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Lot Essay
THE PRACTICE OF RECAPITULATING HIS SUBJECT MATTER AND TRANSFORMING IT BY REWORKING IT FROM ONE MEDIUM TO ANOTHER IS FOR JASPER JOHNS AN ILLUMINATING AND INDISPENSABLE PART OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS. IN WHITE FLAG, HE HAS MADE A PAINTING ON TOP OF A LITHOGRAPH OF A SUBJECT THAT HE HAD BEEN WORKING WITH SINCE 1955. EARLY IN HIS CAREER JOHNS SOUGHT SUBJECTS THAT EXISTED IN THE WORLD OUTSIDE ART AND THAT HE COULD RECREATE ALMOST WITHOUT THINKING, SOMETHING WHICH HE HAS EXPLAINED, "THE MIND ALREADY KNOWS." HE DESCRIBED THE FLAG AS THIS TYPE OF SUBJECT WITH THE DUAL ADVANTAGES OF BEING SOMETHING FAMILIAR, KNOWN TO EVERYONE AND, IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM, FLAT. IN THE ART OF PAINTING A FLAG, JOHNS CREATES AN IMAGE THAT RESTS AMBIGUOUSLY BETWEEN BEING A REPRESENTATION OF THE FLAG AS AN OBJECT AND A PAINTED VERSION OF ITS SYMBOLIC MEANING. THIS VISUAL AMBIGUITY TAKES ON A FURTHER DIMENSION IN THE LINGUISTIC IRONY THAT JOHNS ENJOYS IN ALMOST ALL HIS WORKS. LIKE THE GAMES OF PERCEPTION THAT HE USED LATER IN HIS CAREER, IT HAS THE ABILITY TO BE BOTH SYMBOL AND REPRESENTATION, BUT NEITHER SIMULTANEOUSLY, AND TO SWITCH FROM ONE TO THE OTHER. CLEMENT GREENBERG SUMMARIZED THE POSITION IN ART AND CULTURE, (NEW YORK, 1961, P. 27): "EVERYTHING THAT USUALLY SERVES THE ABSTRACT OR DECORATIVE--FLATNESS, BARE OUTLINES, ALL-OVER OR SYMMETRCIAL DESIGN--IS PUT TO THE SERVICE OF REPRESENTATION."
TATYANA GROSSMAN, THE FOUNDER OF ULAE, WAS TRYING TO DEVELOP THE MEDIUM OF PRINTMAKING IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE EARLY 1960S. SHE HAD APPROACHED LARRY RIVERS, AND THROUGH HIM, WAS INTRODUCED TO JOHNS. SOON AFTERWARDS, IN AUGUST, SHE SENT HIM A NUMBER OF LITHOGRAPHIC STONES AND BY OCTOBER JOHNS HAD PRODUCED THE STONES FOR FIVE PRINTS. JOHNS EXECUTED A TARGET, NUMBERS, A COAT HANGER AND TWO FLAGS (AND BY THE END OF THE YEAR HE ADDED ANOTHER FLAG). THEY WERE COMPLEX RENDITIONS OF THE SUBJECT, AND, BECAUSE THEY WERE TO SOME DEGREE EXPERIMENTAL, THEY WERE PRINTED IN SMALL EDITIONS. THE FIRST FLAG WAS PRINTED IN BLACK ON CREAM PAPER, THE SECOND IN WHITE INK ON A BROWN STOCK. THE FIRST FLAG WAS MADE IN AN EDITION OF 23 WITH TWO ARTIST'S PROOFS; EXTRA SHEETS WERE PULLED (TWO ARE KNOWN) AND ON ONE OF THESE JOHNS CREATED THE PRESENT WORK. THE FLAG PRINT WAS A RE-DRAWING OF THE GRAPHITE WASH FLAG DRAWING OF 1959, OWNED AT THE TIME BY MR. AND MRS. ROBERT SCULL. THE DRAWING IS BROADLY HANDLED IN GRAPHITE WASHES OVER A LIGHT PENCIL OUTLINE. THE PRINT FOLLOWS THE SAME SCHEME, USING THE BRUSHED LITHOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUE OF TUSCHE. JOHNS OFTEN WORKED FROM ONE MEDIUM TO ANOTHER, WORKING TO "NOT DUPLICATE THE DRAWINGS, BUT RATHER, TO APPLY HIS FAMILIARITY AND EXPERTISE WITH ONE MEDIUM TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF ANOTHER." (C. GEELHAAR, WORKING PROOFS, LONDON, 1976, P. 17)
