Jasper Johns: Art as a means of exploring and coping with life

During his friendship with Robert Rauschenberg and the circle around John Cage, Johns was inspired by Cage and worked with Rauschenberg; these were the decisive turning points on the path to his own artistic development.

Jasper Johns' work unfolds an interesting range in its objectives and nuances:

Over and over again, flags, targets, numbers

From 1954 onwards, the first of the flags, targets and numbers presented in more detail in the article “Jasper Johns: Born artist, life with and for art” , which would subsequently appear again and again in his work:

• “Figure 8”, 1959
• “Flag”, 1971
• “Target”, 1958
• “Target”, 1960
• “Figure 2”, 1963
• “Figure Five”, 1963–64
• “Target (ULAE 147)”, 1974

Johns also dedicated himself to numerous other subjects:

“False Start” and “Device Circle” from 1959 are also typical Jasper Johns drawings and paintings, made with a “mechanical arm” (usually some kind of wooden strip) with which Johns scratched the paint onto the canvas, as so often in arcs, curves or circles, while the arm kept in contact with the canvas.

The “Coat Hanger” and the “Painted Bronze” , clear excursions into Pop Art that reveal Rauschenberg’s enormous influence on John’s work.

Art as a symbol of life

Johns would later elaborate on the theme of “devices” “body imprints” , “an all-encompassing allegory of art as and from the body”:

• “Periscope (Hart Crane)”, 1962
• “Diver”, 1962-63

This mix of “device” and “body imprint” appears from 1963 onwards. In “Periscope,” “Diver,” including scratched paint and body imprint .

The curator and head of the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Art , Washington DC, saw in this technique “the reinvention of figuration in modern art” – the manifestation of the mechanical process alone gives the body a new place in the visual arts.

Art as a personal life story

In “Periscope” and “Diver”, Johns also processed personal upheaval, on the one hand his unpleasant separation from his long-time life partner Rauschenberg, and on the other hand the suicide of the poet Hart Crane , whose poetry deeply impressed Johns.

Born in 1899, the poet Hart Crane, who was psychologically unstable and hypersensitive, had only brought himself financial problems and bad reviews despite a Guggenheim scholarship for his two published volumes of poetry, “White Buildings” (1926) and “The Bridge” (1930).

He then took his own life in a spectacular public manner on April 27, 1932, by jumping from the SS Orziba into the Gulf of Mexico with both hands raised to the sky. His body was never found.

Johns included the gesture with the outstretched hands in the pictures; this visual reference to Crane's suicide is meant to express John's emotional stress over the catastrophe of the separation from Rauschenberg.

Stories about art and the mystery of life

Also in 1963, “Land’s End” , another example of how John’s paintings tell deep and profound stories, this time not about life, but about art:

In his 1929 work “La trahison des images” , René Magritte posed the fundamental question of what the painted image of an object has to do with the object itself – according to the most widespread interpretation in art history, Magritte to show and prove with the painting that even the most realistic depiction is not identical with the object itself.

In a very similar vein, Johns asks in “Land’s End” (and many of his other paintings from the 1960s) whether the name of a color is the same as the color itself, and perhaps more importantly, how anyone can know or believe that a color like red is not actually yellow, for example. Where does red end and yellow begin? Is red defined by its opposite, for example, by the fact that it is not money or blue? Is red devoid of any inherent quality, merely a description of relationships? Who decides that?

Unlike Magritte, Johns doesn't offer any definitive answers to these questions; quite the contrary, his true and great merit as an artist lies in posing questions to the world. Many questions, and that's precisely what the viewer is meant to experience when contemplating a work of art by Johns – they are meant to be prompted to reflect on the many questions of our existence for which there are no certain answers.

We are being swept away by the swirling waters around our feet; we see the enormous wave on the horizon, but we cannot escape it. According to Johns, there is no stability; we cannot trust anything or anyone with certainty. Nothing has its own intrinsic value, but only bears descriptive labels, is defined by its relationships to something else, and thus everything is connected to everything else.

Johns illustrates this in “Land’s End” through the use of primary-colored letters, which, like the entire image, don't contain much color. The whole gray image is a mix of warm and cool, brown and blue grays, essentially an explanation of how gray interacts with color. Gray is the middle of the spectrum, a mixture of black and white, or the color you get when you mix opposite colors together—like the famous Torrit Grey Gamblin Artist Colors , which is mixed from all the colors Gamblin produces in its paint factory. Gray can therefore be full of color, even containing the entire spectrum, without us being able to recognize any of the individual colors.

