Abstract

My dissertation, Signification and the Subject: The Art of Jasper Johns, examines the pictorial project of Jasper Johns , offering a novel interpretation of an American artist working in the postwar period. Arguing that Johns' work reflects a significant shift within Western culture, I divide Johns' oeuvre into two parts, arguing that the artist's early work is best understood as a critique of representation and subjectivity as these concepts have been understood since the end of the eighteenth century. In my analysis of work made since 1972, I conclude that Johns' work from this period reflects an attempt to construct an alternative understanding of representation and subjectivity based on conclusions reached about each in the context of Johns' work from the fifties and sixties. ;This study is divided into a total of five sections, the first of which summarizes my project and situates it within the broader context of the existing literature on Johns. Chapter one, "Origins," focuses on the painting said to be Johns' first work of art: Flag, 1954. Through an analysis of the painting and its initial reception, I conclude that the work destabilizes several accepted ideas about the nature of the relationship between an artist and his or her artwork. Chapter two, "According to What," focuses on Johns' work from the late fifties and sixties, arguing that Johns' work from this period is engaged in a critique of the relationship between image and referent. Chapter three, "Corpse and Mirror," offers an interpretation of works made during the seventies, arguing that these paintings function as an expression of conclusions reached during the first two decades of Johns' career. In addition, this section also situates those conclusions within the broader history of art, arguing that Johns' painting from this period is instructively compared to other moments within art history. Chapter four, "Epilogue," focuses on Johns' work from the eighties and nineties, asking what it might mean for Johns to paint given the limits ascribed to representation in course of the chapters one, two and three