Johns, Target with Four Faces, 1955 an example of a theme that shows up in his work in the mid 1950s: targets, which are technically an abstract arrangement of shapes and colors that are also very loaded images in the post war area nuclear annihilation was a looming threat during the cold war could allude to johns feeling like he was being targeted; during the 1950s, people were suspicious of anyone different, and johns was gay  includes four casts of his face along the top; cliché that the artists puts themselves into their work; work so hard the work has part of the artist’s soul in it

Johns, Target with Four Faces, 1955

  • an example of a theme that shows up in his work in the mid 1950s: targets, which are technically an abstract arrangement of shapes and colors that are also very loaded images in the post war area
  • nuclear annihilation was a looming threat during the cold war
  • could allude to johns feeling like he was being targeted; during the 1950s, people were suspicious of anyone different, and johns was gay 
  • includes four casts of his face along the top; cliché that the artists puts themselves into their work; work so hard the work has part of the artist’s soul in it
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  1. stoplooklisten2 reblogged this from artwhat
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artwhat.

during my first ever survey of western art class, my professor explained the difference between historians and art historians. historians, she said, were interested in old things. art historians, on the other hand, were interested in old things of quality. you don't hang garbage up on the walls of a museum; it has to be substantial and it has to mean something. so here you go; old things, made mostly by dudes long dead, of debatable degrees of quality but always with a constant level of importance. think of this as a deck of flash cards... sans the whole cards part.

Hobo theme by Mike Ballan with minor edits by Jess