Jasper Johns Moratorium Poster, 1969
Few images in modern art are as charged—or as contested—as Jasper Johns’ American Flag paintings. Beginning in the 1950s, Johns transformed this national symbol into a painterly surface, and blurred the line between sign and symbol, object and image.
But in 1969, with the U.S. embroiled in the Vietnam War and domestic opposition surging, Johns took a more direct stance. His artwork Moratorium was produced as a poster for the first national “Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam”—a mass demonstration held on October 15, 1969, when millions across the country marched for peace. It remains one of the few times Johns allowed his work to enter the realm of public protest.
What made Moratorium visually shocking was its color palette. Rather than red, white, and blue, Johns used sickly green, searing orange, and black. This choice was no aesthetic experiment: it was a deliberate reference to Agent Orange, the defoliant and chemical weapon deployed by the U.S. military across Vietnam’s jungles, which left catastrophic environmental and human damage in its wake. This subverted palette turned the flag from a symbol of unity into a site of accusation. Moratorium was not just a call for peace—it was a condemnation of a war that had blurred moral and national boundaries.
Moratorium was made for wide distribution, produced as posters in collaboration with Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE). It was sold and carried at protests, distributed as part of the antiwar movement, and used to raise funds for peace organizations.
This offset lithograph poster is vintage from 1969, probably sold via Leo Castelli Gallery in New York and long out of print. The paper is matte and in excellent vintage condition. Size is 53.7 cm x 73 cm and framed professionally with archival materials.
Few images in modern art are as charged—or as contested—as Jasper Johns’ American Flag paintings. Beginning in the 1950s, Johns transformed this national symbol into a painterly surface, and blurred the line between sign and symbol, object and image.
But in 1969, with the U.S. embroiled in the Vietnam War and domestic opposition surging, Johns took a more direct stance. His artwork Moratorium was produced as a poster for the first national “Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam”—a mass demonstration held on October 15, 1969, when millions across the country marched for peace. It remains one of the few times Johns allowed his work to enter the realm of public protest.
What made Moratorium visually shocking was its color palette. Rather than red, white, and blue, Johns used sickly green, searing orange, and black. This choice was no aesthetic experiment: it was a deliberate reference to Agent Orange, the defoliant and chemical weapon deployed by the U.S. military across Vietnam’s jungles, which left catastrophic environmental and human damage in its wake. This subverted palette turned the flag from a symbol of unity into a site of accusation. Moratorium was not just a call for peace—it was a condemnation of a war that had blurred moral and national boundaries.
Moratorium was made for wide distribution, produced as posters in collaboration with Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE). It was sold and carried at protests, distributed as part of the antiwar movement, and used to raise funds for peace organizations.
This offset lithograph poster is vintage from 1969, probably sold via Leo Castelli Gallery in New York and long out of print. The paper is matte and in excellent vintage condition. Size is 53.7 cm x 73 cm and framed professionally with archival materials.
Few images in modern art are as charged—or as contested—as Jasper Johns’ American Flag paintings. Beginning in the 1950s, Johns transformed this national symbol into a painterly surface, and blurred the line between sign and symbol, object and image.
But in 1969, with the U.S. embroiled in the Vietnam War and domestic opposition surging, Johns took a more direct stance. His artwork Moratorium was produced as a poster for the first national “Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam”—a mass demonstration held on October 15, 1969, when millions across the country marched for peace. It remains one of the few times Johns allowed his work to enter the realm of public protest.
What made Moratorium visually shocking was its color palette. Rather than red, white, and blue, Johns used sickly green, searing orange, and black. This choice was no aesthetic experiment: it was a deliberate reference to Agent Orange, the defoliant and chemical weapon deployed by the U.S. military across Vietnam’s jungles, which left catastrophic environmental and human damage in its wake. This subverted palette turned the flag from a symbol of unity into a site of accusation. Moratorium was not just a call for peace—it was a condemnation of a war that had blurred moral and national boundaries.
Moratorium was made for wide distribution, produced as posters in collaboration with Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE). It was sold and carried at protests, distributed as part of the antiwar movement, and used to raise funds for peace organizations.
This offset lithograph poster is vintage from 1969, probably sold via Leo Castelli Gallery in New York and long out of print. The paper is matte and in excellent vintage condition. Size is 53.7 cm x 73 cm and framed professionally with archival materials.
Jasper Johns
Moratorium, 1969
United States
Offset Lithograph Poster
53.7 cm x 73 cm (Excluding frame)