Flag is an encaustic painting by the American artist Jasper Johns. It was created in 1954-1955, when Johns was 24, two years after he was discharged from the U.S. Army. This painting was the first of many works that Johns made, as he said, that were inspired by a dream of the U.S. flag in 1954. It is one of the paintings for which Johns is best known.[1] It is held in the Museum of Modern Art, in New York.[2]
| Flag | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Jasper Johns |
| Year | 1954-1955 |
| Medium | Encaustic, oil and collage on fabric mounted on plywood |
| Dimensions | 107.3 cm × 153.8 cm (42.2 in × 60.6 in) |
| Location | Museum of Modern Art, New York |
Description
editThe work measures 42.2 inches (107.3 cm) by 60.6 inches (153.8 cm). It is made using encaustic, oil paint, and newsprint collage on three separate canvases, mounted on a plywood board. The painting reflects the three colors of the U.S. flag: red, white and blue; the flag is depicted in the form that it took between 1912 and 1959, with 48 white stars on a blue canton representing the then-48 U.S. states (excluding Alaska and Hawaii), and with thirteen red and white stripes. Newsprint is visible under the stripes. Reading the texts, it is clear that the newsprint was not selected at random: Johns steered clear of headlines, or national or political news, and used inconsequential articles or adverts. The painting has a rough-textured surface, and the 48 stars are not identical. It is dated 1954 on its reverse.[2]
Flag series
editJohns made over 40 works based on the U.S. flag, including the large and monochrome White Flag in 1955, and his 1958 work Three Flags, with three superimposed flags showing a total of 84 stars.
His 48-star Flag from 1958 was purchased in 2010 by hedge-fund manager Steven A. Cohen for an estimated $110 million, making it the most expensive work sold by a living artist as of 2023.[3]
In November 2014, the encaustic Flag (1983) was auctioned off for $36 million at Sotheby's in New York City.[4]
References
edit- ^ Brown, Mark (12 April 2017). "Flag bearer: Jasper Johns subject of major Royal Academy retrospective". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 June 2024. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
- ^ a b "Jasper Johns. Flag. 1954-55 (dated on reverse 1954)". Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
- ^ Carol Vogel (18 March 2010). "Planting a Johns 'Flag' in a Private Collection". New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
- ^ Joe Tacopino (12 November 2014). "Jasper Johns' American flag painting sells for $36M". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
Further reading
edit- Halliwell, Martin (2007). American Culture in the 1950s. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 203–205. ISBN 978-0-7486-1885-9.
- "Artists Past & Present: Jasper Johns". The Warhol. Archived from the original on 22 June 2012.
- Orton, Fred (1994). Figuring Jasper Johns. Reaktion Books. pp. 89–146. ISBN 978-0-948462-58-0.
- Stich, Sidra (1 January 1987). Made in U.S.A.: An Americanization in Modern Art, the '50s & '60s. University of California Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-520-05757-9.
- Robbe-Grillet, Alain; Johns, Jasper (2006). The _target: Alain Robbe-Grillet, Jasper Johns. Translated by Stoltzfus, Ben. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-0-8386-4084-5.
External links
edit| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Jasper Johns's Flag, Smarthistory |
- Flag at the Museum of Modern Art website.
- Jasper Johns (born 1930) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art website.