"Target 1970" After Jasper Johns Lithograph Collage With Book in Box (Ulae 89)

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BUY FOR ONLY $225 WITH A CHAIRISH COUPON!!!

Jasper Johns has often been drawn to images that are familiar to … Read more BUY FOR ONLY $225 WITH A CHAIRISH COUPON!!!

Jasper Johns has often been drawn to images that are familiar to viewers––or, as he explained in 1959, "things the mind already knows" but overlooks due to constant exposure. In 'Target 1970', Johns portrays his famed target motif, a symbol for the artist that perfectly blurs the line between abstract and recognizable imagery. In his very first public exhibition at the Jewish Museum in 1957, Johns chose to show 'Green Target'. The painting caught the attention of legendary New York dealer Leo Castelli, who would launch Johns’s career with his first solo exhibition the next year.

Jasper Johns has reworked key motifs-flags, targets, maps, the alphabet, and numbers in a serial fashion, exploring the impact of changes in color, scale, medium & style. The 1950s Targets utilized the deep color palette, multilayered technique, and dense brushwork of abstract expressionism. 'Target 1970' utilizes the minimalist pop art style popularized by Warhol and other American artists who came to prominence in the sixties.

'Target 1970' is an original 12.25 x 10" collage lithograph with real paintbrush and watercolor pads attached. The signature, often mistaken as pencil signed, is rubber-stamped. It was published simultaneously in a pencil signed limited edition of 50 and a stamp signed edition of 22,500 included with the 1971 Museum of Modern Art catalog for an exhibition of prints by Gemini GEL titled 'Technics and Creativity'. It is documented as #89 in the artist's prints catalog raisonne.

Despite the very large edition, 50 years later good copies are somewhat scarce. It was intended as an ephemera item rather than a collectible art work. In keeping with the pop art esthetic, Johns wanted people to collaborate by coloring the target with the attached watercolors. Many did. The paint brushes & pads easily detach and get lost. As matching commercial products are no longer made, these examples can not be easily restored. Only a few of Johns original prints were published in affordable large editions. Target 1970 presents a unique opportunity to collect a part of modern art history. See less