Target with Four Faces [working proof]

1979

Jasper Johns

Artist, American, born 1930

Petersburg Press

Publisher

Aldo Crommelynck

Printer, French, 1931 - 2008

Concentric slate-blue and yellow rings forming a target alternate against a coral-red background in this vertical etching. The innermost circle is blue and is followed by two yellow and two more blue rings. The colors are toned down and covered with scribbles and hatch marks, and lines in darker blue are drawn near the edges of those rings. Four conjoined orange panels line the top of the target. All have the word "FACE" printed backwards in pale orange text, and the letters on the leftmost and rightmost panels are also outlined, making the text easier to read. A slat painted with streaks of tan and ash brown suggests wood grain above the panels and wood framing around them. Two hinges in the dark gap between the wood panels connect them together. The image is enclosed in a black outline and surrounded by a wide white margin. A pencil inscription under the left corner of the printed image reads, “WORKING PROOF WITH IN ADDITION.” The artist scrawled his signature and the date, “79” under the right corner.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    color etching with aquatint, drypoint, spit bite, sugar lift, and ink on wove paper [working proof]

  • Credit Line

    Patrons' Permanent Fund and Special Friends of the National Gallery of Art

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 65.8 × 49.7 cm (25 7/8 × 19 9/16 in.)
    plate: 59.7 × 46.8 cm (23 1/2 × 18 7/16 in.)

  • Accession

    2008.136.388

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    ULAE, no. 203 [working proof]


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

the artist, Sharon, Connecticut; acquired 2008 by the National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Bibliography

1994

  • Field, Richard S. The Prints of Jasper Johns, 1960-1993: A Catalogue Raisonné. West Islip, New York: Universal Limited Art Editions, 1994, no. 203.

Inscriptions

lower right, in graphite: JJ 79; lower left, in graphite: WORKING PROOF WITH INK ADDITION

Wikidata ID

Q76439908


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