Sketch for "Good Time Charley"
Johns rarely makes studies for paintings, rendering this large sketch something of an exception. The resulting painting follows its specifications closely: a ruler, attached to the stretcher bar by a wing nut, scrapes an arc of wax-based encaustic paint before being halted by a small metal cup. The thick blotting paper used for this study allowed Johns to abrade the surface without rupturing it, in order to approximate the ruler’s future movement across the painting’s surface. Partaking of Johns’s extensive interest in impressions, traces and imprints, this disruption of the paper’s surface amounts to a subtle lateral tear, like rubbing away a layer of skin.
Artwork Details
- Title: Sketch for "Good Time Charley"
- Artist: Jasper Johns (American, born Augusta, Georgia, 1930)
- Date: 1961
- Medium: Graphite and black ink on blotting paper
- Dimensions: 38 × 24 in. (96.5 × 61 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Gift of Jim Dine, 1978
- Object Number: 1978.566
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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