Synopses & Reviews
Few contemporary artists have made the problem of meaning for both artist and viewer as interesting and challenging as has Jasper Johns. Figuring Jasper Johns is a carefully and convincingly argued illumination of the ideas and selected works of this enigmatic American painter. Focusing on three of Johns's key paintings, Flag (1954-55), Painted Bronze (1960), and Untitled (1972), Fred Orton adroitly combines formal theoretical analyses and historical reflection. He opens up the painter's canvasses to fresh interpretation, with appropriate emphasis on the power of allegory in Jasper Johns's work.
Review
Fred Orton writes on Jasper Johns with clarity as well as conviction...If Orton engages you with the play of words and concepts, he is equally adept at drawing you close into Johns' paintings...With equal authority, Orton analyzes the critical distinction, as articulated by Johns himself, between the actual and the figured. Richard Shiff
Review
A significant contribution to the large body of literature about one of the more provocative and enigmatic artists of the mid- and late-twentieth century. ArtForum
Synopsis
Few contemporary artists have made the problem of meaning for both artist and viewer as interesting and challenging as has Jasper Johns. Figuring Jasper Johns is a carefully and convincingly argued illumination of the ideas and selected works of this enigmatic American painter. Focusing on three of Johns's key paintings, < i="">
About the Author
Fred Orton is Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, University of Leeds.