P R E S I D E N T ’S F O R E WO R D
It is with considerable pleasure that the Royal Academy of Arts and our partners, The Broad in Los Angeles, are staging this landmark exhibition of the work of Jasper Johns hon ra, one of the most significant and influential artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Spanning more than 60 years of Johns’s consistently fascinating artistic output, the exhibition takes us from his earliest works of the 1950s right up to the present day, with his pictorial language yielding a continuous richness of visual and intellectual engagement across the decades. As a fellow artist, I can attest to the tremendous influence Jasper Johns has had upon those who have followed in his wake. Throughout his long career, Johns has remained focused on the same objectives: to engage his viewers’ attention, and to encourage them to interrogate art and the visual world afresh – with the inference that if something has a constant presence, there is a risk that familiarity will render it invisible over time. An examination of Johns’s complex body of work from a new perspective, the exhibition is arranged thematically. The selection encompasses the full range of the artist’s materials and techniques, including his unique use of encaustic and collage in painting, the innovations he has achieved in sculpture and the graphic arts by expanding the possibilities of traditional media, and, of course, his unrivalled skill as a printmaker. The sharp focus and complexity of Johns’s curiosity are apparent, and the cumulative effect of the exhibition is to reveal the psychological depth of his work, with its interweaving of observations of art history alongside personal memories – all articulated by supreme technical virtuosity. I speak for the show’s co-curators, Dr Roberta Bernstein and Edith Devaney, when I note how important, and what a privilege, it has been for them to work closely with the artist throughout. Deserving our sincere thanks, Dr Bernstein has known and worked with Johns since the 1960s, and has brought to the project her scholarship and deep knowledge of his œuvre, recently enshrined
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in her magnificent catalogue raisonné of the artist’s painting and sculpture. The Royal Academy’s Edith Devaney originated and championed the exhibition, drawing on her wide curatorial experience and energy. Matthew Marks and his gallery also deserve our particular thanks; their support and knowledge of Johns’s work have been invaluable. The artist’s studio team, in particular Maureen Pskowski, have been endlessly helpful. Also deserving our thanks are the Academy’s exhibition team – Idoya Beitia, Head of Exhibitions Management, assisted by Natalie Gibbons, Exhibitions Assistant, Anna Testar, Curatorial Assistant, and Caroline Arno, Rights and Reproductions Manager – and, not least, ra Publications, who have created this handsome catalogue. We owe a particular debt of gratitude to the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne. The Terra Foundation has been exceptionally generous to the Royal Academy over the past seven years and we feel privileged to enjoy its support again for this exhibition; it means a great deal to us. We also thank the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne for its substantial contribution and are delighted to be working with its team again. My penultimate acknowledgement is to the show’s many lenders, both public and private. They may be torn by the wish to share but also by the anxiety of separation from works of art that may have changed the whole feel of an institution or even, in some cases, have changed a life. The Royal Academy understands this and thanks them. Our greatest thanks must go to Jasper Johns himself. An exhibition of this scale and ambition, which attempts to describe a life in art in all its complexity, must be accompanied by profound reflection. We are deeply grateful for his time, counsel and support – but above all, for the work itself.
Christopher Le Brun pra President, Royal Academy of Arts
ACKNOWLED GEMEN TS
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SOMETHING RESEMBLING TRUTH Roberta Bernstein and Edith Devaney
One hopes for something resembling truth, some sense of life, even of grace, to flicker, at least in the work. Jasper Johns1
Over more than six decades, Jasper Johns has pursued his intense interrogation of the visual world and the human response to it, in all its psychological complexity, and has demonstrated his continued striving towards ‘something resembling truth’. Johns’s art is a consistent reminder that that truth is not a given but rather is revealed through the layered and shifting meanings uncovered through the process of perception. Fixed habits of seeing, feeling and thinking render truth invisible. A flicker of grace occurs when the senses are awakened and new ways of experiencing the world, even ordinary objects in the world, provide a glimpse of that truth. Johns is most widely known for the iconic and influential works made during the first decade of his career. These include paintings and sculptures that simulate familiar things, whether American flags, archery targets, Arabic numerals, lightbulbs or beer cans – works that possess conceptual clarity, focus on the nature of the art object and raise questions about how perception shapes meaning. While remaining committed to these initial concerns, Johns has continued to alter and expand his imagery and formal strategies and, increasingly, to engage with a wide range of human experiences, among them memory, emotional loss, creativity, doubt, childhood and ageing. The visual and intellectual strength of Johns’s art derives from a symbiosis of idea, form and process. He has chosen to develop his practice through the traditional categories of painting, sculpture, drawing and printing: within each category he has
