Figuring Jasper Johns (Essays in Art and Culture) - Hardcover

Orton, Fred

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 067430117X ISBN 13: 9780674301177

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1994

Synopsis

An attempt to come to terms with the challenging contemporary artist, Jasper Johns, that also provides a way of approaching American art of the 1950s and 1960s. Orton (history of art, U. of Leeds) focuses on three key works Untitled (1972), Flag (1954-55), and Painted Bronze (1960). He shows how John's work makes use of the modernist opposition between surface and subject, how it manifests both relatively private and relatively public meanings, and how it develops a self-consciously figurative visual language. Includes 69 color and b&w illustrations. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

About this title

About the Author:

Fred Orton is Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, University of Leeds.

Review:

Fred Orton writes on Jasper Johns with clarity as well as conviction...If Orton engages you with the play of words and concepts, he is equally adept at drawing you close into Johns' paintings...With equal authority, Orton analyzes the critical distinction, as articulated by Johns himself, between the actual and the figured. (Richard Shiff ArtForum)

A significant contribution to the large body of literature about one of the more provocative and enigmatic artists of the mid- and late-twentieth century. (Michael J. Prokopow Boston Book Review)

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 067430117X
• ISBN 13: 9780674301177
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208