Art History Course:
Making Sense of Jasper Johns

Online, via Zoom

In a 1962 review of Jasper Johns’s work, critic Leo Steinberg repeatedly asked “Does it mean anything?” Across his almost seventy-year career, Johns’s work in painting, sculpture, and assemblage has often overwhelmed and confounded critics. His work seems to resist interpretation because his references are either too literal, overly personal, or simply rendered opaque. Yet his celebrated legacy has also pressed critics, artists, and viewers alike to imagine artwork’s meaning and value differently. In this way, Johns’s art resonates with contemporary works that make us question and reframe taken-for-granted elements of our everyday life.

This course—held in conjunction with Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror—gives participants a comprehensive look at Johns’s career, while placing his work in conversation with contemporary artists who are both indebted to and building upon Johns’s ongoing legacy.

Tuesdays, November 2, 9, and 16
3 pm

Josh Lubin-Levy is a Joan Tisch Senior Teaching Fellow at the Whitney and recently completed his Ph.D. in performance studies at NYU. For the past ten years, Lubin-Levy has worked as a dance dramaturg and performance curator, and is the editor-in-chief of the Movement Research Performance Journal. He currently teaches in the Department of Visual Studies at the New School. 

An open Q&A and discussion follows each session. Registrants can access on-demand course recordings for the duration of the course.