Untitled (Embassies) [trial proof]
1999
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
color etching and aquatint on wove paper [trial proof]
Dimensions
plate: 46.04 x 67.31 cm (18 1/8 x 26 1/2 in.) sheet: 54.93 x 75.88 cm (21 5/8 x 29 7/8 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
2010.116.557
Art Historical Context
In the late stages of his illustrious career, Jasper Johns created *Untitled (Embassies) [trial proof]* in 1999, a color etching and aquat on wove paper that exemplifies his mastery of printmaking. Johns, a pivotal figure in post-Abstract Expressionist art, is renowned for transforming everyday symbols—like flags, targets, and numbers—into enigmatic works that blur the line between object and image, inviting viewers to question perception and meaning. This trial proof, measuring 46 x 67 cm on the plate, represents an experimental stage in the printmaking process, where the artist refined color...
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...