The Seasons (Spring) [1st state] 1987

This is Jasper Johns's 1st state of "The Seasons (Spring)," a print made using etching and aquatint techniques. Johns was working in America at a time when Abstract Expressionism still dominated the art world, and this work engages with those conventions even as it departs from them. Johns integrates abstraction and figuration, with an anonymous human figure fragmented and recontextualized amidst abstract marks and washes. There is a critique of established institutions in this work, as it challenges traditional ideas about art and representation. To better understand "Spring," we might consider how Johns interacted with the artistic establishment, by looking at his personal papers, exhibition reviews, and the broader cultural discourse of the time. The meaning of art is always shaped by its historical and social context.