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Deborah Ripley, artnet Online Auction’s head Print Specialist and print world guru had recommended the Johns exhibition at the National Gallery of Art to me, so when I found myself in DC this weekend, I had to go. Wow, was I floored. The exhibition, titled Editions with Additions: Working Proofs by Jasper Johns (running October 11, 2009–April 4, 2010) is true to it’s name. There are approximately 45 proofs for lithographs, etchings and screenprints all with hand painting, pastel, or ink additions with notes in the margins.

False Start I 1962 lithograph, working proof with pastel, pencil, and ink

After Holbein 1993 lithograph, working proof with crayon

Located in the East Building on the Ground Floor, the space is organized using two galleries, which allows for a clear division between 4 decades of work. The 1960s and 1970s fill the first gallery, with motifs that will be associated with Johns’ art throughout the course of his career. These include his use of the alphabet, targets and the body (specifically hand prints and profiles). The second gallery, with work from the 1980s and 1990s, introduces his inclusion of family photographs and art objects owned by Johns. His ‘After Holbein’ particularly caught my attention (and as an aside, I can’t help but love the Renaissance references contemporary artists’ are using, think Mánolo Valdez).

I was personally entranced by the tactility of the colors and volumes. Johns’ paintings and three-dimensional objects (the paint a combination of oil and encaustic) obviously have a physical viscosity that is difficult to achieve on a two-dimensional plane of paper. This is not altogether lost as he experimented with printmaking. I was especially drawn to the layering of colors and techniques, stripes, dots, squiggles and lines.

A majority of the works were done at ULAE (please see earlier post) and it was great to see some beautiful examples from this revolutionary print studio.

This is an incredible opportunity to really discover the artist’s working process, and discern the changes and choices an artist makes before publishing a final edition. For those not lucky enough to witness the artist in the print studio, this exhibition is a way to have an ‘insiders’ understanding of the printmaking process. So much of what is traditionally seen is the ‘finished product’ but in today’s medium-limitless world, without an understanding of the process, so much depth and understanding is lost.

A special note at the bottom of the Press Release reads: The works are selected from a collection of approximately 1,700 proofs for Johns’ prints that he has maintained and carefully annotated over four decades. This extraordinary body of work is being acquired by the National Gallery of Art for its permanent collection. Very exciting for the NGA.