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Lot Essay
In 1987, Johns held an exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery which included four paintings and a number of paintings and prints representing the four seasons. The figurative content of this body of work represented a decisive movement away from the non-figurative abstraction which had been the main stylistic form of Johns' work from the mid 1970's.
Drawing on a long artistic tradition of depicting the seasons as subjects, Johns not only includes self-referential symbols and interests but also a depiction of his own shadowy form. A reference to the passage of time is alluded to in the clock like half-sphere where a depiction of the artist's own arm swings from top to bottom as do the hands of a clock.
Drawing on a long artistic tradition of depicting the seasons as subjects, Johns not only includes self-referential symbols and interests but also a depiction of his own shadowy form. A reference to the passage of time is alluded to in the clock like half-sphere where a depiction of the artist's own arm swings from top to bottom as do the hands of a clock.