Jasper Johns
Untitled, 1998
Etching and aquatint
17 3/4 x 11 7/8 in (image size)
29 7/8 x 22 in (paper size)
29 7/8 x 22 in (paper size)
Edition 47/75
Copyright Jasper Johns Estate
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'Untitled' was produced as part of 'The Geldzahler Portfolio,' created in honor of Henry Geldzahler, the curator and critic who was instrumental in championing artists who would define postwar American...
"Untitled" was produced as part of "The Geldzahler Portfolio," created in honor of Henry Geldzahler, the curator and critic who was instrumental in championing artists who would define postwar American art.
In this print, Johns featured a recurrent motif in his work in the 1980s and the 1990s: outlines derived from the fallen soldier in the foreground of Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim "Altarpiece." Drawn to “the qualities conveyed by the delineation of the forms,” he wanted to see whether the imagery could be “freed from the narrative” of the Altarpiece while retaining its expressive force. Johns heaves the fallen soldier upright. The figure bears on his chest two dripping blotches reminiscent of Christ's stigmata. Beneath the outline of the figure are a trompe l’œil sheet of paper seemingly affixed within the print and architectural floor plans that create the push and pull of perspective, unsettling the distinction between figure and ground.
In this print, Johns featured a recurrent motif in his work in the 1980s and the 1990s: outlines derived from the fallen soldier in the foreground of Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim "Altarpiece." Drawn to “the qualities conveyed by the delineation of the forms,” he wanted to see whether the imagery could be “freed from the narrative” of the Altarpiece while retaining its expressive force. Johns heaves the fallen soldier upright. The figure bears on his chest two dripping blotches reminiscent of Christ's stigmata. Beneath the outline of the figure are a trompe l’œil sheet of paper seemingly affixed within the print and architectural floor plans that create the push and pull of perspective, unsettling the distinction between figure and ground.
