Target with Four Faces [state proof of 1st state]
1979
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
etching in black on wove paper [state proof]
Dimensions
sheet (irregular): 75.4 × 56 cm (29 11/16 × 22 1/16 in.) plate: 59.5 × 45.8 cm (23 7/16 × 18 1/16 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
2008.136.389
Art Historical Context
Jasper Johns, a pivotal figure in American Pop Art and Neo-D, created *Target with Four Faces [state proof of 1st state]* in 1979. This striking black etching wove paper exemplifies Johns' lifelong fascination with everyday motifs like targets, which he first explored in paintings during the 1950s. Here, the composition merges the concentric circles of a classic target with four enigmatic faces, challenging viewers to question perception, repetition, and the boundary between object and image. Measuring about 75 x 56 cm on an irregularly cut sheet, it invites close inspection of its precise lin...
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...