The Seasons [1/2 proof of cut plate "Winter"] 1990

Jasper Johns made this first proof of a cut plate, ‘Winter,’ using etching. It's all about process. You can see it in the directness of the marks, the way he lets the image emerge, bit by bit, out of an accumulation of lines and shapes. The materiality here is so interesting. It's just black ink on white paper, but look at the textures he achieves. The crosshatching, the stippling, the way the figure seems to dissolve into the ground. Notice how he uses the etched line to create a sense of depth and shadow, especially in the scaffolding-like structure on the left. And then, the figure on the right, almost like a ghostly presence, a body fading into the winter landscape. The contrast between the solidity of the structure and the ephemerality of the figure is really striking. Johns' printmaking reminds me a lot of Rauschenberg's playful approach to artmaking. Like Bob, Johns embraces chance and experimentation, creating works that are both visually arresting and conceptually rich.