Jasper Johns facts for kids

Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns
	Three Flags, 1958, Whitney Museum of American Art
Born	May 15, 1930 (age 88); Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Nationality	American
Field	Painting, printmaking
Movement	Abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, pop art
Works	Flags, Numbers, Maps, Stenciled Words
Influenced	Pop Art
Awards	(1988) Awarded the Grand Prize for Painting at the Venice Biennial Artist of the year; (1989) Awards By MIR; (1990) National Medal of Arts; (1993) Praemium Imperiale; (2011) Presidential Medal of Freedom

Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related topics. Johns' works regularly receive millions of dollars at sale and auction, including a reported $110 million sale in 2010. At multiple times works by Johns have held the title of most paid for a work by a living artist.

Johns has received many honors throughout his career, including receipt of the National Medal of Arts in 1990, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. In 2018, The New York Times called him the United States' "foremost living artist."

Life

Jasper Johns Grey Reception at the Met 2008

Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina. He then spent a year living in Columbia, South Carolina, and thereafter he spent several years living in Lake Murray, South Carolina, twenty-two miles from Columbia. He completed Edmunds High School (now Sumter High School) class of 1947 in Sumter, South Carolina.

Johns studied a total of three semesters at the University of South Carolina, from 1947 to 1948. He then moved to New York City and studied briefly at the Parsons School of Design in 1949. In 1952 and 1953 he was stationed in Sendai, Japan, during the Korean War.

In 1958, gallery owner Leo Castelli discovered Johns while visiting Rauschenberg's studio. Castelli gave him his first solo show. It was here that Alfred Barr, the founding director of New York's Museum of Modern Art, purchased four works from this show. In 1963, Johns and Cage founded Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, now known as Foundation for Contemporary Arts in New York City.

Images for kids

Jasper Johns, Map, 1961. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Flags, maps, targets, stenciled words and numbers were themes used by Johns in the 1960s
Detail of Flag (1954–55). Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Target with four faces - Techniques of the Great Masters of Art
The artist painted his first American flag in 1954–55 - Museum of Modern Art
Jasper Johns, Pyre, MOMA 2003