GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Jasper Johns is generally acknowledged as one of the most influential figures in American art since 1950. Born in 1930 in Augusta, Georgia, he spent his childhood in South Carolina and moved to New York in 1949 after briefly studying at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. He attended art school for a short time before being drafted into the army. In 1952 he returned to New York and supported himself by working in a bookstore and doing display work in department stores. He met Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage in 1954, whose Neo-Dada works paralleled the advancements made by Pop artists.
During the 1950s and 1960s Johns created a series of modern icons - specifically targets and various versions of the American flag - notable for their vibrant colored textures, reminiscent of the abstract expressionist brushstroke, but devoid of its emotional content. Elements of ordinary life were suddenly given an improbable aesthetic richness. Pop artists also used this kind of banal, everyday subject matter, but Johns' work has always been remarkable for a distinguished, dispassionate irony, and a continual questioning of traditional aesthetic values. His innovative use of common objects, combined with his rich style of painting established his reputation as a significant and challenging artist during the '60s.
By using images which where known to be flat, Johns underscored the flatness and the objectness of his work; "A large part of my work has been involved with the painting as an object, as a real thing in itself." The use of pre-established images, which grew to include maps, letters, and numbers, also enabled Johns to dissociate his art from artistic personality and self-expression, in order that it might focus on questions about the relations between the real and the painted image. In 1961 he began to attach real objects to the surface of his canvas; for example, his series on devices contained tools used to make the pictures [1976.1]. In addition to painting, Johns also made sculpture, prints, and collaborated on performances with people like Merce Cunningham and Samuel Beckett, paving the way for performance art and conceptual art of the 1960s and 70s.
Taken as a whole, Johns’ body of work refuses easy summary. The recurring visual motifs seen in his work reflect Johns’ interest in deploying what he calls “things the mind already knows,” which grant him “room to work on other levels.” The resulting works are cerebral and allegorical, suggesting the multiple, sometimes contradictory, meanings embedded in images and words. Johns was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 1988 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
Adapted from
- Gail Davitt, DMA unpublished material, 1986-1987.
- Anne Bromberg, Dallas Museum of Art: Selected Works (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1983), 173.
- DMA unpublished material.
NOTES
- DMA unpublished material = acquisition justification
- Gail Davitt = biographical essays, education files,
ASSOCIATED CONTENT CHUNKS (list applicable note links)
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- New York Times~Read, "Jasper Johns Still Doesn’t Want to Explain His Art," which gives an overview of Johns' 2018 retrospective at the Broad Museum in L.A.
- MoMA~Explore other works by Jasper Johns.
- Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History~Read more about Jasper Johns.
- YouTube~Watch "Jasper Johns in 60 seconds."
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES (digitized/non-digitized)
FUN FACTS
- In an interview in 1965, Johns said, "I'm interested in things which suggest the world rather than suggest the personality."
- In 1964 Johns was given a comprehensive one-man exhibition at the Jewish Museum in New York, and was selected as one of the artists to represent the United States in the Venice Biennale.
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
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General Description
Jasper Johns is generally acknowledged as one of the most influential figures in American art since 1950. Born in 1930 in Augusta, Georgia, he spent his childhood in South Carolina and moved to New York in 1949 after briefly studying at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. He attended art school for a short time before being drafted into the army. In 1952 he returned to New York and supported himself by working in a bookstore and doing display work in department stores. He met Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage in 1954, whose Neo-Dada works paralleled the advancements made by Pop artists.
During the 1950s and 1960s Johns created a series of modern icons - specifically targets and various versions of the American flag - notable for their vibrant colored textures, reminiscent of the abstract expressionist brushstroke, but devoid of its emotional content. Elements of ordinary life were suddenly given an improbable aesthetic richness. Pop artists also used this kind of banal, everyday subject matter, but Johns' work has always been remarkable for a distinguished, dispassionate irony, and a continual questioning of traditional aesthetic values. His innovative use of common objects, combined with his rich style of painting established his reputation as a significant and challenging artist during the '60s.
By using images which where known to be flat, Johns underscored the flatness and the objectness of his work; "A large part of my work has been involved with the painting as an object, as a real thing in itself." The use of pre-established images, which grew to include maps, letters, and numbers, also enabled Johns to dissociate his art from artistic personality and self-expression, in order that it might focus on questions about the relations between the real and the painted image. In 1961 he began to attach real objects to the surface of his canvas; for example, his series on devices contained tools used to make the pictures [1976.1]. In addition to painting, Johns also made sculpture, prints, and collaborated on performances with people like Merce Cunningham and Samuel Beckett, paving the way for performance art and conceptual art of the 1960s and 70s.
Taken as a whole, Johns’ body of work refuses easy summary. The recurring visual motifs seen in his work reflect Johns’ interest in deploying what he calls “things the mind already knows,” which grant him “room to work on other levels.” The resulting works are cerebral and allegorical, suggesting the multiple, sometimes contradictory, meanings embedded in images and words. Johns was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 1988 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
Adapted from
- Gail Davitt, DMA unpublished material, 1986-1987.
- Anne Bromberg, Dallas Museum of Art: Selected Works (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1983), 173.
- DMA unpublished material.
Fun Facts
- In an interview in 1965, Johns said, "I'm interested in things which suggest the world rather than suggest the personality."
- In 1964 Johns was given a comprehensive one-man exhibition at the Jewish Museum in New York, and was selected as one of the artists to represent the United States in the Venice Biennale.
Archival Resources
(digitized/non-digitized)
Web Resources
- New York Times~Read, "Jasper Johns Still Doesn’t Want to Explain His Art," which gives an overview of Johns' 2018 retrospective at the Broad Museum in L.A.
- MoMA~Explore other works by Jasper Johns.
- Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History~Read more about Jasper Johns.
- YouTube~Watch "Jasper Johns in 60 seconds."
Notes
- DMA unpublished material = acquisition justification
- Gail Davitt = biographical essays, education files,
rules
Apply To
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2338
source file
artists_and_designers-0188.xml.nores