Jasper Johns was born on the 15th May 1930, in Augusta, Georgia, USA, and is a artist/painter as well as a sculptor and a printmaker who is probably best known for his abstract expressionism artworks such as “False Start” (1959), “Flag” (1966) and “Flag” (1983 version) which were auctioned for $80 million, $28.6 million and $36 million respectively.
Have you ever wondered how much wealth this multi talented artist has accumulated so far? How rich Jasper Johns is? According to sources, it is estimated that the total of Jasper Johns’ net worth, as of late 2017, revolves around the impressive sum of $300 million, acquired through selling his unique works of art which he has been creating since the 1950s.
Jasper Johns Net Worth $300 million
Although he is the native of Georgia, Jasper was raised in South Carolina by his grandparents after his parents’ divorce. He matriculated in 1947 from Edmunds High School (today Sumter High School) in Sumter, South Carolina, before enrolling at the University of South Carolina. However, after only one year Johns relocated to New York City, where he continued his studies at the Parsons School of Design. The years between 1952 and 1953 he spent in Japan as a member of US Army, and upon returning to the states in 1954, Jasper met graphic artist and painter Robert Rauschenberg with whom he then began a romantic relationship. Later that year, after having a dream about the American flag, Jasper created one of his most recognized artworks – “Flag”.
Initially, Johns’ works consisted of letters, maps, targets, flags and numbers but over the years became enriched with the usage of plaster and wax. His breakthrough occurred in 1958 when he held his first solo show which was a huge success, resulting in four of his paintings being purchased by New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. During the early 1960s, keeping a tight connection with the Universal Limited Art Editions, Inc. (ULAE), Johns experimented with varied printing techniques, which resulted in a series of prints entitled “Lead Reliefs” in the late 1960s. All these accomplishments helped Jasper Johns to dramatically increase the total of his revenues.
During his long and eventually prosperous creative career, Jasper Johns has created a vast number of differing paintings and prints, including “White Flag” (1955) which was estimated at $20 million, the $15 million-worth “Numbers” (1964), as well as “Flag” (1958) which was sold for $110 million in 2010, setting a record for the highest priced artwork by a living artist. It is certain that all these accomplishments have helped Jasper Johns to add more than a significant amount of money to his wealth.
Apart from all those already mentioned, alongside composer John Cage in 1963 Jasper Johns launched the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts in New York City. He is still considered as one of the most influential artists of the Pop Art and Neo-Dada movements. In his career which is currently spanning over 60 years, Johns has collaborated with several prominent artists such as Samuel Beckett, Elaine de Kooning, Lewis B. Loyd and David Hayes. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. is considered to be the home of Jasper Johns’ works, as it possesses a collection of 1,700 of his artworks.
For his great contribution to art and culture, Johns was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1990, while in 2011 he was rewarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
When it comes to the personal life of Jasper Johns, between 1954 and 1961 he was in a romantic relationship with Robert Rauschenberg. Besides this, there aren’t any relevant data about his private affairs. Currently, he splits his time between Sharon, Connecticut and Saint Martin Island.
