Decoy [misc. proof]
1971
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph in black on wove paper [misc. proof]
Dimensions
sheet: 121.6 x 91.76 cm (47 7/8 x 36 1/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Patrons' Permanent Fund and Special Friends of the National Gallery of Art
Accession Number
2006.136.14
Art Historical Context
Jasper Johns, a towering figure in post-war American art, is renowned for his innovative prints and paintings that blurred the lines between abstraction and representation, influencing Pop Art and Conceptualism. Created in 1971, *Decoy [misc.]* exemplifies his fascination with everyday motifs and perceptual ambiguity. This large-scale black lithograph on wove paper captures Johns's signature precision, transforming simple forms into enigmatic symbols that challenge viewers to question illusion and reality. Lithography, Johns's favored medium here, involves drawing on a flat stone or plate wit...
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...