(Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) (ULAE 238-241)
26 1/4 x 19 1/4 inches each(Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) (ULAE 238-241), 1987
paper: 26 1/4 x 19 1/4 inches each
image: 19 x 12 3/4 inches each
frame: 28 x 21 inches each
edition: 73 with 16; 14; 14; 13 AP's respectively and 4 PP's
each signed & dated in pencil "J Johns '87" lower right
each numbered in pencil lower right
printed by John Lund, Hitoshi Kido, Craig Zammiello, Keith Brintzenhofe
published by Universal Limited Art Editions, 1987, with their blindstamp
© 2024 Jasper Johns / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
with exhibition labels from:
Brooke Alexander Editions, New York
Galería Weber, Alexander y Cobo, Madrid
Fundación Luis Cernuda, Seville; Casa de la Parra, Xunta, Santiago de Compostela
Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca, Palma de Mallorca
Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida
Provenance
Jasper Johns & Universal Limited Art Editions, New York
Brooke Alexander, Inc., New York
Literature
Mark Rosenthal, Jasper Johns: Works Since 1974, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1988, plate 33-36, pgs. 98-101, other impressions reproduced in color.
Elizabeth Armstrong, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, Walker Art Center, 1990, pgs. 78-82, another impression of each reproduced in full-page color.
Shigeo Chiba, Jasper Johns Prints Exhibition 1960–1989, Tokyo, 1990, Japan Art and Culture Association/Kokusai Geijutsu Bunka Shinkokai, n.p., plate 103-106, other impressions reproduced.
Roberta Bernstein, Jasper Johns: The Seasons, 1991, Brooke Alexander Editions, no. 13-16, pgs. 20-23, another impression of each reproduced in full-page color.
Michel Butor, Kathleen Slavin, Jasper Johns Gravures Dessins 1960-1991, Foundation Vincent Van Gogh, 1992, no. 72-75, pgs. 124-125, another impression of each reproduced in full-page color.
Richard Field, The Prints of Jasper Johns 1960-1993: A Catalogue Raisonne, ULAE, New York, 1994, Catalogue Reference ULAE 238-241, n.p.,another image of each reproduced in full-page color
Susan Lorence, Technique and Collaboration in the Prints of Jasper Johns, Castelli Gallery, New York, 1996, Catalogue Reference 35a-35d, p. 50-51, another impression of each reproduced in black and white
Joan Rothfuss, Past Things and Present: Jasper Johns since 1983, Walker Art Center, Minnesota, 2003, Catalogue Reference 14-17, pgs. 62-64, another impression of each reproduced in full-page color.
Iwona Blazwick, Jasper Johns: Shadow and Substance, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2013, pgs. 18-21, another impression of each reproduced in full-page color.
Carlos Basualdo, Scott Rothkopf, Jasper Johns Mind/Mirror, The Whitney Museum of American Art, 2021, another impression reproduced plates 15, 21, 35, pgs. 291, 292, 295.
Exhibited
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Jasper Johns: Works Since 1974, October 23, 1988-January 8, 1989, another impression exhibited.
The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Prints Exhibition 1960–1989, Traveled to The Seibu Department Store, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, April 26th—May 15th, 1990, Isetan Department Store, Niigata, June 7-19, 1990, Isetan Department Store, Urawa, July 18-24, 1990, Isetan Department Store, Matsudo, August 9—August 14, 1990, Isetan Department Store, Shizuoka, August 23—August 28, 1990, other impressions exhibited.
Walker Art Center, Minnesota, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, February 18-May 13, 1990, another impression exhibited.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, June 17-August 19, 1990, another impression exhibited.
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, September 15-November 18, 1990, another impression exhibited.
Montreal Museum of Art, Montreal, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, December 14, 1990-March 10, 1991, another impression exhibited.
Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, April 6-May 27, 1991, another impression exhibited.
Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, June 22-August 18, 1991, another impression exhibited.
The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, September 14-November 10, 1991, another impression exhibited.
Brooke Alexander Editions, New York, Jasper Johns: The Seasons, Prints and Related Works, Nov. 9, 1991-Jan. 4, 1992, these impressions exhibited.
San Diego Museum of Art, California, Jasper Johns: The Seasons, Prints and Related Works, June 27-August 9, 1992, these impressions exhibited.
Galería Weber, Alexander y Cobo, Madrid, Jasper Johns: The Seasons, Prints and Related Works, Sept. 17-Nov. 14, 1992; Fundación Luis Cernuda, Seville; Casa de la Parra, Xunta, Santiago de Compostela; Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca, Palma de Mallorca, these impressions exhibited.
Stanford University Art Museum and T. W. Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford, California, The Anderson Print Collection at Stanford: Prints, Multiples and Monotypes 1968–1990, August 11 - December 13, 1992, other impressions exhibited.
Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, Jasper Johns The Seasons, November 6, 1998-January 3, 1999, these impressions exhibited.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, An American Focus: The Anderson Graphic Arts Collection, October 7, 2000 - December 31, 2000, other impressions exhibited.
