- Museum number
- 1979,0623.6
- Title
- Object: Drag: Johnson and Mao
- Description
-
Faces of two men with bright make-up superimposed. 1967
Photo-etching with stencil colour, printed in pink, red, yellow, blue, white, green and black, on Saunders mould-made paper
- Production date
- 1967
- Dimensions
-
Height: 868 millimetres
-
Width: 1217 millimetres (sheet)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- President Lyndon Johnson and Chairman Mao, then the respective leaders of the American and Chinese superpowers, are sent up here as a pair of drag queens. In 1967, when this print was made, President Johnson was embroiled in the Vietnam War and Chairman Mao had imposed the Cultural Revolution in China. In classic Pop Art style, Dine appropriated newspaper photographs of the two world leaders and had them enlarged and separately photo-etched. Colour was applied through stencils to suggest heavy make-up. This print was published by Editions Alecto in London where Dine was living from 1967 to 1971.
See also Carey & Griffiths, 'American Prints 1879-1979', (Exhib. Cat.), BMP, 1980, no.122, and Tessa Sidey, 'Editions Alecto: original graphics, multiple originals 1960-81', Aldershot 2003 p.106 where Anthony Matthews is quoted "Dine did not know how to etch on a large scale so I gave him a demonstration and ordered a photograph from a newspaper where the dot formation was enlarged. This could then be transferred to an intaglio plate. You did not have to draw it... This was the principle in Johnson and Mao - using photography for what you might have done in drawing".
Edition of 53, with 9 artist's proofs and 3 printer's proofs.
Text from Coppel, Daunt and Tallman, 'The American Dream: pop to the present', London: Thames and Hudson in association with the British Museum, 2017, cat. no. 141:
President Lyndon Johnson and Chairman Mao, then the respective leaders of the American and Chinese superpowers, are sent up here as a pair of drag queens. In 1967, when this print was made, President Johnson was embroiled in the Vietnam War and Chairman Mao had imposed the Cultural Revolution in China. In classic pop art style, Dine appropriated newspaper photographs of the two world leaders and had them enlarged and separately photo-etched. Colour was applied through stencils to suggest heavy make-up. This print was published by Editions Alecto in London, where Dine was living from 1967 to 1971.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1980 Jan.-May BM, 'American Prints 1879-1979', cat. no.122
2000 18 May-24 Sept, BM, 'Prints of Jim Dine & Michael Rothenstein: Two Recent Gifts', Room 90, Michelangelo-end display (no.cat.)
2013-4, Oct-Feb, London, Barbican Art Gallery, 'Pop Art Design'
2017 9 Mar-18 Jun, London, BM, G30, The American Dream
2020-21 8 Oct-31 Jan, Madrid, La Caixa Forum, The American Dream: pop to the present
2021 2 Mar-13 Jun, Barcelona, La Caixa Forum, The American Dream: pop to the present
2021 13 Jul-14 Nov, Zaragoza, La Caixa Forum, The American Dream: pop to the present
- Acquisition date
- 1979
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1979,0623.6