Similarly, “According to What” (1964) was created, consisting of several joined canvases, painted panels incorporating various found objects, using techniques from earlier works, brush marks, stenciled color names, and imprints of body parts. Here, however, Johns expanded his visual repertoire by including elements such as screen-printed newspaper pages, which place the Kremlin at the center of the painting and open it up for discussion.

Warhol and Rauschenberg used screen printing to conveniently transform photographs into paintings without any indication of the artist's hand; Johns engages intensively with screen printing artistically to reinforce the idea of ​​the entanglement of artist and device, which he explored “Periscope”

On the far left side, as an ode to his mentor Marcel Duchamp, he places a small canvas with Duchamp's silhouette, of which only the back with date, title and John's signature is visible; above this canvas, an upside-down chair stretches its legs into the air.

These found objects were added because Johns wanted to create a painting that would “allow things to change” as the light and the viewer’s perspective shift around the work – a shift in focus that illustrates Johns’ belief that we view the world through countless different fragments, with each shift in context from a different perspective.

Art as a means of coping with life

Also in this tradition is “Racing Thoughts” , 1983. “Racing thoughts” is a recognized term in English-speaking countries for mental overload associated with all kinds of mental illnesses or disorders. Johns himself suffered from a mild form of “racing thoughts” in 1983; he thus became familiar with the medical term and was very amused to discover that racing thoughts are a widely known syndrome.

With “Scent” , 1973-74, a rather large format, a new era begins, here Johns establishes the basic rules of his “hatched pictures”.

Scent consists of nine panels, three canvases, each divided into three by drawn lines. The three left and three right panels are identical, as are the third and fourth, and the sixth and seventh. They can be labeled (e.g., from right to left, ABC, CDE, EFA) and regrouped (CDE, EFA, ABC); the edges always align as before.

With the title Scent, Johns chose a title that both Rauschenberg and Jackson Pollock had already used; this is seen as a reference and/or an ironic bow to art that has become art history.

“Corpse and Mirror II” , 1974-75, is also such a hatched image, about whose pattern Johns once said: “I only saw it for a second, but I knew immediately that I would use it. It had all the qualities that interest me – the hint of a letterform, repeatability, obsessive quality, silent order, and the possibility of remaining completely meaningless.”

Other famous paintings in Scent style are the triptychs “Weeping Women” , 1975, which is said to Picasso’s nude paintings in his Cubist period 1907-1909 , and “Between the Clock and the Bed” , 1981, inspired by the “Self-Portrait Between the Clock and the Bed” , 1940-42 by Edvard Munch .

Art and art history

Johns was to create “Perilous Night” Matthias Grunewald ’s “Isenheim Altarpiece” :

The soldiers struck down by the brilliant light of the resurrected Christ in the second mural .

Without this background knowledge, “Perilous Night” is a dark and dense image that certainly doesn't seem to want to reveal its meaning to the viewer willingly. That John's paintings often reference art history was known to knowledgeable viewers, but even the most astute art critic didn't make the connection to the “Isenheim Altarpiece,” so John himself eventually revealed the reference.

In “Ventriloquist” , 1983, Johns arranges flags, numbers and targets into a symbolic self-portrait, which is not immediately obvious.

The composition looks quite realistic, with the crooked nail in the shadow, the carefully painted wicker basket, and the detailed depiction of the pipes on the right. On the left, there's something for connoisseurs and lovers of eccentric art: Eccentric pottery by the ceramic artist George Edgar Ohr, who called himself "the Mad Potter of Biloxi," there, and a whale is embedded in the lines in the background (allegedly based on the famous 1979 illustration of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick by the artist and illustrator Barry Moser ).

Two American flags, one above the other and in the opposite tones of the color wheel, divide the pages, and the black and white image in the upper right corner, upon closer inspection, also reveals itself to be a reversed copy (of a lithograph by the artist Barnett Newman, whom Johns revered) – the ventriloquist Johns has a lot to tell us.

Just like in “The Seasons (Summer)” , 1987, where the small hummingbird on the branch is just as difficult to spot as the cart copied from Picasso’s “Minotaur Moving His House” , on which Johns again arranges a few ear pots, attributes of his own works and (in memory of Leonardo da Vinci and Marcel Duchamp ) a Mona Lisa .

