Jasper Johns facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jasper Johns
Johns receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011
Born	Jasper Johns Jr. (1930-05-15) May 15, 1930 (age 95) Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Known for	Painting printmaking
Notable work	Flag (1954–55) White Flag (1955) Green Target (1955) Target with Plaster Casts (1955) Target with Four Faces (1955) Three Flags (1958) Numbers in Color (1958–59) Target (1961) Map (1961) Slice (2020)
Movement	Abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, pop art
Awards	(1988) Golden Lion 43rd Venice Biennale (1990) National Medal of Arts (1993) Praemium Imperiale (2011) Presidential Medal of Freedom

Detail of Flag 1954–55, Museum of Modern Art, New York. This image shows Johns's early technique of painting with wax over a collage made from newspaper.

Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is a famous American artist. He is known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints. He helped shape American art after World War II. His work is linked to art styles like Abstract Expressionism, Neo-Dada, and Pop Art.

Johns was born in Augusta, Georgia. He grew up in South Carolina. He was the top student at Edmunds High School in 1947. He studied art briefly at the University of South Carolina. Then he moved to New York City. There he joined the Parsons School of Design. His studies were stopped when he served in the military during the Korean War.

After returning to New York in 1953, he met other important artists. These included Robert Rauschenberg, who became a close friend and artistic influence. Johns's art career changed in 1954. He destroyed his old artworks. He then started making paintings of flags, maps, targets, letters, and numbers. These works became very famous. They used familiar symbols and questioned how art shows reality.

Johns has received many awards. These include the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 1988. He also got the National Medal of Arts in 1990. In 2011, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was elected to important art and philosophy groups. Johns also supported the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. He helped build the National Gallery of Art's print collection. He is a co-founder of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Today, Johns lives and works in Connecticut. In 2010, his 1958 painting Flag sold for about $110 million. This made it one of the most expensive artworks ever sold by a living artist at that time.

Jasper Johns's Early Life and Education

Jasper Johns was born in Augusta, Georgia. He spent his early years in Allendale, South Carolina. He lived with his grandparents after his parents divorced. He started drawing when he was only three years old. He knew early on that he wanted to be an artist. This was even though he didn't see much art growing up. His grandmother's paintings were the only artworks he remembers seeing.

After his grandfather passed away in 1939, Johns lived with his mother and stepfather. This was in Columbia, South Carolina. Then he spent six years with his Aunt Gladys near Lake Murray. He spent summers with his father and stepmother. They encouraged his art by buying him supplies. He graduated as valedictorian from Edmunds High School in 1947. This was in Sumter, South Carolina.

Johns studied art for three semesters. This was at the University of South Carolina from 1947 to 1948. His teachers encouraged him to move to New York City. He briefly attended the Parsons School of Design in 1949. In 1951, Johns joined the army during the Korean War. He served for two years in South Carolina and Japan.

Becoming a Famous Artist

After returning to New York in 1953, Johns worked at Marboro Books. He started meeting artists who would shape his early career. These included Sari Dienes, Rachel Rosenthal, and Robert Rauschenberg. Johns and Rauschenberg became close friends and artistic partners until 1961. Johns was also influenced by choreographer Merce Cunningham and composer John Cage. They explored the art scene together and shared ideas.

In March 1957, art gallery owner Leo Castelli saw Johns's art. Castelli was amazed by Johns's paintings of flags and targets. He immediately offered Johns an exhibition. Johns's first solo show at the Leo Castelli Gallery was in 1958. It was very successful. Almost all of the eighteen works were sold. Alfred H. Barr Jr., who founded New York's Museum of Modern Art, bought three paintings. These were the first Johns artworks to join a museum collection.

Johns has lived and worked in New York City for much of his career. From 1973 to 1987, he had a farmhouse studio in Stony Point, New York. He also bought property in Saint Martin in 1972. There he built a home and studio. Today, Johns lives and works in Sharon, Connecticut. He plans to turn his Connecticut property into an artists' residency after his death. It will offer a place for 18 to 24 artists to live and work. This will include visual artists, poets, musicians, and dancers.

Jasper Johns's Artworks

Painting Style and Famous Works

In 1954, Johns destroyed all his old art. He then began the paintings he is most known for. These include pictures of flags, maps, targets, letters, and numbers. Using these symbols made his art different from the Abstract Expressionists. Their works often showed the artist's personal feelings. Johns used well-known symbols. This meant his paintings could be seen as both real (a flag) and abstract (stripes and circles).

Some art experts say his choice of subjects freed him from having to decide on the painting's layout. Johns said that these symbols are "things the mind already knows." His early painting Flag (1954–55) started this new period. He painted it after dreaming about a flag. This work allowed Johns to create a painting that was not fully abstract. It showed a symbol (the American flag). Yet, it also highlighted the design of the symbol itself.

The painting felt less personal because it showed a national symbol. But Johns's wax brushstrokes kept a handmade feel. It was not a real flag, nor a purely abstract painting. This mix of symbol and material raised many questions. Alfred H. Barr Jr. wanted to buy Flag for the Museum of Modern Art. But the museum's leaders were worried. They feared its unclear meaning might cause problems during the Cold War. So, Philip Johnson bought it and later donated it to the museum in 1973. The flag remains one of Johns's most important themes. He has used it in many paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints.

