#Jasper johns artwork series#

The Whitney Museum of American Art purchased Johns’ Three Flags (1958) for $1 million, the highest price paid for the work of a living artist at the time. He has been credited with the title of most paid for a work by a living artist on several occasions. He has produced over 40 variations of his flag paintings and over 2,000 prints.

#Jasper johns artwork series#

He has recreated many of his works, including his series of flags, maps, and targets. Johns incorporated some of his sculptures into his pieces, such as the Target with Four Faces (1955) that includes casts of faces perched across the top of the painting. The idea for the Flag came to him in a dream and he began working on the piece the following morning, which was later donated to the Museum of Modern Art by architect Philip Johnson. His Flag (1954-55) piece kickstarted his art career as it differed greatly from the Abstract Expressionist work that was popular at the time. In his earlier work, Johns created encaustic oil paintings of symbols and household items and later transitioned to sculpting and printmaking. Prior to his discovery, Johns had destroyed his previous creations as he was unhappy with them. YDv975ISSl- Jerry Saltz OctoJasper Johns Artistic Style This new representation of symbol and medium quickly caught the eyes of art lovers and museum goers.īet you $55.00 you never noticed this major detail on Jasper Johns’ “Flag ” 1954-55. He focuses on the combination of various mediums to create an entire piece. Johns believes that the true art of his pieces lies within the process of creation. Founding director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Alfred Barr, purchased four of Johns’ pieces from the show.

Castelli offered Johns his first solo show after seeing his work. In 1958, Johns’ work was discovered by the notable Italian-American art dealer Leo Castelli while visiting Rauschenberg’s studio. After serving for two years, he returned to New York and met artist Robert Rauschenberg in 1954, which led to the launch of Johns’ career.

A year later, he studied at the Parsons School of Design before being drafted into the military and stationed in Sendai, Japan for the Korean War. Johns graduated from Edmunds High School, now called Sumter High School, in 1947.Īfter attending the University of South Carolina for three semesters until 1948, Johns moved to New York City. He developed a fascination and love for art at a very young age and knew that it was his calling to be an artist. Jasper Johns was born in 1930 in Augusta, Georgia and was brought up by his grandparents in South Carolina. Jasper Johns, Target with Four Faces, 1955 #museumofmodernart #museumarchive /FPC1SjO5IJ- MoMA: Paintings and Sculpture (Bot) DecemEntering the Art Scene Johns experimented with the recreation of familiar objects and symbols, focusing on simplistic pieces that had the ability to adjust viewers’ minds to a new way of thinking based upon their own knowledge and experiences. A handful of his earlier works have sold for tens of millions of dollars, including his Flag (1983) piece that sold at Sotheby’s for $36 million in 2014. Johns’ artwork has been displayed in some of the most respected art institutions in the United States.

His approach to creating art through vague symbols allowed him to explore intricate techniques using various mediums that invited personal interpretations of things familiar to the mind. His creations kickstarted a new art form that contrasted with the previous surrealism and abstract expressionism movements that had been ruling the art world for decades. Jasper Johns is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker who made his debut in the 1950s art scene.