Jasper Johns a Revised and Expanded Edition [Hardcover]

Michael Crichton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 23, 1994

This new edition presents a completely revised, expanded and updated version of a modern classic. Jasper Johns's recent pieces, with their puns, optical illusions and embedded images have attracted considerable critical attention. Crichton, who knows Johns and has collected his work for over 20 years, here offers intimate glimpses of the artist's potent and seemingly contradictory aspects. Accompanying the text is a whole portfolio of illustrations, providing an overview of his work as painter, sculptor and printmaker. Over 200 works are reproduced, including colour and foldout reproductions.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Johns can easily lay claim to the title of greatest living American artist, and polymath novelist/doctor Crichton here provides an indispensable overview of his career. Crichton has substantially expanded and revised his 1977 monograph on Johns to cover his latest work. Drawing on interviews with the often laconic artist as well as commentary from art historians, dealers, and friends, Crichton sketches Johns's creative processes and the development of his style. This accessible portrait of the artist's work is both insightful and enlightening, furnishing context for Johns's place in contemporary art. The extensive color and duotone photographs provide a nearly complete summation of Johns's career from the early 1950s through the present. Highly recommended for all art collections and larger public libraries.
Martin R. Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Norton*(ww Norton Co; 2nd edition (May 23, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500092400
• ISBN-13: 978-0500092408
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,967,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good, April 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Jasper Johns (Hardcover)

Novelists have always loved artists, and artists have always loved novelists. They love and admire the other's talent, but--most important--they are not competitors. Crichton's love of Johns' work certainly comes forth, and Johns' seemed flattered that a best-selling novelist, and not an art professor, wanted to do a book on him. That mutual admiration underlies why this is such a solid book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably as good as possible--without being intrusive, January 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jasper Johns (Hardcover)

The author well restrained himself from "digging into the painful childhood" that produced such an unusually remote "negator of impulses." He brought out the positive aspects of Johns personality--his ability to laugh at himself and not always to take himself too seriously. "His work is a constant negation of impulses" said the critic..."wouldn't you say so Jasper?" "NO" says Jasper, laughing. Jasper can laugh. That is nice. The author respected his need for privacy in his personal life. He presented a very difficult, complex personality with dignity, humor, and good taste.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Into the heart of creation, December 21, 2008

By 

Claude Reich (Florianopolis, Brazil and Paris, France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jasper Johns (Hardcover)

I own six books on Jasper Johns (monographs, catalogues of exhibitions) and this one is undoutedly the best. The illustrations are numerous and of a good quality, however this is not your coffee-table type of book: you do want to read the text, which, through numerous interviews and essays, manages to give the best analysis available on the master's art. Especially interesting are the dialogues between Chrichton (himself a collector of Johns's works) and the artist. This is a book that often provides unique insight into the artist's creative process; Chrichton opens many doors and it is up to the reader/art lover to step in and discover Johns's mysterious world.