Jasper Johns

American · b. 1930

Jasper Johns is one of the most important living American artists and one of the pivotal figures in the history of postwar art. His paintings of flags, targets, numbers, and maps — executed in the mid-1950s, when Abstract Expressionism was at its height — reoriented American art toward the objects and signs of everyday life, opening the door for both Pop Art and Minimalism.

Born in Augusta, Georgia, Johns moved to New York as a young man and in 1954 began the series of works that would make his name. His encaustic painting “Flag” (1954–55), now at the Museum of Modern Art, is widely considered one of the most significant American paintings of the twentieth century. By taking a recognizable, loaded image and rendering it with painstaking craft and material beauty, Johns asked a question that all subsequent American art would have to answer: Is this a painting of a flag, or is it a flag?

Printmaking and the Graphic Work

Johns has been among the most dedicated and inventive printmakers of his generation. His prints — lithographs, screenprints, etchings, and aquatints — are not reproductions of paintings but independent works that exploit the specific qualities of each medium. He has worked closely with master printers throughout his career, and his graphic work is widely held to represent the highest achievement in American printmaking of the second half of the twentieth century.

His series include the “Numbers” prints, the “Flags” prints, the “Targets,” the “Savarin” lithographs, and the late “Catenary” works. Each series rewards extended study, combining conceptual rigor with exceptional material presence.

Legacy

Johns has received every major recognition available to an American artist, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His works are in virtually every major museum collection in the world. His prints, in particular, are among the most sought-after and well-documented multiples in the secondary market.