The Courtauld Gallery is delighted to announce a significant addition to its modern collections – a major series of prints by the American artist Jasper Johns (born 1930), The Seasons.
This fantastic body of work comes from the generosity of Barbara Bertozzi Castelli, the widow of Leo Castelli, the legendary New York dealer who ‘discovered’ Johns in the 1950s. It was with Castelli that Johns first exhibited The Seasons series in 1987. The works bear a personal dedication —‘For Leo’— in pencil on each sheet. This gift was made possible by The American Foundation for The Courtauld Institute of Art.
Between 1984 and 1991, Johns focused on the theme of the four seasons and produced a significant body of work, including paintings, drawings and the nine prints gifted to The Courtauld Gallery. Johns’ The Seasons are complex works, weaving together themes relating to artistic creation, the passage of time and the artist’s own biography. Most prominently, Johns’ own shadow appears in each of the compositions, cast across the multi-layered imagery.
This new acquisition reaffirms The Courtauld Gallery’s commitment to extending its historical collections further into the twentieth century and beyond. This is a unique opportunity to view Johns’ work, rarely shown in the United Kingdom.