''Slice'' is a 2020 oil painting by the American artist

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...

. The work is a horizontal, mostly black

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

that contains references to two outside sources: an anatomical diagram of a knee drawn by a Cameroonian emigre student Jéan-Marc Togodgue; and a map of the distribution of galaxies in a slice of the universe by Valérie de Lapparent,

Margaret Geller Margaret J. Geller (born December 8, 1947) is an American astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian. Her work has included pioneering maps of the nearby universe, studies of the relationship between galaxies and their ...

, and

John Huchra John Peter Huchra ( ; December 23, 1948 – October 8, 2010) was an American astronomer and professor. He was the Vice Provost for Research Policy at Harvard University and a Professor of Astronomy at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Sm ...

with graphics by Michael Kurtzand. The painting was shown publicly for the first time in September 2021 at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

in Johns's double museum retrospective ''Mind/Mirror'', held simultaneously at the Whitney and the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

. The painting is currently a promised gift to the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York. Much controversy has ensued over the fact that Johns initially used Togodgue's anatomical drawing of a knee without his knowledge. The artist informed the young student, who attended and played basketball at the

Salisbury School Salisbury School is an all-boys, private college-preparatory boarding school founded in 1901 and located in Salisbury, Connecticut. Its school newspaper is ''The Cupola''. Its mascot is the Crimson Knight. The school's motto is ''Esse quam vider ...

near Johns's estate in Sharon, after ''Slice'' was completed. Johns originally saw the drawing in his

orthopedist Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (American and British English spelling differences, alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgic ...

's office; Togodgue had given the drawing to the same doctor as a thank you for his own surgery. In August 2021, Johns and Togodgue reached an undisclosed settlement for a licensing agreement. Johns received the image of the galaxies from astrophysicist Margaret Geller prior to executing the painting. The title ''Slice'' is taken from the concept that the map represents a slice of the universe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slice 2020 paintings Paintings by Jasper Johns Space art