Palm Springs Desert Museum, California, An American Focus: The Anderson Graphic Arts Collection, January 17-March 25, 2001, other impressions exhibited.
Gagosian Gallery, London, Jasper Johns: Prints From 1987-2001, April 24–June 7, 2003, other impressions exhibited.
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, Jasper Johns: 45 Years of Master Prints, October 15, 2005 - February 12, 2006, other impressions exhibited.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Focus: Jasper Johns, December 5, 2008–February 16, 2009, other impressions exhibited.
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., Jasper Johns Variations on a Theme, June 2-September 9, 2012, other impressions exhibited.
Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, South Carolina, The Insistent Image: Recurrent Motifs in the Art of Shepard Fairey and Jasper Johns, May 22-July 12, 2014, other impressions exhibited.
Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, Jasper Johns and John Lund: Masters in the Print Studio, February 6-May 10, 2015, other impressions exhibited.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror, October 28, 2021 - February 13, 2022, other impressions exhibited.
Additional Photos
Jasper Johns’ iconic four image series, Jasper Johns (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) (ULAE 238-241), 1987 is a standout example of the Artist’s inspired printmaking. Based on deeply personal paintings of the same name, this set of four etchings and aquatints is intermixed with the Artist’s personal artifacts and retrospective of images from his earlier works, while also depicting the different studios where each painting was created: Spring, Stony Point, New York, Summer, St. Martin in the French West Indies, Fall, Houston Street, New York City and Winter, East 63rd Street, New York City.
JASPER JOHNS SEASONS: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL REFLECTION
Jasper Johns Seasons is an autobiographical reflection of the Artist’s Life. Jasper Johns "assembled artifacts and seasonal symbols to narrate the stages of life and the periods of his career. Johns's "self-portrait" shadow, which recurs in all four of the paintings, was inspired by Picasso's painting The Shadow (1953). "
Jasper Johns’ iconic four image series, The Seasons, is a standout example of the artist’s inspired printmaking, layers upon layers of marks and symbolism are evident in John's iconic four image series, The Seasons, 1987. Based on deeply personal paintings by the same name, this set of four etchings and aquatints is intermixed with the Artist’s personal artifacts and fragmented imagery from Johns' earlier works, while also depicting the various studios where each painting was created: Spring, Stony Point, New York, Summer, St. Martin in the French West Indies, Fall, Houston Street, New York City and Winter, East 63rd Street, New York City.
Collection The Museum of Modern Art, New York
What "impels Jasper Johns's heuristic approach to printmaking" is his curiosity about the nature of an image itself, specifically how printmaking transforms a three-dimensional object into a two-dimensional representation, where the printed image can only ever be an "image of" something, not the thing itself; this is most evident when comparing a painted flag directly on its support to a printed image of a flag, which is surrounded by a margin and therefore can only be considered a depiction.
Jasper Johns's prints, like his drawings comprise an anthology of familiar motifs from iconic paintings and sculpture, metamorphosed by their transposition from one medium into another. Jasper Johns Seasons Series includes key symbols and iconography created by the Artist, including the red, white and blue American Flag, the Mona Lisa, George Ohr Pottery, as well as the Artist's homage to Pablo Picasso's The Shadow painting.
The Jasper Johns (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) (ULAE 238-241), 1987, set of four etchings with aquatint that Joseph K. Levene Fine Art, Ltd. is offering for sale is not only in museum quality condition but the impressions have been extensively exhibited in several museum and gallery exhibitions. Previously owned by the late Brooke Alexander, this Seasons Set was exhibited twice, first in 1991-1992 in Jasper Johns: The Seasons, Prints and Related Works and subsequently exhibited in 1998-1999 in The Seasons at Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida.
Because Jasper Johns (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) (ULAE 238-241), 1987, set of four etchings with aquatint has been in storage for the majority of time since it was published, each impression is exceptionally fresh and bright, in overall outstanding museum quality condition. The Jasper Johns Seasons Set of Four etchings with aquatint are each floated in four archival metal frames with Optium acrylic created by Bark Frameworks, New York. Published by U.L.A.E., each Jasper Johns Seasons - Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, was created to stand alone, but is clearly more desirable when it is presented as a complete Set of Four etchings with aquatint as originally intended by Jasper Johns.
Jasper Johns: The Seasons, Prints and Related Works by Lean Ollman, review in the LA Times, July 1, 1992">LA Times:
When Jasper Johns first started painting in the 1950s, his subjects--targets, flags, letters and numbers--were so familiar that they were, in a way, hard to see. By recasting obvious cultural symbols in an unexpected guise--painted on canvas, with loaded, gestural brush strokes--Johns posed a litany of questions about sight, perception and knowledge. The friction of those three forces charged his work with its own peculiar energy. Now Johns’ work itself is so familiar that it has attained the status of a cultural icon. And it, too, has become difficult to see afresh, with regard to surface and meaning. The San Diego Museum of Art’s new exhibition, “The Seasons: Prints and Related Works,” helps out generously by providing a tight focus on technique without neglecting the symbolic import of Johns’ imagery.
