Flags Ulae 42

The Enigma of Jasper Johns’ Flags

Few motifs in modern art carry the layered complexity of Jasper Johns’ flag series. Flags Ulae 42 distills this exploration into a concentrated study of symbol, surface, and repetition. Unlike his earlier painted flags—where thick encrustations of wax and collage demanded physical engagement—this lithographic iteration flattens the icon into a graphic cipher, stripping away texture to reveal the flag’s essential paradox: a two-dimensional emblem that stands for three-dimensional nationhood.

The work emerges from Johns’ decades-long dialogue with the Stars and Stripes, a subject he first tackled in 1954 after dreaming of painting the American flag. Where those canvases confronted the viewer with their objecthood—through visible brushstrokes, newspaper clippings, and sculptural relief—Flags Ulae 42 adopts the mechanical precision of printmaking. The absence of a stated year underscores its timelessness; it belongs neither to the Cold War era of Johns’ initial flag works nor to the present, but to the perpetual tension between image and meaning. As the Museum of Modern Art observes in its analysis of Johns’ printmaking, his lithographs often “reveal the artist’s fascination with how images degrade and reform through reproduction,” a process laid bare in this piece’s deliberate imperfections.

Johns and the Neo-Dada Legacy

By the 1960s, when Johns began his intensive printmaking experiments at Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE), he had already dismantled the boundaries between painting and object. His flag works of this period extend that inquiry into the realm of multiples, where the mechanical process becomes part of the artwork’s conceptual framework. Flags Ulae 42 belongs to a series created in collaboration with master printer Bill Goldston, whose innovations in color lithography allowed Johns to exploit the medium’s inherent inconsistencies.

The title’s numeric suffix—42—hints at seriality, positioning the print within an open-ended sequence rather than as a singular statement. This aligns with Johns’ broader practice of revisiting motifs across decades, from his early Flag (1954–55) to later variations like Flag on Orange Field (1957). What distinguishes the Ulae prints is their embrace of the print’s “failed” aspects: the slight bleeding of inks, the occasional misalignment of plates. These are not flaws but evidence of the hand within the mechanical, a theme central to Neo-Dada’s challenge to modernist purity. The Tate’s overview of Johns’ career emphasizes how his printmaking “exposed the gaps between intention and execution,” a tension palpable in this work’s deliberate imperfections.

Flags Ulae 42 transforms a national symbol into a meditation on reproduction itself. The flag’s stripes, slightly askew, mimic the way memory distorts over time—never quite aligning with the original, yet unmistakably itself.

The Lithographic Process as Subject

Layering and Misregistration

The print’s visual complexity arises from Johns’ exploitation of lithography’s technical constraints. Each color—red, white, blue—was pulled from a separate limestone plate, requiring precise alignment. The artist intentionally allowed for minor slippages during printing, creating a halo effect where colors fail to perfectly overlap. This “misregistration” becomes a metaphor for the gap between a symbol and its referent: the flag is both itself and a shadow of itself.

Surface and Absence

Unlike Johns’ painted flags, where the surface is built up with wax (encaustic) and collaged elements, Flags Ulae 42 presents a flattened field. The absence of texture directs attention to the image’s graphic qualities—the hard edges of the stars, the rhythmic repetition of the stripes. Yet the lithographic process leaves subtle traces: the grain of the stone plate, the slight embossing where the press impressed the paper. These vestiges of production remind the viewer that even a mechanical reproduction bears the marks of its making.

Curating Flags Ulae 42 in Contemporary Interiors

The print’s restrained palette and geometric precision make it surprisingly versatile. In minimalist spaces, its graphic boldness serves as a focal point against neutral walls—try matte white or warm gray to complement the red’s intensity. For eclectic interiors, pair it with mid-century modern furniture; the flag’s linear structure echoes the clean lines of Eames or Wegner designs. The 30×40 cm size suits both intimate settings (above a writing desk, in a narrow hallway) and larger arrangements when grouped with other Johns prints or monochromatic works. Avoid busy patterns nearby; the flag’s symmetry demands breathing room. In a home office, its quiet authority grounds creative workspaces without overwhelming them.

More Works by Jasper Johns

Explore Johns’ evolution through these key prints, each revealing his relentless interrogation of symbols and surfaces.

Jasper Johns

Flag On Orange Field

View print

Jasper Johns

White Target

View print

Jasper Johns

Untitled Ulae S13

View print

Jasper Johns

Scott Fagan Record

View print

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