Painting with Two Balls

1967–1980

Artistic adviser to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company

Johns had long supported the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, helping to raise funds and attention and assisting Rauschenberg with set and costume designs in the 1950s, and from 1967 to 1980 he served as its artistic adviser.

1968–1969

Romance with the poet John Giorno

From 1968 to 1969 Johns had a romance with the poet John Giorno.

1969

The only honorary degree he has accepted

In 1969 the University of South Carolina, where he had once studied, conferred on Johns an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, the only honorary degree he has accepted.

1972

A home and studio on Saint Martin

Having visited the Caribbean island of Saint Martin since the late 1960s, Johns bought property there in 1972 and later built a home and studio principally designed by Philip Johnson.

30 June 1972 – 8 October 1972

Exhibition: Documenta 5

1973–1987

A farmhouse with a glass-walled studio at Stony Point

From 1973 to 1987 Johns kept a rustic 1930s farmhouse with a glass-walled studio in Stony Point, New York.