by Patricia Frischer
 |
| Jasper Johns, Untitled, ink on plastic. 1983/84 |
On my trip to Balboa Park, I started with a very quick
viewing at the Timken Museum to
visit the Kehinde Wiley, Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of
Savoy-Carignan (2015). You may have seen
reproductions, but make sure and see the real thing. It has an overwhelming
presence
and I was particularly intrigued as you could not see one
brush stroke. It almost looks like a printed canvas. Only on view until the end
of May, so make sure and stop in and visit this masterwork.
In this new exhibition at the San Diego Art Museum, Jasper Johns:
Drawings and Prints, my key descriptive words, in sharp contrast to the Wiley, is intimate and completely hands on. You get a chance to see 14 works on paper and
experience the touch of the artist hand in a close and personal way. The works
date from 1960 to 2021. That is over 60 years in one small room. John
Digesare, Senior
Registrar at SDMA, and curator for this exhibition was able to draw from a private and the museum’s collection,
as well as six drawings generously loaned directly from Jasper Johns. This is not the first Johns exhibition that Digesare
has curated. Besides the previous one at the museum where Johns was included, Modern
American Prints: 1920-1948, in 2019, Digesare is also was responsible for Jasper Johns: Selected Prints, 1963 - 2008 in the Hoehn Family
Galleries at the University of San Diego in 2009.
Johns, in his personal sketchbook, has
said, “Take an object / Do something to
it / Do something else to it. [Repeat].” We all know his early flag and number
art works and they are well represented here. Motifs that are developed early
on appear over and over, always with variations. He used classic tricks the eye
illusions in two of these works. Did you know if you are under 30 the majority
of people see the young women first and over 30 you see the old woman? The vase with two facing portraits is a
classic Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain exercise.
The After Picasso
work obviously based on Picasso’s Women in a Straw Hat with Blue Leaves,
is a clue to a recent discovery. Johns was not known to be a fan of Rodin, but
the Green Angel has now been referenced to Rodin’s Torso of the Woman Centaur
and Minotaur. There are many variations on
that work.
A tracing of a soldier from the Isenheim
altarpiece was further altered by hand colored acrylic over
intaglio. He did many of these and the strokes of his brush are very noticeably
applied over the colors of the original print. This makes each of them unique.
Unique and
personal is definitely evident in the small hand-colored etching of three
artists holding brushed poised behind a skeleton head. Dated 2021, it is the
latest work in the show by this 94-year-old artist. Loaned by an anonymous owner,
we are lucky to be able to see this selection of Jasper Johns artwork specially
selected by John Digesare.
Photos by Patricia Frischer unless otherwise stated.
John Digesare, curator and Senior Registrar, SDMA |
 |
| Jaspar Johns, Two Flags. 1960, graphite |
 |
| Jasper Johns, Flag on Orange, 1998, etching with aquatint |
 |
| Jasper Johns, Spring, 1986, pastel and charcoal |
 |
| Jasper Johns, After Picasso, 1986, charcoal |
 |
| Jasper Johns, Green Angel, 1991. etching. Gift of the
artist, 2006.135. © 2024 Jasper Johns and ULAE / Licensed by VAGA at Artists
Rights Society (ARS), NY, Published by Universal Limited Art Editions. |
 |
Auguste Rodin, Torso of the
Woman Centaur and Minotaur c. 1910, Musée Rodin, Meudon, France. |
 |
| Jaspar Johns, Untitled, 1999, hand colored acrylic over intaglio |
 |
| Jaspar Johns, Green Angel 2, 1997, etching |
 |
| Jaspar Johns, Untitled, 1990, mixed media |
 |
| Jaspar Johns, Untitled. 2021, mixed media |
 |
Kehinde Wiley, Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan, 2015 at the Timken Museum (photo: Timkin Museum)
|
No comments:
Post a Comment