Johns also put 3D objects into his paintings. These objects could be found things, like a ruler in Painting with Ruler and "Gray" (1960). Or they could be specially made, like the plaster faces in Target with Four Faces (1955). This challenged the idea that paintings are always flat. Johns often used encaustic, an ancient technique. This involves mixing melted wax with color and applying it. This method allowed him to keep the look of each brushstroke. It created textured, sometimes see-through, surfaces. In 2020, Johns's work Slice used a drawing of a knee by a student. This led to a friendly agreement after the student was not told beforehand.

Sculptures by Jasper Johns

Johns made his first sculpture, Flashlight I, in 1958. Many of his early sculptures were single objects. He made them from Sculp-metal. This was a soft metal material that could be shaped like paint or clay. He also used casting to make objects from plaster and bronze. Some of these sculptures look very real. For example, Painted Bronze (1960) shows a can with a Savarin Coffee label. It is filled with cast paintbrushes. It looks like something you might find in an artist's studio.

Numbers (2007) shows his classic pattern of stenciled numbers in a grid. It is the largest bronze sculpture Johns has made so far. Another sculpture, Fragment of a Letter (2009), is a double-sided relief. It includes part of a letter from Vincent van Gogh to his friend Émile Bernard. On one side, Johns pressed each letter of van Gogh's words into wax. On the other side, he spelled each letter using the American Sign Language alphabet. Johns signed the wax model with impressions of his own hand.

Prints and Printmaking

Johns started experimenting with printmaking in 1960. Tatyana Grosman invited him to her printmaking studio. He began with lithographs, which are prints made from a stone or metal plate. These prints explored the common objects and themes he was known for, like Target (1960). Johns worked closely with ULAE, a printmaking studio. He published over 180 prints using different techniques. He used printmaking to explore and develop his existing art ideas.

In 1971, Johns was the first artist at ULAE to use a special printing press. This resulted in Decoy. This image was first a print before it became a drawing or painting. Johns also worked with other printmakers. He made lithographs and lead reliefs in Los Angeles. He made screenprints in New York. He also made intaglios in Paris. One project was with writer Samuel Beckett. They created Foirades/Fizzles (1976). This was a book with Beckett's writings and Johns's prints.

In 1995, Johns built his own printmaking studio in Connecticut. This studio, Low Road Studio, officially opened in 1997. It became Johns's own publishing company for his prints.

Artistic Collaborations

For many years, Johns helped raise money and attention for Merce Cunningham's Dance Company. He helped Robert Rauschenberg design sets and costumes for Cunningham's shows in the 1950s. In 1963, Johns and John Cage co-founded the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. This group raises money for performance art. Johns continued to support the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. He was an artistic adviser from 1967 to 1980. In 1968, Cunningham created a dance piece called Walkaround Time. Johns designed the set, which copied parts of Marcel Duchamp's work The Large Glass.

Johns also wrote lyrics for The Druds. This was a short-lived avant-garde music group in New York. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, owns a large portrait of Johns by Chuck Close. In the late 1960s, Johns's work was featured in 0 to 9 magazine. This was an experimental journal about language and meaning.

Public Art Projects

In 1963, architect Philip Johnson asked Johns to create a work for Lincoln Center. This piece, Numbers (1964), is a large grid of numerals. It was shown in 1964. It was in the theater's lobby for 35 years. In 1979, the center planned to sell it for $15 million. But people criticized this plan. So, the Lincoln Center board decided not to sell it. Numbers is important because it is the largest work in Johns's Numbers series. It was Johns's first and only public art project.

Art Style and Influences

Johns's work is sometimes linked to Neo-Dada and Pop Art. He uses symbols in the style of Marcel Duchamp's readymades. Readymades are everyday objects presented as art. Unlike many Pop artists like Andy Warhol, Johns does not focus on celebrity culture. Some experts see Johns and Rauschenberg as artists who came before Pop Art.

Art Value and Awards

In 1980, the Whitney Museum of American Art bought Three Flags (1958) for $1 million. This was the highest price ever paid for a living artist's work at that time. In 1988, Johns's False Start (1959) sold for $17.05 million at auction. This set a new record for a living artist's work at auction. In 1998, the Metropolitan Museum of Art bought Johns's White Flag (1955). Experts estimated its value at over $20 million.

In 2006, False Start (1959) made history again. It was bought by private collectors for $80 million. This made it the most expensive painting by a living artist at that time. In 2010, Flag (1958) was sold privately for about $110 million. On November 11, 2014, a 1983 version of Flag sold for $36 million at auction. This set a new auction record for Johns.

Johns has received many awards. In 1969, he received an honorary degree from the University of South Carolina. In 1984, he became a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1988, he won the Golden Lion at the 43rd Venice Biennale. This is a very high honor. He became an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1989. In 1990, he received the National Medal of Arts. He also received the Praemium Imperiale for painting in 1993. This is a lifetime achievement award from Japan. In 2011, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. He was the first painter or sculptor to receive this award since 1977.

In 2007, the National Gallery of Art bought about 1,700 of Johns's prints. This made the gallery the largest holder of Johns's works in one place.

Selected Artworks

See also

In Spanish: Jasper Johns para niños