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embraced innovative approaches, and in many works he has dissolved the boundaries between them. (While Johns has devoted substantial energy to making sets and costumes for choreographers and to supporting the work of performance artists, he has not, himself, ventured into what was once called experimental media.) In his earliest paintings, Johns adopted the wax-based medium of encaustic, an ancient technique that was rarely used in the 1950s. Encaustic dries more quickly than oil, allowing the artist to create surfaces that are layered and sensually tactile. He also developed a unique way of applying collage by dipping pieces of paper or cloth into the encaustic medium and fixing them to the canvas, thereby adding a further tangible presence. His sculptures employ techniques of modelling and casting and use an array of materials from the worlds of both fine arts and hobbyists’ crafts. In addition, he has embraced the full gamut of drawing materials and printmaking techniques, often combining them by drawing over prints. For the most part, drawings and prints follow the paintings and sculptures – interrogating the same subject in a different form. Later in his career, when the interaction between media increases, however, graphic works more frequently generate imagery that emerges in paintings. ‘Jasper Johns: “Something Resembling Truth”’ is organised thematically, demonstrating how images and concepts are revisited and re-contextualised over time within the artist’s complex oeuvre. Detail xxxx
SOMETHING RESEMBLING TRUTH Roberta Bernstein and Edith Devaney
One hopes for something resembling truth, some sense of life, even of grace, to flicker, at least in the work. Jasper Johns1
Over more than six decades, Jasper Johns has pursued his intense interrogation of the visual world and the human response to it, in all its psychological complexity, and has demonstrated his continued striving towards ‘something resembling truth’. Johns’s art is a consistent reminder that that truth is not a given but rather is revealed through the layered and shifting meanings uncovered through the process of perception. Fixed habits of seeing, feeling and thinking render truth invisible. A flicker of grace occurs when the senses are awakened and new ways of experiencing the world, even ordinary objects in the world, provide a glimpse of that truth. Johns is most widely known for the iconic and influential works made during the first decade of his career. These include paintings and sculptures that simulate familiar things, whether American flags, archery targets, Arabic numerals, lightbulbs or beer cans – works that possess conceptual clarity, focus on the nature of the art object and raise questions about how perception shapes meaning. While remaining committed to these initial concerns, Johns has continued to alter and expand his imagery and formal strategies and, increasingly, to engage with a wide range of human experiences, among them memory, emotional loss, creativity, doubt, childhood and ageing. The visual and intellectual strength of Johns’s art derives from a symbiosis of idea, form and process. He has chosen to develop his practice through the traditional categories of painting, sculpture, drawing and printing: within each category he has
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embraced innovative approaches, and in many works he has dissolved the boundaries between them. (While Johns has devoted substantial energy to making sets and costumes for choreographers and to supporting the work of performance artists, he has not, himself, ventured into what was once called experimental media.) In his earliest paintings, Johns adopted the wax-based medium of encaustic, an ancient technique that was rarely used in the 1950s. Encaustic dries more quickly than oil, allowing the artist to create surfaces that are layered and sensually tactile. He also developed a unique way of applying collage by dipping pieces of paper or cloth into the encaustic medium and fixing them to the canvas, thereby adding a further tangible presence. His sculptures employ techniques of modelling and casting and use an array of materials from the worlds of both fine arts and hobbyists’ crafts. In addition, he has embraced the full gamut of drawing materials and printmaking techniques, often combining them by drawing over prints. For the most part, drawings and prints follow the paintings and sculptures – interrogating the same subject in a different form. Later in his career, when the interaction between media increases, however, graphic works more frequently generate imagery that emerges in paintings. ‘Jasper Johns: “Something Resembling Truth”’ is organised thematically, demonstrating how images and concepts are revisited and re-contextualised over time within the artist’s complex oeuvre. Detail xxxx
