In 1958 Jasper Johns began to make small sculptures of everyday objects. Of his flashlight series he said, "I had a particular idea in my mind what a flashlight looked like and I wanted to go and buy one as a model. I looked for a week for what I thought looked like an ordinary flashlight… and this made me very suspect of my idea, because it was so difficult to find...Actually the choice is quite personal and is not really based on one's observations at all." Though cast in a mound of weighty bronze, Flashlight III has a glass lens. Combining rough and refined materials, the work challenges conventions of sculpture by exploiting the resources of found objects.

Gallery label from

2006.

Medium Bronze, glass, and aluminum paint
Dimensions 5 1/4 x 8 1/4 x 3 3/4" (13.3 x 21 x 9.5 cm)
Credit Promised gift of Agnes Gund
Object number PG1327.2000
Department Painting & Sculpture

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