Flag I

early 1958

First solo show at the Leo Castelli Gallery

Johns's first solo show at the Leo Castelli Gallery, in early 1958, was well received: all but two of the eighteen works on view sold. Alfred H. Barr Jr., founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, bought three paintings, the first works by Johns to enter a museum collection; the trustees feared attacks by patriotic groups over Flag, so Barr arranged for the architect Philip Johnson to buy it and donate it to the museum in 1973.

1960

Takes up lithography at Tatyana Grosman's ULAE

In 1960 Tatyana Grosman, founder of Universal Limited Art Editions, invited Johns to her printmaking studio on Long Island. Beginning with lithographs of his familiar motifs, such as Target (1960), he went on to publish over 180 editions with ULAE in a variety of techniques.

1961

Parts from Rauschenberg

In 1961 Johns's romantic relationship and close collaboration with Robert Rauschenberg, begun in 1953, came to an end; Rauschenberg had been a profound artistic influence on him.