Jasper Johns

At the pinnacle of Abstract Expressionism, then 24-year-old Jasper Johns covered an entire canvas with a painted version of the American flag, and altered postwar American art forever. In just one work, a work which hung on the wall both like any other flag and like any other abstract painting, Johns had summed up the positions of Abstract Expressionism and European Concrete Art, and had pointed the way for both geometric hard-edge painting and American Pop Art. Nevertheless, Johns cannot be reduced to this one, iconic artwork. With a view toward revealing the complexity and grace of his oeuvre, this book presents oil and object paintings, and drawings from the estate of the artist, and allows a focused view onto the pictorial workshop and world of ideas of Jasper Johns.