Key points
- The image is painted in encaustic, which allows the viewer to see the layers of newspaper beneath the painted surface. This process reflects the dense history and complex meaning embedded in the symbol of the American flag.
- As a precursor to Pop Art of the 1960s, Johns was one of the first artists to make art based on common everyday objects.
- By representing a flag, Johns eliminated the artist’s subjective role to choose color and forms to express an idea, and thus forces us to reconsider these things traditionally valued in art.
Go deeper
Jasper Johns on The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Deborah Solomon, “Jasper Johns Still Doesn’t Want to Explain His Art,” The New York Times (2018)
Smarthistory images for teaching and learning:
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