JOHNS HAS TAKEN THIS PROCESS ONE STAGE FURTHER IN THE PRESENT WORK AND CONVERTED THE PRINT INTO A REMARKABLE PAINTING BY REDRAWING THE IMAGE COMPLETELY WITH WHITE PAINT; IN ADDITION HE HAS COLLAGED STRIPS OF NEWSPRINT IN THE PAINT AND PRODUCED A CHARACTERISTICALLY COMPLEX AND PAINTERLY SURFACE. SEVERAL TONES OF THE WHITE PAINT ARE PAINTED IN THICK SHORT STROKES, CREATING LAYERS OF A SURPRISING RICHNESS. IN THIS EXTRAORDINARY DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMAGE, JOHNS DEMONSTRATES THE RANGE THAT HE WAS ABLE TO ACHIEVE WITH AN APPARENTLY INEXHAUSTIBLE SUBJECT WHOSE IRONY IS MULTIPLIED EACH TIME HE RECONSIDERS IT. JOHNS TALKS OF THE WAY THAT HE THINKS ABOUT THE PROCESS "I AM CONCERNED WITH A THING'S NOT BEING WHAT IT WAS, WITH ITS BECOMING SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHAT IT WAS, WITH ANY MOMENT IN WHICH ONE IDENTIFIES A THING PRECISELY, AND WITH THE SLIPPING AWAY OF THAT MOMENT, WITH AT ANY MOMENT SEEING OR SAYING AND LETTING IT GO AT THAT." (QUOTED IN C. GEELHAAR, OP.CIT., P. 17)
TATYANA GROSSMAN, THE FOUNDER OF ULAE, WAS TRYING TO DEVELOP THE MEDIUM OF PRINTMAKING IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE EARLY 1960S. SHE HAD APPROACHED LARRY RIVERS, AND THROUGH HIM, WAS INTRODUCED TO JOHNS. SOON AFTERWARDS, IN AUGUST, SHE SENT HIM A NUMBER OF LITHOGRAPHIC STONES AND BY OCTOBER JOHNS HAD PRODUCED THE STONES FOR FIVE PRINTS. JOHNS EXECUTED A TARGET, NUMBERS, A COAT HANGER AND TWO FLAGS (AND BY THE END OF THE YEAR HE ADDED ANOTHER FLAG). THEY WERE COMPLEX RENDITIONS OF THE SUBJECT, AND, BECAUSE THEY WERE TO SOME DEGREE EXPERIMENTAL, THEY WERE PRINTED IN SMALL EDITIONS. THE FIRST FLAG WAS PRINTED IN BLACK ON CREAM PAPER, THE SECOND IN WHITE INK ON A BROWN STOCK. THE FIRST FLAG WAS MADE IN AN EDITION OF 23 WITH TWO ARTIST'S PROOFS; EXTRA SHEETS WERE PULLED (TWO ARE KNOWN) AND ON ONE OF THESE JOHNS CREATED THE PRESENT WORK. THE FLAG PRINT WAS A RE-DRAWING OF THE GRAPHITE WASH FLAG DRAWING OF 1959, OWNED AT THE TIME BY MR. AND MRS. ROBERT SCULL. THE DRAWING IS BROADLY HANDLED IN GRAPHITE WASHES OVER A LIGHT PENCIL OUTLINE. THE PRINT FOLLOWS THE SAME SCHEME, USING THE BRUSHED LITHOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUE OF TUSCHE. JOHNS OFTEN WORKED FROM ONE MEDIUM TO ANOTHER, WORKING TO "NOT DUPLICATE THE DRAWINGS, BUT RATHER, TO APPLY HIS FAMILIARITY AND EXPERTISE WITH ONE MEDIUM TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF ANOTHER." (C. GEELHAAR, WORKING PROOFS, LONDON, 1976, P. 17)
JOHNS HAS TAKEN THIS PROCESS ONE STAGE FURTHER IN THE PRESENT WORK AND CONVERTED THE PRINT INTO A REMARKABLE PAINTING BY REDRAWING THE IMAGE COMPLETELY WITH WHITE PAINT; IN ADDITION HE HAS COLLAGED STRIPS OF NEWSPRINT IN THE PAINT AND PRODUCED A CHARACTERISTICALLY COMPLEX AND PAINTERLY SURFACE. SEVERAL TONES OF THE WHITE PAINT ARE PAINTED IN THICK SHORT STROKES, CREATING LAYERS OF A SURPRISING RICHNESS. IN THIS EXTRAORDINARY DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMAGE, JOHNS DEMONSTRATES THE RANGE THAT HE WAS ABLE TO ACHIEVE WITH AN APPARENTLY INEXHAUSTIBLE SUBJECT WHOSE IRONY IS MULTIPLIED EACH TIME HE RECONSIDERS IT. JOHNS TALKS OF THE WAY THAT HE THINKS ABOUT THE PROCESS "I AM CONCERNED WITH A THING'S NOT BEING WHAT IT WAS, WITH ITS BECOMING SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHAT IT WAS, WITH ANY MOMENT IN WHICH ONE IDENTIFIES A THING PRECISELY, AND WITH THE SLIPPING AWAY OF THAT MOMENT, WITH AT ANY MOMENT SEEING OR SAYING AND LETTING IT GO AT THAT." (QUOTED IN C. GEELHAAR, OP.CIT., P. 17)