What's the point of the seahorse? You'll never guess: It's meant to evoke the image of the horse giving birth in Picasso's Minotaur painting (though it's not very clear). Some also see it as an allusion to gender stereotypes, since in seahorses the male carries the young. In 1986, the autumn, winter, and spring series for "Summer" were created, and there's just as much to discover in them.

Art as a puzzle

As in…

• “Mirror's Edge”, 1992
• “The Seasons”, 1990
• “Nothing at All Richard Dadd”, 1992

In the 1990s, new voices populate John's paintings, and the old voices can be read in a completely new way.

“Mirror's Edge” is based on a floor plan of John's childhood home, “Nothing at All Richard Dadd” ; this painting is based on the English painter Richard Dadd , who murdered his father in the 19th century because ghostly voices commanded him to do so.

We do not know how Jasper Johns' “racing thoughts” were at this time, but Richard Dadd spent the rest of his life in a hospital for criminally insane people, where he wrote a long poem about his masterpiece: “The Fairy Fellers” (Painting of the Fairies).

The last line of this poem says that “nothing can be made from nothing” – Dadd seemed to create art out of a kind of inner necessity, which, according to many art historians, is why Johns referred to him.

Furthermore, the three images exhibit some similarities, the identification of which is left to the curious viewer. The same applies to the interpretation of Johns' last two famous works:

“Near the Lagoon” , 2002-03, which the director of the Art Institute of Chicago described as the masterpiece of a fully mature artist. An artist who, at an advanced age, had produced a profound work in which he looked back on himself and on art history – and who said that Americans should finally abandon the misconception that an artist's early works are always their most important.

“Fragment of a Letter” , 2009, in which Johns, at the tender age of 81, shows that he is still able to invent visual forms and modes of representation – the hands in the letter fragment on the left speak decipherable sign language, an exercise for very bright minds when the right side remains covered.

Jasper Johns' work in the public sphere: Exhibition history and art in public collections

In 1954, he had found his artistic direction, and the first of the typical motifs that are now associated with the artist Jasper Johns emerged: 'Targets', American flags, maps, pictures with numbers, words and letters.

In 1957, Johns Leo Castelli , an art-savvy banker who had emigrated from Europe to New York in 1941 and was in the process of establishing his gallery, recently opened in his living room, as a meeting place for the European and American art scenes. Unlike the established, mostly conservative galleries, Castelli was interested in the "originality" of his artists; he organized a group exhibition for Johns that same year and Jasper Johns' first solo exhibition in 1958 .

Furthermore, in 1958, art historian and founding director of the Museum of Modern Art Alfred Barr the first works for MoMA, Johns produced a John Cage retrospective concert with Rauschenberg and Emile de Antonio at New York's Town Hall, and the rise began, unstoppable.

From 1958 onwards, Johns exhibited regularly at Castelli (1960, 1961 and 1963) and thus gained great popularity in Europe as well: in 1964 the first Jasper Johns exhibition was held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London ; at the instigation of Castelli's former wife and partner Ileana Sonnabend, Johns was able to exhibit at the II Biennale de Paris .

Johns participated in the Venice Biennale (1970, 1978, 1988) , documenta in Kassel (1964 documenta 3, 1968 documenta 4, 1972 documenta 5, 1977 documenta 6), worked with Samuel Beckett in Paris (1973), and created graphics and book designs for Beckett's eight short prose pieces, Fizzles (1977). He designed costumes, stage sets, and posters for John Cage and Merce Cunningham and their dance company.

Flags, Targets, and Numbers should be familiar to anyone who considers themselves art-loving. Those who claim a deeper art education will also be familiar with the other works by Jasper Johns mentioned above. There have been plenty of opportunities to admire them:

Jasper Johns can now look back on over 150 solo exhibitions and almost 700 group exhibitions .

Most are in the USA (594) and in the Leo Castelli Gallery (61), but also 33 in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), 24 in the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan, 15 in the Margo Leavin Gallery in Los Angeles and 12 in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Jasper Johns has had 68 solo exhibitions in Germany, 34 in Great Britain, 20 in Spain and 18 in Italy, and his exhibition history is far from over (for current exhibitions see article “Jasper Johns: Born artist, living with and for art” ).

