Harvard Art Museums > 2003.304: Vincent Series #4 Paintings Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Vincent Series #4 (Lester Johnson) , 2003.304,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 16, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/70196. This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2003.304 People Lester Johnson, American (Minneapolis, Minn. 1919-2010 Westhampton, New York) Title Vincent Series #4 Classification Paintings Work Type painting Date 2001 Places Creation Place: North America, United States Culture American Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/70196 Physical Descriptions Medium Oil on canvas Dimensions 111.8 x 152.4 cm (44 x 60 in.) Inscriptions and Marks Signed: l.r. Lester Johnson (script) Provenance Recorded Ownership History Lillian Heidenberg, New York, Gift from the artist. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Lillian Heidenberg Accession Year 2003 Object Number 2003.304 Division Modern and Contemporary Art Contact am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Landscape-format painting depicting a group of striding figures, the principal one distinguished by a Yankees baseball cap and a Van Gogh t-shirt. Commentary For more than 50 years Lester Johnson has been an important presence in American painting, both as a teacher (at Yale, 1964-91) and as a primary exponent of figurative expressionism (showing at Zabriskie Gallery from 1955-61 and at Martha Jackson Gallery from 1962-75). Known in the 1950s and 60s for dark, thickly painted figures of hatted men alone or in strict rows, he embraced a brighter palette and happier subjects in 1972, turning to groups of young men and women moving and dancing through generalized urban spaces, a mode he has maintained to the present. Johnson has always been a maverick, refusing first the abstraction of Abstract Expressionism and then the appropriations of Pop Art, steadfast in his commitment to the high-modern project of an autonomous, non-illustrative painting of modern life. Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
