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Prints by Jasper Johns States and Variations: Prints by Jasper Johns National Gallery of Art, Washington March 11–October 28, 2007 In printmaking, I think it would be perfectly reasonable never to destroy the images on the plates and stones, and always to have them available for use in new works, new combinations. jasper johns, 1978 Jasper Johns was born in Augusta, Georgia, in May 1930. His desire to be an artist dates to his childhood, which he spent in several rural South Carolina towns. Johns studied art for three semesters at the University of South Carolina before moving to New York in 1949. There he attended classes at Parsons School of Design and worked at a variety of odd jobs before serving in the army during the Korean War, including a period in Japan. When he returned to New York in 1953, Johns engaged with contemporary philosophy, poetry, music, and dance, and he immersed himself in the visual arts, undertaking an intellectual as well as a visual pursuit. In January 1958, marking his first solo New York exhibition, his painting Target with Four Faces (1955) was featured on the cover of Artnews magazine, thrusting this virtually unknown artist into the public view. A master in many media, Johns is a printmaker of immense curiosity and skill. Since 1960 when he made his firstlithographs (see Glossary), he has added etching, screenprint, and other techniques to his repertoire, and he has completed more than three hundred editions. The focus of this exhibition is Johns’ 1st Etchings, 2nd State, a portfolio of thirteen prints that was published in 1969. The portfolio includes a title page and two versions each of six motifs: Ale Cans, Flag, Flashlight, Light Bulb, Paint Brushes, and 0 through 9, a configuration of superimposed numerals. Employ­ ing drawing and photographic processes, 1st Etchings, 2nd State adds to Johns’ meditation on the interactions of representation and abstraction. By 1969 he had established his practice of repeatedly examining — in paintings, sculpture, drawings, and prints — these and other “found” objects that he has referred to as “things the mind already knows.” Although carefully rendered, his objects make no attempt to fool the eye. The present exhibition, divided into three sections, highlights Johns’ re­ examination of motifs through his variation of composition, material, and tech­ nique. The first section includes early images of four of the portfolio motifs; the second section exhibits prints and proofs from 1st Etchings, 2nd State; the final section displays works postdating the portfolio that incorporate its imagery. fig. 1 0 through 9, Further highlighting the role of theme and variation in Johns’ prints are 1960 (no. 13) annotated working, state, and color trial proofs on display throughout the exhibition. They are selected from the National Gallery of Art’s recent and on­ going acquisition of the artist’s personal collection of proofs for his print editions, assembled throughout his career. Documenting changes he made before achiev­ ing the final images, they provide additional, nuanced insight into Johns’ artistic process. Johns has frequently examined parts or fragments of systems or situa­ section 1: Objects tions in relation to their totalities, and proofs that are fragments of an edition This section introduces lithographic versions of four of the six motifs in 1st Etch- image offer a unique opportunity to consider this aspect of his method. While ings, 2nd State — Ale Cans, Flag, 0 through 9, and Light Bulb. The first three are any of the proofs may be considered as individual works, when they accompany presented in their initial printed versions. Flag I and 0 through 9 are among Johns’ a related edition impression they reveal that image’s evolution and contribute to earliest prints, and they reveal his experimental vigor as he undertook a new pro­ our understanding of the multifaceted nature of Johns’ project. cess, using lithographic crayon to draw the linear 0 through 9 (fig. 1) and a liquid State proofs and proofs that experiment with color differ from the editions ink called tusche to create rich washes in Flag I (no. 1). Although this section pre­ in both subtle and substantial ways. Sumptuous working proofs with hand­ sents early print versions of these objects, Johns had already been exploring these drawn additions reveal the spontaneity that plays an important, somewhat under­ motifs in other media: Flag first appeared in a 1954 – 1955 painting; Light Bulb and appreciated, role in Johns’ art. Some proofs show alternatives to the editions that 0 through 9 appeared in drawings of 1957 and 1959 – 1960, respectively (although are equally coherent and “finished.” numerals organized as a grid date even earlier); and Ale Cans was introduced Many printing processes reverse the drawn image, as demonstrated by the as sculpture in 1960, in both plaster and painted bronze versions. Flashlight lithographic