Johns’ series of prints on the theme of the four seasons is traced here from its inception as a single frontispiece for a book of Wallace Stevens poems in 1985 to a complex group of works from 1990, incorporating much of the previous five years’ imagery. Many of the prints are shown in several states, in which Johns has made use of a veritable encyclopedia of printmaking techniques, including the processes of aquatint, lithography, dry point, etching and photogravure. The four basic images of the seasons evolve in individual prints through as many as 17 states, then are strung together as one horizontal image, aligned in a grid and, finally, reconfigured in the shape of a cross. A handy visual glossary at the entrance to the show explains many of the prints’ recurring motifs, a task also ably done by the accompanying catalogue, produced by Brooke Alexander Editions in New York, co-organizer of the show with Malcolm Warner, San Diego Museum of Art’s curator of prints and drawings. It is a small exhibition, about 50 prints, almost all from Johns’ collection.
The show is also a dense one, much like Johns’ work, due to the repetition of so many of the images with only slight variations in composition or texture. The show calls for a slow, scrutinizing pace and an attentive eye. Repetition is key to Johns’ prints, too. The artist, now in his 60s, continuously recycles his own work, planting fragments from previous paintings in current prints and vice versa, pressing the images together into a compact mass, then scrambling them up again to form new patterns and relationships. Between Johns’ method of working and the perceptual puzzles he poses, his work sometimes takes on the quality of a hall of mirrors: It reflects itself, reflecting itself, reflecting . . . but is fascinating, if a bit self-indulgent. Johns’ ‘80s work is especially self-reflexive. Every detail in the “Seasons” prints (which relate to paintings of the same theme) refers to an incident, place, influence or work from his own life. His own shadow appears in every print, a silhouette against the brick wall of one of his studios or the wood flooring of another. An image of a ladder with a rope twisted around it recurs as well, a quote from a 1936 Picasso painting showing a minotaur carting away his belongings.
Jasper Johns: The Seasons at The Courtland, LondonSeveral of Johns’ other borrowings--of the “Mona Lisa,” for instance, or an altarpiece fragment by Grunewald--peek out here and there. A circle, square and triangle recall Cezanne’s statement about reducing the forms in nature to basic geometric elements. There are specific seasonal references: a small, linear snowman in “Winter,” streaks of rain in “Spring,” and in each print, a small, arching branch with blossoms (“Spring”), leaves (“Summer”), or no growth at all (“Winter”).
Not a single element in these prints is gratuitous, but the significance of many of the references may be lost on viewers without detailed knowledge of Johns’ life. Critics and historians have exhumed much meaning from this workand some have taken great pleasure tracking down the sources of Johns’ more mysterious crosshatched forms. The use of obscure imagery is an about-face from Johns’ earlier strategy of using easily recognizable symbols. Yet the earlier and more recent work operate on the surface and deep below it. There is little middle ground.
The top layer is always a pleasure. They are texturally rich and impeccably composed, with just enough visual tension to energize the repeated forms. This energy reaches its peak in the 1990 print incorporating all four seasonal images into a single, cross-shaped form. Centrifugal force seems to drive the images around, suggestive of the Earth’s rotation or
The perceptual riggings that support this outer layer are less accessible. Identifying Johns’ references and decoding his symbols may be satisfying projects for the mind, but they tend to neglect the needs of the heart. Though Johns’ work from the 1980s is intensely autobiographical, it is never intimate. It remains a cool, intellectual enterprise, formally vibrant but emotionally flat. If Johns intended the “Seasons” prints to reflect on his own life transitions or the rhythmic course of his own career, his dispassionate tone is all the more disappointing.
The condition of Jasper Johns prints plays a pivotal role in preserving the integrity and value of these artworks. The presence of mat staining, fox marks and attenuated colors can significantly impact the overall aesthetic and historical integrity of these artworks. When considering a purchase of a Jasper Johns print, it is crucial to be wary of dealers who claim prints are in good condition despite such issues, as this may be a deliberate attempt to mislead buyers. Transparency is imperative in the art market and dealers who purposefully omit condition details are not acting in the best interest of the collector. It is also advisable to avoid dealers who artificially enhance colors in photos, distorting the true condition of the artwork. Choosing dealers who provide accurate representations, even if it reveals imperfections, ensures that buyers make well-informed decisions, maintaining the authenticity and value of Jasper Johns prints over time.
The preferred quality of the Jasper Johns Seasons set impression from Joseph K. Levene Fine Art, Ltd, is immediately evident. Overall, the Jasper Johns Seasons set offered by Joseph K. Levene Fine Art, Ltd., on the left, is brighter/fresher vs. the Emily Fisher Landau Collection impression Sold for $165,100 at Sotheby's, New York, Novermber 9, 2023. Most noticeable is the brighter and more vibrant colors in the impression offered by Joseph K. Levene Fine Art, Ltd.
