Ten prints and graphic objects by as many artists comprise the startling portfolio-in-a-box entitled Ten from Leo Castelli. Ten from Leo Castelli testifies eloquently to the avant-garde’s intense involvement with printmaking today. The renaissance in printmaking was accelerated in the mid-1960’s by a conceptual reorientation of aesthetics. Its visual manifestations, in relationship to printmaking of the past, sometimes seemed startling, and its implication and possibilities were extraordinary.
The present Ten from Leo Castelli, more than any other edition yet published, personifies “the new look in prints.” Never before has the artist had so many opportunities for the realization of graphic images. The only sacred boundaries between painting, drawing, sculpture, and prints have been assaulted. Three-dimensional forms, often in part hand-painted or hand-stenciled, are completely acceptable as graphic objects. No longer must an artist suffer artificial restrictions imposed by arbitrary classifications of individual media.
—William S. Lieberman, in his introduction to Ten from Leo Castelli
Jasper Johns is a painter and printmaker who holds a foundational place in twentieth century art history. Quoting the evocative gestural brushstroke of the Abstract Expressionists, Johns represented common objects such as flags, targets, masks, maps and numbers: He sought to explore things "seen and not looked at, not examined" in pictorial form. Drawing from common commercial and 'readymade' objects, such as newspaper clippings, Ballantine Ale and Savarin Coffee cans, Johns was a bridge to Pop, Dada and Conceptual art movements.
Beyond the historical significance, each work by Johns is individually considered in sensuous form. A curiosity of medium led him to employ a range of materials from encaustic and commercial house paint to lithography, intaglio and lead relief.
The Critic Sees, from Ten from Leo Castelli (U.L.A.E. 39)
1967 Embossment with collage and acetate, on Rives BFK paper, with full margins. I. 3 5/8 x 6 3/8 in. (9.2 x 16.2 cm) S. 23 7/8 x 19 7/8 in. (60.6 x 50.5 cm) Signed, titled, dated and numbered 1/200 in pencil (there were also 15 artist's proofs), published for the 10th anniversary of Leo Castelli Gallery by Tanglewood Press, Inc., New York, unframed.