Release Date: May 14, 2001

"Jasper Johns: Prints from Four Decades" on View at the National Gallery of Art June 3 - October 7, 2001

Washington, DC -- Familiar images of targets, maps, flags, ale cans, and body parts, interpreted in prints by renowned American artist Jasper Johns (b.1930), are among the approximately 60 works in the exhibition Jasper Johns: Prints from Four Decades. On view in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art from June 3 through 7 October 7, 2001, the exhibition comprises works dating from 1960 to 2000 that demonstrate the range of print processes Johns has explored, including lithography, intaglio, screenprint, relief, monotype, and related lead relief sculpture. Prints in the exhibition are primarily from the Gallery's permanent collection augmented by promised gifts to the Gallery, and loans from the artist.

The exhibition opens in conjunction with The Unfinished Print and American Naive Paintings, which will be on view during the same period in adjacent galleries.

"Among the world's most influential American artists of the postwar period, Jasper Johns is also widely regarded as one of the greatest printmakers of our time," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "An exhibition of this scope provides enormous insight into Johns' creative process and his evolution as an artist."

Corporate Sponsor

HSBC Bank USA is the proud sponsor of the exhibition.

"We are delighted to support this exhibition of the works of Jasper Johns, who has played such a significant role in American art history," said Youssef Nasr, president and CEO of HSBC Bank USA. "As the eleventh largest bank in the United States, HSBC is pleased to help showcase these magnificent pieces that will undoubtedly draw so many visitors to the National Gallery."

The Exhibition

Arranged thematically, the exhibition opens with a selection of prints that highlight two iconic motifs Johns has utilized throughout his career--numerals (some individual and others superimposed on one another) as well as letters of the alphabet. Also included are additional examples of other well-known Johnsian images, such as targets, maps, flags, ale cans, body parts, and complex compositions that incorporate and/or make reference to all these themes. Interested in the play between image and medium, Johns often explores the same subject using different techniques and media. For example, in this exhibition, five versions of the American flag, each in a different medium, represent different approaches to the same motif over a period of forty years.

Several works then demonstrate Johns' use of a crosshatch pattern-clusters of short, parallel strokes systematically arranged on the picture plane. Johns created this random and abstract motif, which has been prominent in his works since the early 1970s, in response to lines he noticed on a passing car.

The exhibition closes with a selection of works in which Johns incorporates a rich array of images that reference art history--appropriating motifs from earlier artists such as Matthias Grünewald and Edvard Munch. He also employs images that allude to personal possessions such as vessels by Mississippi ceramicist, George Ohr (1857-1918). An ancestral family photograph and a floor plan from an ancestral family residence are referenced as well. Having grown out of the Johns' concerns with time, memory, and autobiography, these works encourage the viewer to stop and contemplate the range of possible meanings embedded in them.

Exhibition Organization

Jasper Johns: Prints from Four Decades is organized by Ruth Fine, the Gallery's curator of modern prints and drawings. A brochure will be available to the public free of charge in conjunction with the exhibition. After Washington, the exhibition will be on view at the Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, from February 16 to April 28, 2002. An additional appearance is planned for later in 2002 at the Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
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phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

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