Map

Jasper Johns' Map is a monumental rendering of the United States that dissolves the boundary between cartography and gestural abstraction. Over three meters wide, it presents state outlines and names stenciled across a surface alive with vigorous, overlapping strokes of red, yellow, blue, black, and white.

Originated from outline maps Robert Rauschenberg gave Johns, of the kind schoolchildren color in class. Johns scaled it to heroic size, treating political boundaries as another flat design to be inhabited by paint.

Donated to MoMA by Robert and Ethel Scull. Bridges Abstract Expressionism's gesture with Pop's embrace of mass-produced imagery.