Bread
1969
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lead relief laminated with embossed, oil-painted paper
Dimensions
sheet: 58.42 × 43.18 cm (23 × 17 in.)
Classification
Sculpture
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Gemini G.E.L. and the Artist
Accession Number
1991.74.72
Art Historical Context
Jasper Johns' *Bread* (1969) is a striking example of the artist's innovative exploration of everyday objects, transforming the humble loaf into a sculptural relief. Created through a complex process of lead relief laminated embossed, oil-p paper, this 23 × 17-inch work blurs the boundaries between two- and three-dimensional art. Johns, a pivotal figure in mid-20th-century American art, moved beyond his iconic flag and target motifs of the 1950s and 1960s to delve into tactile, object-based forms, challenging viewers to reconsider the familiar. The medium's significance lies in its technical ...
About the Artist
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker whose revolutionary work fundamentally transformed the trajectory of postwar American art. Emerging in the 1950s when Abstract Expressionism dominated the New York art world, Johns introduced a radically different approach by painting familiar, everyday symbols—flags, targets, numbers, and maps—that he des...