Thermometer

Date1959

Maker Jasper Johns American, born 1930

Label TextJohns can be seen poking fun at the prevailing academic theories about painting that were in the air in New York, especially in terms of "hot" and "cool" colors and ideas of spatial "push and pull." By inserting a working thermometer in the middle of his expressively painted canvas, he playfully "takes the temperature" of the colors he uses, attempting to bring a level of objectivity to a subjective act.

Thermometer, 1959, is a mesmerizing piece that takes its title from a thermometer that is positioned between two panels and flanked by stenciled numbers. In a visual game resonant with influences of Marcel Duchamp and Dada, Jasper Johns activates the visual pun of the thermometer by using the number scale to allude to rising temperature while mixing cold and warm colors (blue and red) with neutral splashes of white and yellow. The lively colors and energetic and vigorous brushstrokes feed on each other. The result is an intelligent, thoughtful and intriguing work that combines the gesture associated with abstract expressionism with a self-criticism that can be characterized as proto-pop art.

Object number91.97

Provenance[Leo Castelli, New York]; Purchased from gallery by Virginia and Bagley Wright , Seattle, 12 March, 1960; gift to Seattle Art Museum 1991

Photo CreditPhoto: Nathaniel Willson

The artist (Johns)… paints an extremely thick surface, causing the viewers to forget the numbers, in order to focus on the shimmering modulations of color.

Georges Boudaille, <i>Jasper Johns</i>, 1989

Exhibition HistoryVancouver, British Columbia, University of British Columbia, Fine Arts Gallery, Art Becomes Reality, Jan. 29 - Feb. 8, 1964. Portland, Oregon, Portland Art Museum, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. C. Bagley Wright: Twentieth Century American and European Paintings and Sculpture, Nov. 8 - Dec. 6, 1964. Cat. no. 23. London, England, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Jasper Johns Retrospective, Nov. 25 - Dec. 31, 1964. Pasadena, California, Pasadena Art Museum, Jasper Johns, Jan. 26 - Feb. 28, 1965. Washington, D.C., Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Twentieth Century Painting from Collections in the State of Washington, (dates not recorded),1966 (Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Dec. 8, 1966 - Jan. 8, 1967). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, American Art: Third Quarter Century, Aug. 27-Oct. 14, 1973. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Jasper Johns: A Selected View in Memory of Tony Castelli, Nov. 23, 1988 - Jan. 29, 1989. Los Angeles, California, Museum of Contemporary Art, Hand-Painted Pop: American Art in Transition, 1955-1962, Nov. 1992 - Mar., 1993 (Chicago, Illinois, Museum of Contemporary Art, Apr. - June 1993; New York, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, July - Oct., 1993). New York, New York, Museum of Modern Art, Jasper Johns A Retrospective, Sept. 12, 1996 - Jan. 1, 1997. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection of Modern Art, Mar. 4 - May 5, 1999. Pullman, Washington, Museum of Art, Washington State University, Art & Context: The '50s and '60s, Sept. 29 - Dec. 15, 2006. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Target Practice: Painting Under Attack 1949-78, June 25 - Sept. 7, 2009. Text by Michael Darling. No cat. no., pp. 42,146, reproduced. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, City of Tomorrow: Jinny Wright and the Art That Shaped a New Seattle, Oct. 23, 2020 - Jan. 18, 2021. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror, co-organized with Whitney Museum of American Art, Sept. 28, 2021 - Feb. 12, 2022.Published References"Collection of Mr. and Mrs. C. Bagley Wright: Twentieth Century American and European Paintings and Sculpture," Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, Nov. 8-Dec. 6, 1964, no. 23. Solomon, Alan R. “Jasper Johns: The Jewish Museum.” New York: The Jewish Museum, 1964. Illustration in catalogue (unpaginated), not exhibited. Hudson, Andrew. "A 'Freshness of Eye' Wafted in From the West Coast," in The Washington Post, 1966 (date unknown) Kozloff, Max. “Jasper Johns.” New York: H. N. Abrams, 1968. P. 23, Plate 53. van der Marck, Jan, "American Art: Third Quarter Century", Seattle Art Museum, 1973, cat. no. 28, illus. p. 30 Sandler, Irving. “American Art of the 1960s.” New York: Harper & Row, 1988. P.53 Rosenthal, Nan. “The Drawings of Jasper Johns.” Washington D.C.: The National Gallery of Art, 1990. P.146 (illustrated). "Selected Works." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1991, p. 128 De Salvo, Donna M. “Hand-Painted Pop: American Art in Transition, 1955-62.” Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art; New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1992. Fairbrother, Trevor. “The Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection.” Seattle: Seattle Art Museum in association with University of Washington Press, 1999. Pp. 14, 15, 21, 28, 29. Shiff, Richard. “Donald Judd, Safe from Birds” in “Donald Judd.” Nicholas Serota. London: Tate Publishing, 2004. Pp. 28 – 29. Bruce, Chris and Keith Wells. “Art & Context: The ‘50s and ‘60s.” Pullman, Washington: Museum of Art, 2006. Pp.42-43 (illustrated). Weiss, Jeffrey et al. “Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting 1955 – 1965.” Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2007. Pp. 226, 237. Rodeau, James and Douglas Druick. “Jasper Johns: Gray.” Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2007. P.48. "Seattle Art Museum: Bridging Cultures." London: Scala Publishers Ltd. for the Seattle Art Museum, 2007, p. 12 Kangas, Matthew, "Relocations: Selected Art Essays and Interviews", 2008, p. 157 Darling, Michael, ed. "Target Practice: Painting Under Attack 1949-78." Seattle: Seattle Art Museum. 2009. Pages 41-44, illustrated page 42. "Seattle Art Museum Receives Collection of Over 200 Works," ArtForum online (www.artforum.com/news/id=49710), illus. Graves, Jen. "The Great Wright Collection Comes to Seattle Art Museum (and the Marvelous Wright Exhibition Space Closes October 14)," on The Stranger Slog, online (http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2014/10/06/the-great-wright-collection-comes-to-seattle-art-museum-and-the-marvelous-wright-exhibition-space-closes-october-14), illus. Upchurch, Michael. "Seattle Art Museum acquires major artworks: The Wright Collection," on the Arts Page of the Seattle Times online (http://blogs.seatltetimes.com/artspage/2014/10/02/seattle-art-museum-acquires-major-artworks-the-wright-collection/), illus. Cohen-Solal, Annie, et al. "New York Mid-Century 1945-1965: Art, Architecture, Design, Dance, Theater, Nightlife." New York: The Vendome Press, 2014; reproduced p. 80. Basualdo, Carlos, et al. Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror. Exh. Cat. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of American Art, 2021; reproduced, cover, p. 110.

Credit LineGift of the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection, in honor of the museum's 50th year

Dimensions51 3/4 x 38 1/2 in. (131.5 x 97.8 cm) Framed: 53 1/4 x 40 1/4 x 2 in.

MediumOil on canvas with thermometer