Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Although the work may initially seem randomly designed, it is quite precisely ordered. The three panels are divided into 27 rectangular subsections.

Description

Usuyuki is a Japanese word meaning thin or light snow and, indeed, the painting's subtle colors and intricate patterns, with their suggestions of movement, recall the drift of falling snowflakes. Johns's method of painting at this time involved cutting strips of newspaper and covering them with a mixture of pigment and beeswax, called encaustic. After applying this mixture to the canvas, Johns pressed circular and rectangular cans into the surface to create visible imprints throughout the image.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Stenciled in white paint lower left: Usuyuki; Stenciled in white paint lower right: J. Johns '77-'78

Provenance

1993 -

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, purchased from the artist

Citations

Cleveland Museum of Art, “Cleveland Adds Two Significant Works of Art,” September 17, 1993, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org

"1993 Annual Report." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 6 (1994): 143-218. Reproduced: cover, p. 160; Mentioned: p. 161 www.jstor.org

Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions to the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection,” August 26, 1994, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org

Varnedoe, Kirk, and Roberta Bernstein. Jasper Johns: A Retrospective. New York, NY: Museum of Modern Art, 1996. Reproduced: p. 295

Ravenal, John B. Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Inspiration and Transformation. Richmond, VA: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Yale University Press in partnership with the Munch Museum, 2016. 37

Bernstein, Roberta, Heidi Colsman-Freyberger, Caitlin Sweeney and Betsy Stepina Zinn.Jasper Johns: Catalogue Raisonné of Painting and Sculpture. 2017. Reproduced: pp. 48-49, cat. #P200

Bernstein, Roberta, Heidi Colsman-Freyberger, Caitlin Sweeney and Betsy Stepina Zinn. Jasper Johns: Catalogue Raisonné of Painting and Sculpture. 2017. Reproduced: p. 166, cat #: P200

Donovan, Fiona. Jasper Johns: Pictures Within Pictures 1980-2015. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2017. p. 54 Reproduced: p.54, fig. 32

Bernstein,Roberta, ed. Jasper Johns. London, England; Los Angeles, California: Royal Academy of Arts in collaboration with the Broad, 2017. p. 170-171 Reproduced: P. 170-171

Exhibition history

The 36th Biennale Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (February 24-April 8, 1979).

Jasper Johns: Works Since 1974. Venice, Italy (June 26, 1988-September 30th, 1988); Philadelphia Museum of Art (October 23, 1988-January 1989).

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC: The 36th Biennale Exhibition of Contermporary American Painting, February 24th-April 8th, 1979, cat. no. 11.

Venice, Italy: Jasper Johns: Works Since 1974, June 26-September 30th, 1988 and Philadelphia Museum of Art, October 23, 1988-January 1989, cat. no. 6.

Jasper Johns: A Retrospective
. Museum of Modern Art, NY (October 16, 1996-January 14, 1997); Museum Ludwig (March 7-June 1, 1997); Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan (June 28-August 17, 1997).

The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).

Jasper Johns/Edvard Munch. Munch Museet, Olso, Norway (June 18-September 25, 2016); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA (organizer) (November 19, 2016-February 20, 2017).

Jasper Johns: Something Resembling Truth. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (September 23-December 10, 2017); The Broad Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA (February 10-May 13, 2018).

Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (organizer) (September 29, 2021-February 13, 2022) https://www.philamuseum.org/calendar/exhibition/jasper-johns-mindmirror.