Usuyuki (ULAE 216)
29 1/2 x 47 1/4 inchesUsuyuki (ULAE 216), 1979-1981
paper: 29 1/2 x 47 1/4 inches
image: 27 x 44 3/4 inches
frame: 30 1/2 x 47 3/4 inches
edition: 85 + 15 AP's, 2 PP's,
signed & dated in pencil "J Johns 81" lower right
numbered in pencil lower right.
printed by Kenjiro Nonaka, Hiroshi Kawanishi
co-published by Jasper Johns and Simca Print Artists, Inc.
© Jasper Johns / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Literature
Judith Goldman, Jasper Johns Prints 1977-1981, Thomas Segal Gallery, Boston, MA, 1981, n.p., Segal 35, another impression reproduced full page color.
Shigeo Chiba, Jasper Johns Prints Exhibition 1960–1989, Tokyo, 1990, Japan Art and Culture Association/Kokusai Geijutsu Bunka Shinkokai, n.p., plate 90, another impression reproduced.
Michel Butor, Kathleen Slavin, Jasper Johns Gravures Dessins 1960-1991, Foundation Vincent Van Gogh, 1992, no. 59, pg. 107, another impression reproduced in full-page color.
Richard Field, The Prints of Jasper Johns 1960-1993: A Catalogue Raisonne, ULAE, New York, 1994, Catalogue Reference ULAE 216, n.p., another impression reproduced full-page color.
Elizabeth Armstrong, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, Walker Art Center, 1990, pgs. 56-57, another impression reproduced in full-page color.
Roberta Bernstein, Jasper Johns The Screenprints, Fisher Landau Center, 1996, plate 25, n.p., another impression reproduced in color.
Susan Lorence, Technique and Collaboration in the Prints of Jasper Johns, Castelli Gallery, New York, 1996, Catalogue Reference 31, n.p., another impression reproduced in black and white
Dana Miller, Adam D. Weinberg & Donna De Salvo, Legacy: The Emily Fisher Landau Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2011, another impression reproduced page 333.
Roberta Bernstein, Jasper Johns Usuyuki, Fergus McCaffrey, Tokyo, 2019, plate 6, pg 31, another impression reproduced full-page color.
Carlos Basualdo, Scott Rothkopf, Jasper Johns Mind/Mirror, The Whitney Museum of American Art, 2021, another impression reproduced plate 30, pgs. 115, 127.
Exhibited
Thomas Segal Gallery, Boston, Jasper Johns Prints 1977-1981, October 24–December 2, 1981, another impression exhibited.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Jasper Johns: A Print Retrospective, May 19–Aug 19, 1986, another impression exhibited.
The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Prints Exhibition 1960–1989, Traveled to The Seibu Department Store, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, April 26th—May 15th, 1990, Isetan Department Store, Niigata, June 7-19, 1990, Isetan Department Store, Urawa, July 18-24, 1990, Isetan Department Store, Matsudo, August 9—August 14, 1990, Isetan Department Store, Shizuoka, August 23—August 28, 1990, another impression exhibited.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York and Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Jasper Johns Mind/Mirror, September 29, 2021 - February 13, 2022, another impression exhibited.
Foundation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, Jasper Johns Prints and Drawings from the Castelli collection, July 4-September 30, 1992, another impression exhibited.
Walker Art Center, Minnesota, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, February 18-May 13, 1990, another impression exhibited.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, June 17-August 19, 1990, another impression exhibited.
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, September 15-November 18, 1990, another impression exhibited.
Montreal Museum of Art, Montreal, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, December 14, 1990-March 10, 1991, another impression exhibited.
Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, April 6-May 27, 1991, another impression exhibited.
Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, June 22-August 18, 1991, another impression exhibited.
The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, Jasper Johns: Printed Symbols, September 14-November 10, 1991, another impression exhibited.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Jasper Johns Mind/Mirror, September 29, 2021-February 13, 2022, other impressions exhibited.
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
The Broad Collection, Los Angeles
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Additional Photos
Image Detail
Signature & Date lower right
Jasper Johns began his iconic Usuyuki series in 1979 and over the next 25 years, he created around twenty-four artworks. This includes four paintings, fifteen drawings and five limited edition prints—comprising three color screenprints and two color lithographs. Each Usuyuki piece incorporates a crosshatch motif, presented in varying designs, colors and formats. Usuyuki (ULAE 216), 1981, is one of two horizontal and one vertical color screenprints co-published by Johns and Simca Print Artists, Inc., a distinguished printmaking workshop founded by master printers Hiroshi Kawanishi, Kenjiro Nonaka and Takashi Shimada.
