Jasper Johns: 100 Variations on a Theme September 29, 2019–February 16, 2020
Jasper Johns, 1, Catalogue Raisonné, 2015, monoprint on hand-torn Kurotani Kozo paper, private collection. © 2019 Jasper Johns / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Jasper Johns, 53, Catalogue Raisonné, 2015, monoprint on hand-torn Kurotani Kozo paper, private collection. © 2019 Jasper Johns / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Jasper Johns, Land’s End, 1979, etching and sugar-lift aquatint in nine colors on wove paper, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by Robert Devlin, John Graf, Rod Martin, and AIG American General in honor of Fayez Sarofim at “One Great Night in November, 2000.” © 2019 Jasper Johns / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Jasper Johns, Untitled, 1998, etching in colors on wove paper, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © 2019 Jasper Johns and ULAE / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Published by Universal Limited Art Editions.
Jasper Johns, Savarin, 1977–81, lithograph in colors on wove paper, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Museum Collectors. © 2019 Jasper Johns and ULAE / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Published by Universal Limited Art Editions.
The MFAH hosts the debut presentation of Jasper Johns: 100 Variations on a Theme. The exhibition centers on a series of 100 unique prints the artist made in 2015 over the course of 10 days in his Connecticut studio.
This extraordinary suite of prints offers an overview of Johns’s career, providing the opportunity to see his creative process at work. As a basis for this series, Johns etched his palm imprint and American Sign Language symbols onto a single intaglio plate, and then proceeded to transform that image 100 times, using string, stenciled numbers, and leaves from trees. Johns (born 1930) originally created this monoprint series to accompany what would have been a special edition of his Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings and Sculptures.
To give context to Johns’s recurring themes and motifs, the exhibition also features works on paper by the artist from the MFAH collections and private collections. The monoprint series is complemented by examples including Land’s End, Savarin, and Untitled.
Jasper Johns: 100 Variations on a Theme | September 29, 2019–February 16, 2020
This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.