REPRO - PLEASE CLEAR CUT TO THE EDGE OF THE CANVAS (REMOVING FRAME)
076 Racing Thoughts, 1983 Encaustic, screenprint and wax crayon on collaged cotton and linen, 122.1 x 191 cm Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from the Burroughs Wellcome Purchase fund; Leo Castelli; the Wilfred P. and Rose J. Cohen Purchase Fund; the Julia B. Engel Purchase Fund; The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States Purchase Fund; The Sondra and Charles Gilman, Jr. Foundation, Inc.; S. Sidney Kahn; The Lauder Foundation, Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Fund; the Sara Roby Foundation; and the Painting and Sculpture Committee 84.6 London only
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REPRO - PLEASE CLEAR CUT TO THE EDGE OF THE CANVAS (REMOVING FRAME)
076 Racing Thoughts, 1983 Encaustic, screenprint and wax crayon on collaged cotton and linen, 122.1 x 191 cm Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from the Burroughs Wellcome Purchase fund; Leo Castelli; the Wilfred P. and Rose J. Cohen Purchase Fund; the Julia B. Engel Purchase Fund; The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States Purchase Fund; The Sondra and Charles Gilman, Jr. Foundation, Inc.; S. Sidney Kahn; The Lauder Foundation, Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Fund; the Sara Roby Foundation; and the Painting and Sculpture Committee 84.6 London only
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4 WORDS AND VOICES
‘I’ve always been attracted to poetry… One finds harmony in poetry, but no systematic order. I wish I could say the same of painting.’ Jasper Johns, 19846
‘There seems to be a sort/ of “pressure area” “underneath”…/ language which operates in/ such a way as to force the/ language to change. (I’m/ believing painting to be/ a language, or wishing/ language to be any sort/ of recognition)’ Jasper Johns, Sketchbook Notes, c. 1963–647
229 Gray Alphabets, 1960 Pencil and graphite on paper, 89.5 x 62.9 cm Collection of Jean Christophe Castelli, New York
018 Gray Alphabets, 1956 Beeswax and oil on newsprint and paper on canvas, 168 x 123.8 cm The Menil Collection, Houston (tbc) LA only
REPRO - PLEASE CLEAR CUT TO THE EDGE OF THE CANVAS (REMOVING FRAME)
REPRO - PLEASE CLEAR CUT TO THE EDGE OF THE PAPER REMOVE TAPE ON TOP EDGE OF PAPER
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073 Between the Clock and the Bed, 1981 Oil on canvas, 182.9 x 320.7 cm Collection of the artist
073 Between the Clock and the Bed, 1981 Oil on canvas, 182.9 x 320.7 cm Collection of the artist
075 Perilous Night, 1982 Encaustic and silkscreen on canvas with objects, 170.8 x 244.2 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection, 1995.79.1
075 Perilous Night, 1982 Encaustic and silkscreen on canvas with objects, 170.8 x 244.2 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection, 1995.79.1
087.01–05 5 Postcards, 2011 Encaustic on canvas, each 91.4 x 61 cm Private collection
REPRO - PLEASE CLEAR CUT TO THE EDGE OF THE CANVAS (REMOVING FRAMES)
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087.01–05 5 Postcards, 2011 Encaustic on canvas, each 91.4 x 61 cm Private collection
REPRO - PLEASE CLEAR CUT TO THE EDGE OF THE CANVAS (REMOVING FRAMES)
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2011
2014
15 February: Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented by President Barack Obama.
15 March–1 September: ‘Jasper Johns: Regrets’ at MoMA, travelling to Courtauld Gallery, London, and Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna.
2012 February: Artist Ryan Smith hired as studio assistant. June: Inspired by a photograph of Lucian Freud, begins ‘Regrets’ series. 30 October 2012–21 January 2013: ‘Dancing around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp’ at Philadelphia Museum of Art, travelling to Barbican Art Centre, London.
2013 22 April: 50th Anniversary Gala for the Foundation for Contemporary Arts held at the studio of Ellen Phelan and Joel Shapiro in Long Island City. Johns, who helped organise the benefit and related publication, Artists for Artists, contributes a lithograph of a numeral from the edition 0–9 (2012) for each of 400 guests. July: Maureen Pskowski hired as studio manager. 14 August: Former studio assistant James Meyer pleads guilty to stealing and selling 22 of Johns’s works of art.
2016 5 May–25 June: ‘Jasper Johns: Monotypes’ at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York. In 2017 Marks publishes the catalogue raisonné of Johns’s monotypes. 18 June–25 September: ‘Jasper Johns + Edvard Munch’ at Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway, travelling to Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, the organising institution, from 19 November 2016 to 20 February 2017.
2017 April: Jasper Johns: Catalogue Raisonné of Painting and Sculpture, authored and directed by Roberta Bernstein, published by Wildenstein Plattner Institute, New York. September: ‘Jasper Johns: “Something Resembling Truth”’, opens at Royal Academy of Arts, London, travelling to The Broad, Los Angeles, in 2018.
Fig. C24 Jasper Johns in his Sharon studio, 2014. Photograph by John Lund
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