America's most famous living artist took an African immigrant teenager's sketch and passed it off for his own without the kid's knowledge - and only sought his blessing to use it in a painting once the work was already finished, and after being accused of theft in legal letters.
Jasper Johns, 91, a renowned painter whose work adorns the hallowed halls of several of America's most prominent art institutions, spotted 17-year-old Jéan-Marc Togodgue's sketch during a visit to an orthopedic surgeon.
He did so during a 2019 appointment with Alexander M. Clark Jr., whose practice is based in the town of Sharon, Connecticut - where the aging artist currently lives and works.
The simple sketch, depicting the anatomy of an injured human knee, left the accomplished painter - whose works regularly fetch tens of millions of dollars - completely and utterly captivated, to the point where he decided to feature it in a future piece.
Seventeen-year-old Jéan-Marc Togodgue stands next to Johns' work that was inspired by a sketch he penned in 2017, that Johns came across in 2019, and used without the teen's knowledge. The artist notified the youth that he used his work two years later, after the work was already finished
The painting in question, which features a carbon copy of the teen's 2017 sketch and titled 'Slice,' was unveiled this week at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York
Togodgue, a student and basketball standout who emigrated to US from Cameron, lives with a foster family in the town of Salisbury in Connecticut, is pictured here with his foster mother, Rita Delgado, and father, Jeff Ruskin, next to John's piece that features his drawing
Togodgue, a student and basketball standout who emigrated to US from Cameron and lives with a foster family in the nearby town of Salisbury, was also a patient of Clark's, back in 2017, and created the composition that same year after tearing a ligament in his knee - as well as his meniscus - playing a game of pick-up soccer.
'I drew it is because I wanted to understand my body, like what went wrong inside my knee,' Togodgue told The Washington Post.
An avid doodler who would regularly sketch cartoons in his school notebooks, Togodgue felt compelled to gift the drawing to Clark as a thank-you, after the doctor successfully treated the teen's injury.
The surgeon then proudly put the piece on display in his office, where Johns would regularly receive treatment.
During one such visit in 2019, the Georgia-born art giant - who is worth millions of dollars, and was presented with the medal from President Barack Obama in 2011 - found himself drawn to Togodgue's humble illustration.
Multimillionaire artist Jasper Johns came across 17-year-old Jéan-Marc Togodgue's sketch in 2019, and decided - without the teen's knowledge - to feature it in one of works
The artist then captured the sketch's likeness - whether by duplicating it by hand at Clark's office or by taking a photograph - and utilized a carbon copy of the work in one of his most recent paintings, one that he finished late last year.
The painting, titled 'Slice,' was unveiled this week at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Togodgue's drawing - with his labeling of ligaments in French and his colorful signature - is a key element of 'Slice,' a 5.6-by-4.3-foot painting.
The painting is just one part of an extensive exhibition entitled 'Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror,' that boasts so many works that its constituents will be featured not only at the Whitney, but at the Philadelphia Museum of Art as well.
However, this particular addition to Johns' oeuvre rightfully raised a series of complex questions about artistic licensing laws - especially now that it has debuted in an exhibition as illustrious as the Whitney.
The piece also promptly sparked a fierce legal dispute between the already accomplished artist and Togodgue and his family once they learned of the creative liberties Johns took with the teenager's innocent sketch - which was quietly settled out of court earlier this year.
Johns, who hails from Georgia and is worth millions of dollars, was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former US head of state Barack Obama in 2011
Johns first contacted Togodgue in April, writing the teen a letter detailing the appropriation of his four-year-old drawing into Johns' now-finished piece, after starting work on 'Slice' in 2019 - the same year he first saw Togodgue's sketch at Clark's office.
'I am an artist who lives here in Sharon,' Johns wrote to Togodgue, revealing that he resides just a few minutes from the young man's home in Salisbury - while casually omitting the fact that his paintings commonly sell for tens of millions of dollars.
Togodgue, who grew up in the Republic of Cameroon in Central Africa without his own bed or running water, asked his foster mother, Rita Delgado, to read him the letter aloud.
Togodgue traveled to the US just four years ago to live with Delgado and her husband, Jeff Ruskin, a math teach and former basketball coach at his foster son's high school.
The teen's first language is French - and while he can speak English fairly well, the note's importance prompted him to enlist his caregiver as a de facto interpreter.
After introducing himself, Johns told Togodgue about a decision he had made that would forever link the art legend with the young student and basketball standout.
'I would like you to be pleased with the idea and I hope that you will visit my studio to see what I have made,' Johns wrote.
Eventually, on May 25, Togodgue, Delgado and Ruskin made their way to the artist's 170-acre estate.
There the family was greeted by Johns; his assistant, Maureen Pskowski, and Conley Rollins, a former Goldman Sachs asset manager who serves as an unofficial representative of the artist.
Johns penned a letter to Togodgue in April to tell him he was featuring his sketch in one of his works, more than two years after he came across the teenager's piece
At Johns' home, Togodgue got to lay eyes on 'Slice,' which featured a carbon copy of his drawing, which appeared to be taped to the canvas.
However, the 'tape' presented in the piece was actually paint.
Johns had reproduced Togodgue's sketch how it originally appeared in Clark's office to a T - right down to the teen's signature, which was featured prominently in the original work.
Togodgue stood next to the work inspired by his own, and smiled while Ruskin snapped a photo.
In an exclusive interview with Dailymail.com, Togodgue's parents gushed about how excited they are for the teen's work to be featured in such a prominent piece.
'It couldn't of happened to a better kid,' Ruskin said.
The math teacher also marveled at the probability of a kid from Central Africa crossing paths with an illustrious painter such as Johns.
'Parallel lines aren't supposed to cross, but they did,' he beamed, proud of his adopted son's newfound connection to an old master such as Johns.
Delgado also marveled at the bizarre occurrence, citing the craziness of 'such a confluence of events.'
Both seemed in incredibly high spirits, and incredibly proud of their foster son for such an accomplishment.
'You know, I didn't really know Jasper Johns until I started looking him up on my computer,' Togodgue says in a recent interview at home.
'This guy is as big as it gets. And I was just kind of in awe of the whole thing. Like, wow, this is really happening.'
Johns declined requests for an interview, but in a statement emailed to The Post last week, he detailed why he decided to invite Togodgue to his studio once the work was finished.
'It was important to me that Jéan-Marc see and be happy with the work I made,' he wrote. 'I enjoyed meeting him when he came to see the picture in my studio and I was pleased that he liked the work.'
Johns admitted in the letter that he 'thought that the image might be useful' upon seeing it in his orthopedist's office in 2019, and promptly decided to copy it for what would become a new painting.
'I should have asked you then if you would mind my using it,' Johns acknowledged in the letter, 'but I was not certain that my idea would ever materialize.'
However, when Ken Lauber, Ruskin's old colleague at the Salisbury School, heard of the remarkable convergence of his young foster son and one of the most preeminent
