Jasper Johns / In Press: The Crosshatch Works and the Logic of Print

Centering on Harvard’s collection of Johns’s signature “crosshatch” works of the 1970s, this exhibition explores the impact of print on his oeuvre. It examines “print” and “the press” in terms not only of printmaking and Johns’s celebrated experiments in that medium, but also in informational terms, tracing his frequent use of newspaper collage and its material, temporal, and political implications. Also featured is comparative material exploring Johns’s relationship to the history of printing.

Curated by Jennifer L. Roberts, Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University; with assistance from Jennifer Quick, PhD candidate, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University, and Agnes Mongan Curatorial Intern, Harvard Art Museums; Susan Dackerman, Director of Academic Programs, and Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints, Harvard Art Museums; and four Harvard College undergraduates: Jacob Cedarbaum, C. Andrew Krantz, Mary Potter, and Phillip Y. Zhang.

An exhibition catalogue comprising an essay by Jennifer L. Roberts and entries by Jennifer Quick is available. A digital publication with four interpretive essays by Jacob Cedarbaum, C. Andrew Krantz, Mary Potter, and Phillip Y. Zhang is also available.

The exhibition and two publications are made possible by generous funding from the Melvin R. Seiden and Janine Luke Fund for Publications and Exhibitions, Harvard Art Museums; the Provostial Fund in the Arts and Humanities, Harvard University; the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer Jr. Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums; and the Gurel Student Exhibition Fund, Harvard Art Museums.

Watch
Two films by American artist Katy Martin will also be shown in the gallery. Hanafuda/Jasper Johns (1978–81), DVD from Super 8mm film, color, 35 minutes, documents Johns at work on the screenprints Cicada and Usuyuki, both of which are on display in the exhibition. Silkscreens (1978), DVD from Super 8mm film, color, 20 minutes, sound by Richard Teitelbaum, shows printmakers working on The Dutch Wives (1977), a twenty-nine-screen print executed two years after the painting of the same name. An example of this print also hangs in the exhibition. Watch the videos by clicking in the slideshow above or on our Vimeo channel.