by karen #1965 third grade teacher jasper johns was born in augusta, georgia, in 1930...go georgia born artist!..he grew up in allendale, south carolina....johns at one time told PBS that he was always interested in art, but his small town didn't provide him outlets to either view art or interact with other artists...hey...u small town artists, u get that don't you?
johns moved to new york city in 1948 ...one of johns' first jobs in nyc was at tiffany's, where he created window displays with another young would-be artist, robert rauschenberg...hey you folks ever seen breakfast at tiffany's?...it is a "racy" movie released in 1961 with audrey hepburn...does this photo ring a bell?..i love this movie!..the dancing and partying is so funny and groovy...
funny he worked at tiffany's...funny strange, not funny, haha...cause when i say artist, do you think tiffany's???...no...you may think birkenstocks, granola, and the grateful dead...but, you do not think tiffany's...
but later in his life...the price tags on his paintings sold were much higher than anything at tiffany's...did you know that at one time japser johns' art was recognized for selling more art that any living artist?...according to the new york times, the whitney museum of american art bought johns' "three flags" for $1 million in 1980, considered the highest price ever paid for the work of a living artist at the time..."false start," painted in 1959, brought $17 million at an auction at sotheby's in 1988...johns took the title again in 2006 when david geffen, a hollywood producer, sold "false start" to chicago businessman kenneth C. griffin for a record $80 million...check it out...whatever...
also, i found this video on you tube that is pretty good...some guy went to see jasper johns "gray" at the metropolitan museum...not bad...check it out...
teachers...there's lots of stuff to do with jasper johns...
do flags....like this...
do targets...like this...
do numbers...like this...
or just stare at it like i did...
...i did not know about this quote until a month or so after the picture was taken of me staring at the jasper johns' paintbrush print...
"I don't think," noted Jasper Johns, "that you can talk about art and get anywhere. I think you can only look at it."
You say that we've got nothing in common
No common ground to start from
And we're falling apart
You'll say the world has come between us
Our lives have come between us
But I know you just don't care
And I said what about "Breakfast at Tiffany's?
She said, "I think I remember the film,
And as I recall, I think, we both kinda liked it."
And I said, "Well, that's the one thing we've got."
(deep blue something, 1995)
happy may 2, 2010!
This is the first year I studied Jasper Johns with my students. Our second grade program is a patriotic programs so I used his flag paintings to introduce my class to him. Next, I used rulers to have each of my students measure the stripes and used a little history as we discussed why his flags didn't have 50 stars. Great artist!
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