The United States of Jasper Johns

Art critic and poet John Yau closely examines the identity and meaning behind Jasper Johns's recent paintings. Johns's work has earned a prominent place for itself in art history since it was first exhibited in 1958. Yau's brilliant analysis of two of Johns's best-known early works, Flag (1955), and Map (1963), provides us with unique insights into his latest paintings, two of which are reproduced here for the first time.

Johns is considered both the founder of Pop Art and Minimalism, as well as a hermetic figure whose work has confounded critics for nearly forty years. Yau's view of Johns's paintings not only makes many aspects of the artist's work accessible for the first time, but also reveals the profoundly emotional tenor of this supposedly aloof figure. Yau's descriptions and meditations are united with Johns's own thoughts, culled from conversations between poet and artist over the past ten years.

The result is fresh insight into an artist whose work has beguiled viewers for nearly forty years.