Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns (1930— ). US painter, sculptor, and graphic artist, whose style anticipated the Pop art movement of the 1950s. After service in the US army, Johns settled in New York in 1952, where he supported himself by creating window displays for department stores. His works of this period, which include the well-known Flags series featuring different versions of the Stars and Stripes, are characterized by an impersonal treatment of familiar images. Other subjects treated in the same way include targets and numbers. From the late 1950s he created bronze sculptures that were exact replicas of such household objects as beer cans and electric lightbulbs. Johns has also acted as artistic adviser to the Merce Cunningham dance company.
