Jasper Johns

American painter and sculptor (1930) · United States · Artists

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Jasper Johns is an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker. Considered a central figure in the development of American postwar art, he has been variously associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art movements.

A life in dates

2011Presidential Medal of FreedomAward2008“To be an artist you have to give up everything, including the desire to be a good artist.”In their wordsas quoted in photo-exhibition 'Cy Twombly', museum Marseille Amsterdam, autumn 2008Read the whole statement

1993Praemium ImperialeAward1990“I don't want my work to be an exposure of my feelings.”In their wordsQuote from Abstract Expressionism, Davind Anfam, Thames and Hudson Ltd London, 1990, p. 202Read the whole statement

1978“Once, I made a kind of sculpture of a flag in bronze: it was an edition of three, I think. One of them was given on some occasion to President Kennedy.”In their wordsSeptember 1978Jasper Johns Interviewed/ Jasper Johns interviewed Part II, Peter Fuller, Art Montly, London, August/September 1978Read the whole statement

1977“He Robert Rauschenberg was a kind of enfant terrible at the time [around 1960] and I thought of him as an accomplished professional.”In their words16 October 1977Once Established, says Jasper Johns...,Grace Glueck, New York Times, 16 October 1977, sec. 2 pp. 1-31Read the whole statement

1973“I have attempted to develop my thinking in such a way that the work I've done is not me - not to confuse my feelings with what I produced.”In their wordsMarch 1973Jasper Johns: 'I have attempted to develop my thinking', Vivien Raynor, Artnews 72 no. 3, March 1973, p. 20-22Read the whole statement

1970“His [Marcel Duchamp's] idea was that anything could be art by focusing the mind to think of it as art.”In their words30 December 1970Daily Close-up, after the Flag, Roberta Brandes Gratz, New York Post, 30 December 1970, p. 25Read the whole statement

1930Born15 May 1930

Also in Deutsch

Photos 1

In their own words 10

Jasper Johns

10 statements, newest first

Everybody is of course free to interpret the work in his own way. I think seeing a picture is one thing and interpreting it is another.
2008, as quoted in photo-exhibition 'Cy Twombly', museum Marseille Amsterdam, autumn 2008, Own words
To be an artist you have to give up everything, including the desire to be a good artist.
2008, as quoted in photo-exhibition 'Cy Twombly', museum Marseille Amsterdam, autumn 2008, Own words
[to see the painting]..as an object, as a real thing in itself. (quote on his Flag-paintings)
1990, Quote from: Abstract Art, Anna Moszynska, Thames and Hudson 1990, p. 200, Own words

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Awards

Presidential Medal of Freedom2011

Praemium Imperiale1993

National Medal of Arts

Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

About this person

Country

United States

Artists from the United States 6

Walker Evans56.6

Robert Frank56.5 Dave Dave56.6

Gutzon Borglum56.5

Richard Avedon56.6

Diane Arbus56.5

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