JASPER JOHNS USUYUKI COLOR SCREENPRINT
Jasper Johns began his iconic Usuyuki series in 1979 and over the next 25 years, he produced around twenty-four artworks. This includes four paintings, fifteen drawings and five limited edition prints—comprising three color screenprints and two color lithographs. Each Usuyuki piece incorporates a crosshatch motif, presented in varying designs, colors and formats. Usuyuki (ULAE 216), 1981, is one of two large, horizontal screenprints in the series, created using twelve screens to achieve subtle color gradations and a layered, collage-like effect, incorporating newsprint elements.
Various Usuyuki Trial Proofs and Unique Works on Paper
In the Jasper Johns Between the Clock and the Bed exhibition at Gagosian, in partnership with Castelli Gallery, historic works by Jasper Johns will be on view from January 22 to March 14, 2026, at 980 Madison Avenue, New York. The show surveys the crosshatch paintings and drawings that dominated his practice from 1973 to 1983, highlighting both rarely seen works and loans from distinguished museums and private collections. Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of this body of work’s debut at Castelli Gallery in 1976, the exhibition situates these paintings within Johns’s broader career, from his early images of everyday objects and signs to his material and conceptually intricate allover compositions.
Between the Clock and the Bed, 1983
Oil on canvas
17 1/8 × 30 1/4 inches (43.5 × 76.8 cm)
Collection of Jimmy Iovine and Liberty Ross
Among the highlights are all six Between the Clock and the Bed paintings (1981–83), improvisations on Edvard Munch’s self-portrait from 1940–43. Notably, Between the Clock and the Bed, 1983, owned by Jimmy Iovine and Liberty Ross, incorporates imagery from Johns’s Usuyuki series, weaving together subtle tonal gradations, layered surfaces, and gestural crosshatching. The Usuyuki (ULAE 216), 1979-1981 screenprint offered here by Jospeh K. Levene Fine Art, Ltd., evokes these same qualities, translating the painterly layering and rhythmic mark-making of the painted series into a delicate, ethereal print. Both the painting and the screenprint demonstrate how Johns transforms minimal motifs into complex visual fields, creating a quiet tension between abstraction and representation and connecting the crosshatch works, the Between the Clock and the Bed series, and his ongoing exploration of layering, gesture, and texture.
Jasper Johns Usuyuki (ULAE 216), 1979-1981 is a complex color screenprint on Kurotani Kozo paper, a handmade paper known for its texture and quality. It is one of two large, horizontal screenprints in the series, created using twelve screens to achieve subtle color gradations and a layered, collage-like effect, incorporating newsprint elements.
Jasper Johns Usuyuki (ULAE 216), 1979-1981 is included in major museum collections:
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
The Broad Collection, Los Angeles
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
In the last decade Jasper Johns Usuyuki (ULAE 216), 1979-1981 has been featured in a handful of prominent museum exhibitions including:
Legacy: The Emily Fisher Landau Collection, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 10, 2011- May 1, 2011
Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Love, Loss and the Cycle of Life at the Munch Museum in Oslo, June 18, 2016-September 25, 2016 and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, November 19, 2017-February 20, 2017.
Most recently, an impression of Usuyuki (ULAE 216), 1979-1981, was included in Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror, the 2011 dual museum retrospective at Whitney Museum of American Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This expansive dual museum retrospective spanned seven decades of Jasper Johns’ career; the exhibition featured more than 500 works and included paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints, many of which had never been shown before.
Another impression of Jasper Johns Usuyuki (ULAE 216), 1979-1981 color screenprint achieved $107,000 Christie's New York, April 19, 2023.
Jasper Johns Usuyuki (ULAE 216), 1979-1981 is one of several museum quality limited edition Jasper Johns prints offered for sale by Joseph K. Levene Fine Art, Ltd.
#JasperJohns Usuyuki 1979-1981 horizontal color screenprint from edition of 85 fetched $107,100 @ChristiesInc New York, April 19, 2023, exceeding $20,000 to $30,000 pre-sale estimatehttps://t.co/yycjgLXHTz pic.twitter.com/eRzEg4PSas
— Joseph K. Levene Fine Art, Ltd. (@JKLFA) April 19, 2023
