Jasper Johns is an American painter, draftsman, and printmaker born in 1930. A pioneer of Neo-Dada, he paved the way for Pop Art by depicting familiar objects such as flags, targets, and numbers.
Jasper Johns(1930 — ?)
Jasper Johns
États-Unis
6 min read
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it.»
Key Facts
- Born on May 15, 1930, in Augusta, Georgia (United States)
- Painted his famous series of American flags (Flag) starting in 1954-1955
- A major figure of Neo-Dada alongside Robert Rauschenberg in the 1950s
- Heralded and influenced the rise of American Pop Art
- Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011
Works & Achievements
American flag painted in encaustic on fabric, newspaper and plywood. A founding work that breaks with Abstract Expressionism and heralds Pop Art.
A target topped with plaster casts of faces enclosed in compartments. Johns combines painting, sculpture and found object.
A monochrome, ghostly version of the flag, entirely in shades of white and wax. The patriotic image becomes a silent meditation on surface.
A grid of the digits 0 to 9, repeated and painted in encaustic. Johns transforms an ordinary system into a pictorial composition.
Three flags of decreasing size stacked in relief toward the viewer. Acquired by the Whitney Museum for a record price in 1980.
A map of the United States covered with colorful brushstrokes and the names of the states stenciled on. A familiar schoolroom image turned into a large gestural painting.
Two beer cans cast in bronze and painted by hand. A key sculpture that blurs the line between ordinary object and work of art.
Anecdotes
In 1954, Jasper Johns recounted dreaming that he was painting a large American flag. The next day, he bought the materials and got to work: this painting, simply titled *Flag*, would become one of the most famous images in 20th-century art.
Johns did not paint his flags in traditional oil but in encaustic, an ancient technique in which the pigment is mixed with hot wax. The wax sets almost instantly, allowing him to layer the coats and keep every brushstroke visible, like a colorful mosaic.
Around 1955, Johns decided to destroy nearly all of his earlier works in order to start from scratch. He did not want to be influenced by anyone and sought to become, in his own words, an artist who invents his own path rather than an imitator.
Johns liked to paint things “the mind already knows”: flags, targets, numbers, letters of the alphabet. By choosing ultra-familiar images, he forced the viewer to look not at the subject, but at the painting itself.
In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded Jasper Johns the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. He was the first painter to receive it since Alexander Calder in 1977.
Primary Sources
Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it.
Using the flag took care of a great deal for me because I didn't have to design it. So I went on to other things, working at other levels.
One night I dreamed that I painted a large American flag, and the next morning I got up and went out and bought the materials to begin it.
Key Places
City in the southern United States where Jasper Johns was born in 1930. He spent his childhood in South Carolina, with relatives.
Capital of postwar art where Johns settled and developed his work. There he met Rauschenberg and exhibited at Leo Castelli's gallery.
Gallery that brought Johns to prominence in 1958 with his first solo exhibition, a resounding success. Castelli went on to become the dealer for the great names of Pop Art.
Country where Johns was partly stationed during his military service in the Korean War. He would later develop a lasting taste for Japanese art.
Rural area in the northeastern United States where Johns set up a studio and lived for much of his life as an artist. The quiet of the countryside nourished his work.
Typical Objects
A mixture of pigments and heated beeswax that Johns applies with a brush. The wax sets quickly and locks each stroke in place, giving his surfaces a thick, tactile relief.
The central motif of Johns's work from 1954 onward. He turns it into a neutral, familiar painting subject — neither patriotic nor critical — the better to question how we look at things.
A concentric disc borrowed from archery and the shooting range, taken up by Johns as a flat, recognizable image. The target draws the eye while remaining a pure motif.
Stationery templates that Johns uses to trace standardized numbers and letters. He turns them into repetitive compositions that play on order and chance.
Johns casts ordinary objects in bronze — such as beer cans or brushes in a can — then paints them to imitate the real thing. These sculptures question the boundary between everyday object and work of art.
From the 1960s onward, Johns became a major printmaker, producing a wealth of lithographs and etchings. Printmaking allowed him to revisit and vary his motifs in series.
School Curriculum
Vocabulary & Tags
Key Vocabulary
Daily Life
Morning
A discreet and methodical artist, Johns likes to work early in the quiet of his studio. He often begins by observing his works in progress at length before touching a brush, for he places great importance on reflection.
Afternoon
The afternoon is devoted to the work itself: preparing hot wax for encaustic, tracing patterns with a stencil, or engraving plates. Johns reworks each piece at length, in successive layers.
Evening
In the evening, Johns frequents the New York art scene of the 1950s and 60s, crossing paths with Rauschenberg, the composer John Cage, and the choreographer Merce Cunningham. These friendships deeply nourish his ideas about art.
Food
Johns shares the everyday diet of 20th-century urban America, from simple dinners to meals taken in the cafés and restaurants of New York. His studio life leaves little room for excess.
Clothing
Discreet and unconcerned with appearances, Johns dresses plainly, in practical studio clothes for painting. In photographs, he often appears in a simple shirt, far from any extravagance.
Housing
He lives and works in vast studios, first in New York, then in the countryside of Connecticut, and later on a Caribbean island. The studio space, bright and bare, is at the center of his existence.
Historical Timeline
Period Vocabulary
Liens externes & ressources
Références
Œuvres
Flag (Drapeau)
1954-1955
White Flag (Drapeau blanc)
1955
Numbers in Color (Chiffres en couleur)
1958-1959
Three Flags (Trois drapeaux)
1958
