Lot Essay
This print is an interpretation of the oil and encaustic Scent (Lot 10, fig. 3) from 1973-74. Like the painting, each section has its own character and utilizes three different mediums. The left section of the painting is encaustic, the middle section is oil without varnish and the right section is oil with varnish. The first section of the print is lithographic, the second is printed in linocut and the third is woodcut, providing each section with its own variations consistent with the painting. Scent is an example of Johns's preoccupation with the reinterpretation and translation of earlier works in various mediums to achieve different yet related effects.