drawing of an American flag on a slab of Bavarian limestone (seen and Paint Brushes, first made as sculpture in 1958 and 1960, respectively, are not in reverse of the print) (no. 3), displayed in a case with a rare proof taken from it represented in this section. They entered Johns’ print oeuvre in the 1968 port­ (no. 2). Image reversal is also characteristic of intaglio and relief processes. This folio entitled 1st Etchings, which preceded 1st Etchings, 2nd State. indirectness of printmaking, as well as its capacity to generate multiple variant State and color trial proofs for Ale Cans suggest ways the National Gallery’s examples of an image, is sympathetic to Johns’ urge to revisit and manipulate collection of Johns’ annotated proofs illuminate the artist’s achievements, and iconography, materials, and processes in new and highly original combinations. show that testing visual possibilities and recording them in proofs are integral He takes full advantage of the inherent potential of printmaking techniques to reverse and duplicate images, printing from his matrices in radically differing ways, as prints on view in this exhibition demonstrate. Often setting his matrices fig. 2 Ale Cans, trial proof, 1964 aside after an edition is completed, sometimes for years, Johns then later reworks (no. 4) them for a new edition. He makes changes in the medium, in the quantity and character of drawn marks, and in the selection of which surfaces to print — for example, the intaglio or relief levels in etching. He also makes deliberate choices in the glossy or matte properties, transparency, and colors of ink; in the size, weight, texture, and color of paper; and in the amount and placement of hand and press pressure during inking and printing respectively. With each variation, Johns presents a new set of circumstances to be acknowledged and accounted for. Johns made all the prints and objects in the exhibition at three publishing workshops — Universal Limited Art Editions (ulae) on Long Island, Gemini g.e.l. in Los Angeles, and Simca Print Artists in Manhattan (now closed), work­ ing in collaboration with professional printers and craftsmen who contributed to the proofing process and printed the editions. According to printer Timothy Isham (conversation with author, 7 April 1983), “Jasper understands the tech­ niques and processes he uses about as well as the printers.... You can see that he knows what he wants to do and that he works with every aspect of the situation to make it what he wants.” to Johns’ printmaking process. In the first of two linear trials (fig. 2), Johns’ section 2: 1st Etchings, 2nd State characteristic hatchings, squiggles, and outlines define Ale Cans and its surround­ The title 1st Etchings, 2nd State declares the technique Johns used to create the ing space, unbounded by the loosely defined broken line that subsequently en­ prints (etching); it also indicates that they are the first series he completed using closes a portion of the field. One color variant, lacking the red and green details this process and informs us that these are the second versions (states) of the im­ on the label (fig. 3), showsAle Cans emerging more vividly from the background ages. Such specificity and precision are central to Johns’ approach to his work in than in the edition impression (fig. 4). In another proof (no. 7), the object appears all media. His clarity requires a viewer to make an equally careful reading of the more muted. art in order to grasp the distinctive nature of individual but related prints that Light Bulb (no. 19), in a configuration different from the image Johns in­ initially may look identical. cluded in 1st Etchings, 2nd State, relates to two sculptures of 1960 – 1961: Untitled, In this section, each sheet from the 1st Etchings, 2nd State portfolio is accom­ in plaster and wire, and Bronze, in bronze. The edition impression is exhibited panied by related proofs that document many of Johns’ decisions while develop­ with five variants: in two of them (nos. 16, 17) Johns experimented with expres­ ing the series. Also on view are trial proofs (1967 – 1968) for 1st Etchings. The sive, metallic colors that suggest he was considering how best to convey the char­ 1st Etchings, 2nd State portfolio used the same copperplates employed in 1st Etch- acter of bronze. The printing order of black and gray in another proof (no. 18) is ings. Many proofs from this earlier version included here are close to the edition reversed in the final version, though the subtle, neutral hues are retained. impressions, but use different papers. In addition to the title page images (nos. 22, 23), 1st Etchings and 1st Etchings, 2nd State include both a hand­drawn, etched representation and a photoengraved image of Ale Cans, Flag, Flashlight, Light Bulb, Paint Brushes, and 0 through 9. Flag and 0 through 9 are derived from sculptural reliefs, and the others were preceded fig.
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