American painter, sculptor,
and printmaker, who has played a leading role in the development of mid-20th-century
American art. In 1954 he began painting works in a manner radically different
from the abstract expressionist style that then dominated American art
(see Abstract Expressionism). His canvases were devoted to such familiar
objects as targets, American flags, numbers, and alphabet letters. He
painted these subjects with objectivity and precision, applying paint
very thickly, so that the paintings became objects in themselves rather
than reproductions of recognizable items. This idea of art-as-object became
a potent influence on later sculpture as well as painting; he often integrated
three-dimensional objects into his paintings.
By the end of the 1950s Johns's paintings showed a freer, looser arrangement.
In some of them, he attached real objects-such as rulers and compasses-to
the canvas. False Start (1959, Scull Collection, New York City)-in which
he stenciled intentionally incorrect labels over painted objects and patches
of color-is a playful, punning work that was an immediate forerunner of
pop art. Johns broke ground again with a four-painting cycle entitled
"The Seasons," shown in New York City in early 1987. The 75
by 50-inch paintings were considered especially significant in American
art history. |