-Sue Hertz. Jasper Johns' Green Angel: The Making of A Print (http:/ / www. tfaoi. org/ aa/ 7aa/ 7aa81. htm) Resource Library (San Diego Museum of Art) January 29, 2007. [7] Jasper Johns: Numbers, 0-9, and 5 Postcards, November 2, 2012 - January 5, 2013 (http:/ / www. matthewmarks. com/ los-angeles/ exhibitions/ 2012-11-02_jasper-johns/ ) Matthew Marks Gallery, Los Angeles. [8] Jasper Johns, Flashlight (1960/1988) (http:/ / collections. walkerart. org/ item/ object/ 8484) Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. [9] Jasper Johns: New Sculpture and Works on Paper, May 7 - July 1, 2011 (http:/ / www. matthewmarks. com/ new-york/ exhibitions/ 2011-05-07_jasper-johns/ ) Matthew Marks Gallery, New York. [10] Jasper Johns: Numbers, 0-9, and 5 Postcards, November 2, 2012 - January 5, 2013 (http:/ / www. matthewmarks. com/ los-angeles/ exhibitions/ 2012-11-02_jasper-johns/ ) Matthew Marks Gallery, Los Angeles. [11] Jasper Johns: Prints 1987 - 2001, April 24 - June 7, 2003 (http:/ / www. gagosian. com/ exhibitions/ april-24-2003--jasper-johns) Gagosian Gallery, London. [12] Gemini G.E.L.: A Catalogue Raisonn, 19662005 | Jasper Johns (http:/ / www. nga. gov/ gemini/ essay6. htm) National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. [13] Johns: The Prints, February 2 April 13, 2008 (http:/ / mmoca. org/ exhibitions/ exhibitdetails/ jasperjohns/ index. phpJasper) Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

Jasper Johns
[14] Alistair Macaulay (January 7, 2013), Cunningham and Johns: Rare Glimpses Into a Collaboration (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2013/ 01/ 08/ arts/ design/ jasper-johns-speaks-of-merce-cunningham. html) New York Times. [15] Julie Belcove (April 29, 2011), Meaning in the making (http:/ / www. ft. com/ cms/ s/ 2/ f35b2c44-711f-11e0-acf5-00144feabdc0. html#axzz1vnLAX3vz) Financial Times. [16] Frank DiGiacomo (January 18, 1999), Art in the Gilded Age: Lincoln Center Czars Hang Up Jasper Johns (http:/ / observer. com/ 1999/ 01/ art-in-the-gilded-age-lincoln-center-czars-hang-up-jasper-johns/ ) New York Observer. [17] Carol Vogel (January 26, 1999), Lincoln Center Drops Plan to Sell Its Jasper Johns Painting (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 1999/ 01/ 26/ nyregion/ lincoln-center-drops-plan-to-sell-its-jasper-johns-painting. html) New York Times. [20] Kristine Stiles & Peter Selz, Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings (Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by Kristine Stiles) University of California Press 2012, p. 375 [21] Jori Finkel (May 14, 2009), Jasper Johns (http:/ / www. blouinartinfo. com/ news/ story/ 31232/ jasper-johns/ ) BLOUINARTINFO. [22] SkatePress.com (http:/ / www. skatepress. com/ index. php?cat=28) [23] Works of Art: Modern Art (http:/ / www. metmuseum. org/ toah/ works-of-art/ 1998. 329) Metropolitan Museum of Art, online June 15, 2007

Bibliography Busch, Julia M., A Decade of Sculpture: the New Media in the 1960s (http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/ ow/4ed0b0bd878eaf2a.html) (The Art Alliance Press: Philadelphia; Associated University Presses (http://www. aupresses.com/): London, 1974) ISBN 0-87982-007-1 Further reading Bernstein, Roberta. Jasper Johns' Paintings and Sculptures, 19541974: "The Changing Focus of the Eye.". Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1985. Bernstein, Roberta; Tone, Lilian; Johns, Jasper and Varnedoe, Kirk. Jasper Johns: A Retrospective, The Museum of Modern Art, 2006. Castleman, Riva. Japser Johns: A Print Retrospetive. The Museum of Modern Art 1986. Crichton, Michael. Jasper Johns, Whitney/Abrams, 1977 (out of print). Johns, Jasper; Varnedoe, Kirk; Hollevoet, Christel; and Frank, Robert. Jasper Johns: Writings, Sketchbook Notes, Interviews (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0810961660), The Museum of Modern Art, 2002 (out of print). Kozloff, Max. Jasper Johns, Abrams, 1972. (out of print) Krauss, Rosalind E. and Knight, Christopher. "Split decisions: Jasper Johns in retrospect" Artforum, September 1996. Findarticles.com (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_n1_v35/ai_18749506/ ?tag=content;col1) Orton, Fred. Figuring Jasper Johns, Reaktion Books, 1994. Pearlman, Debra. Where Is Jasper Johns? (Adventures in Art), Prestel Publishing, 2006. Rosenberg, Harold. "Jasper Johns: Things the Mind Already Knows". Vogue, 1964. Shapiro, David. Jasper Johns Drawings 1954-1984. Abrams 1984 (out of print). Steinberg, Leo. Jasper Johns. New York: George Wittenborn, 1963. Tomkins, Calvin. Off the Wall: Robert Rauschenberg and the Artworld of our time. Doubleday. 1980. Weiss, Jeffrey. Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting, 1955-1965, Yale University Press, 2007. Yau, John. A Thing Among Things: The Art of Jasper Johns (http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/015_04/ 3013), D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, 2008.

Jasper Johns

External links
Jasper Johns in the National Gallery of Australia's Kenneth Tyler collection (http://nga.gov.au/ internationalprints/tyler/Default.cfm?MnuID=3&ArtistIRN=17689&List=True&CREIRN=17689& ORDER_SELECT=13&VIEW_SELECT=5&GrpNam=12&TNOTES=TRUE) Jasper Johns artwork at Brooke Alexander Gallery (http://www.baeditions.com/jasper-johns-artwork.htm) Jasper Johns at the Matthew Marks Gallery (http://www.matthewmarks.com/index.php?n=1&a=147&im=1) "The work of Jasper Johns at the National Gallery" (http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8473) Curator Jeffery Weiss discusses the Johns exhibition at the National Gallery. Charlie Rose show April 2007. VAGA To clear rights to reproduce works by Johns (http://www.vaga.org) Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting, 19551965, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (http://www.nga. gov/exhibitions/2007/johns/index.shtm) States and Variations: Prints by Jasper Johns at the National Gallery of Art (http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/ 2007/jasper/index.shtm) Jasper Johns (born 1930) (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/john/hd_john.htm) Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art Jasper Johns (http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=2923) at the Museum of Modern Art Jasper Johns bio at artchive.com (http://www.artchive.com/artchive/J/johnsbio.html) Flag at the Museum of Modern Art (http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/1996/johns/pages/johns.flag.html) White Flag at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/viewone. asp?dep=21&viewmode=0&item=1998.329) Lifetime Honors National Medal of Arts (http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html#90) PBS Jasper Johns 2008 (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/jasper-johns/about-the-painter/ 54/)

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

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