Untitled [state proof of 2nd state]
1997
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
etching and aquatint in black on wove paper [state proof]
Dimensions
image: 31.75 x 48.26 cm (12 1/2 x 19 in.) sheet: 50.17 x 65.09 cm (19 3/4 x 25 5/8 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
2010.116.575
Art Historical Context
In the late 1990s, Jasper Johns, a pivotal figure in American postwar art, created *Untitled [state proof of 2nd state]* (1997), a striking black etching and aquatint on wove paper. Johns, renowned for bridging Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism through everyday motifs like flags and targets, shifted in his later works toward intricate, layered abstractions. This untitled print exemplifies his mature exploration of form, space, and perception, inviting viewers to ponder the boundaries between representation and pure mark-making. The medium—etching for precise lines and aquatint for rich tonal...
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...