However, you don't need to wait for an exhibition; you can view Jasper Johns' works in one of the many public collections:

• Denmark: ARTS Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Museet for Samtidskunst / Museum of Contemporary Art Roskilde
• Germany: Ludwig Forum for International Art Aachen, Museum Ludwig Cologne, K20 Düsseldorf, Museum of Modern Art (MMK) and Städel Museum Frankfurt am Main, Reinking Collection Hamburg, Ludwig Museum in the Deutschherrenhaus Koblenz, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg Mönchengladbach
• Finland: Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
• France: Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain Nice (MAMAC), Nice
• Iran: Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Tehran
• Israel: The Israel Museum Jerusalem
• Italy: Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Villa Croce Genoa, Centro de Arte Moderna e Contemporanea della Spezia (CAMeC) La Spezia, Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (MART) Rovereto
• Japan: Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Iwaki City Art Museum, Kawasaki City Museum, Yokohama Museum of Art, Nishi-ku Yokohama, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
• Canada: National Gallery of Canada Musée des beaux-arts du Canada Ottawa ON, Vancouver Art Gallery Vancouver BC
• Macedonia: Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje
• Netherlands: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
• Norway: Henie Onstad Art Center Høvikodden
• Austria: Albertina and Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation (MUMOK) Vienna
• Switzerland: Kunstmuseum Basel
• Hungary: Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art Budapest
• USA: Addison Gallery of American Art Andover MA, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art Charlotte NC, Berman Museum of Art Collegeville PA, Boca Museum of Art Boca Raton FL, Boise Art Museum BAM ID, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University CA, Columbia Museum of Art SC, Dallas Museum of Art TX, Des Moines Art Center IA, Figge Art Museum Davenport IA, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art Norman OK, Gibbes Museum of Art Charleston SC, Glenstone Potomac MD, Greenville County Museum of Art (GCMA) SC, Guild Hall Museum East Hampton NY, Harry Ransom Center Austin TX, Honolulu Museum of Art HI, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art Kansas City MO, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) CA, Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art Evanston IL, Marywood University Art Gallery Scranton PA, Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH) TX, Middlebury College Museum of Art VT, Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) WI, MIT List Visual Arts Center Cambridge MA, MOCA Grand Ave Los Angeles CA, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA) IL, Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (MOCA) FL, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) La Jolla CA, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York NY, Nasher Sculpture Center Dallas TX, National Academy Museum New York NY, Palm Springs Art Museum CA, Philadelphia Museum of Art PA, Polk Museum of Art Lakeland FL, Pomona College Museum of Art Claremont CA, Princeton University Art Museum NJ, Reynolda House Museum of American Art Winston-Salem NC, Saint Louis University Museum of Art (SLUMA) MO, Samek Art Museum Lewisburg PA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) CA, Santa Barbara Museum of Art CA, Museum of Art Savannah (SCAD) GA, Seattle Art Museum WA, Tarble Arts Center Charleston IL, The Allen Memorial Art Museum Oberlin OH, The Art Institute of Chicago IL, The Art Museum at the University of Kentucky Lexington KY, The Baltimore Museum of Art MD, The Cleveland Museum of Art OH, The Detroit Institute of Arts MI, The McNay Art Museum San Antonio TX, The Menil Collection Houston TX, The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York NY, The National Gallery of Art Washington DC, The Phillips Collection Washington DC, The Rose Art Museum Waltham MA, Tucson Museum of Art AZ, The University of Arizona Museum of Art (UAMA) Tucson AZ, Utah Museum of Fine Arts Salt Lake City UT, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Richmond VA, Walker Art Center Minneapolis MN, Whitney Museum of American Art New York NY, Yale University Art Gallery New Haven CT

The list of public collections in the USA is long – and deliberately reproduced in its entirety: An art-loving European traveling to the USA simply must see Jasper Johns live and on site, because the artist Jasper Johns belongs to a very illustrious circle.

Among the 100 most famous and successful artists in the world, there are only about two dozen US artists born between 1900 and 1950. These are the artists who established modern art in the USA, and Jasper Johns is among the first dozen of these artists.

Finally, some motivation for more frequent museum visits : The museums of European countries and the USA contain what is considered by the Western world to be the “art history of the world” (incidentally, the science of art history was developed in Germany).

We Germans should probably hurry more than anyone else to understand and "tick off" the basic outlines of this art history of the Western world. Because we are in the privileged position of welcoming many people into our society who can, and will gladly, give us an understanding of large parts of art history outside the Western world if we ask them…