James RosenquistFor Gene Swenson (State II)1978
1978
About the Item
- Creator:James Rosenquist (1933, American)
- Creation Year:1978
- Dimensions:Height: 31.5 in (80.01 cm)Width: 48.5 in (123.19 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Greenwich, CT
- Reference Number:
James Rosenquist
Although he insisted that he and his fellow Pop artists developed their art-making styles independently, American painter James Rosenquist belonged at the table with Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
Known for his distinctive use of visual montage, Rosenquist produced large, vibrantly colored tableaux marked by fragmentation and overlap. He often employed familiar motifs and objects drawn from popular contemporary culture — hot dogs, lipstick tubes, American flags — which he manipulated to form disorienting compositions whose constituent elements are nearly unrecognizable.
Born in North Dakota to Swedish parents, Rosenquist was encouraged to pursue painting by his mother, who was also an artist. He studied painting for two years at the University of Minnesota, but dropped out at the age of 21 to attend the Art Students League in New York on a scholarship. A job as a billboard painter in the late 1950s set him up to pursue his signature style, which borrowed its bold graphics and remixed kitschy aesthetic from the visual vocabulary of advertising. Works like Flamingo Capsule (1983) embody his trademark visual dissonance, drawing cigarette-ad motifs into conversation with stripes from the American flag and aluminum foil wrappers.
In addition to enormous paintings, Rosenquist created drawings, prints and collages. The 2011 lithograph The Memory Continues but the Clock Disappears is a montage of melting clocks and confetti, all submerged in a pool of water. While wryly hinting at the inevitability of decay and deterioration — suggesting that life is a ticking clock — the composition also alludes to Salvador Dalí's signature motif, the defining symbol of Surrealism. Such compositions demonstrate how Rosenquist masterfully combined seemingly incongruous elements into a harmonious and poetic whole.
Find James Rosenquist art today on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: San Fernando, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Cliff Hanger (State II)By James RosenquistLocated in Greenwich, CTCliff Hanger (State II) is an aquatint etching on paper, 22.75 x 39.75 inches, signed 'Rosenquist' and dated 1978 lower right; titled in the image lower left, numbered 68/78 and ann...Category
20th Century Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsPaper, Aquatint
- Wind and Lightning (State I)By James RosenquistLocated in Greenwich, CTWind and Lightning (State I) is an aquatint etching with pochoir on paper, 22.75 x 39.75 inches, signed 'James Rosenquist' and dated 1978 lower right; numbered 19/78 and titled lowe...Category
20th Century Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsAquatint, Etching
- Black Triangle (State I)By James RosenquistLocated in Greenwich, CTBlack Triangle (State I) is an aquatint etching with pochoir on paper, 22.75 x 39.75 inches, signed 'James Rosenquist' and dated 1978 lower right; numbered 33/78 and titled lower le...Category
20th Century Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint
- Skulls, 1976 (FS.II.159)By Andy WarholLocated in Greenwich, CTSkulls (FS.II.159) is a screenprint on paper with an image size of 30 x 40 inches, signed 'Andy Warhol' and annotated lower left. From the edition of 60, numbered 50/50 (there were also 10 APs), and framed in a custom, closed-corner, gold-leaf frame. Catalogue - Feldman Schellmann, #159 (II.159 Skulls 1976) Andy Warhol’s Skulls from 1976 are part of the transition he began initially in 1972 with the Mao series – incorporating hand-drawn lines into the image – and with Ladies and Gentlemen and Mick Jagger in 1975 where he began the print process with his own photographs rather than appropriated ones. Additionally, in the 1975 prints, he began using collaged elements – torn paper, photographic elements, etc. Donna de Salvo writes about the Skulls series, “Skulls (II.157 – 160) lies somewhere between the genres of still life and portraiture and is based on a photograph of a skull taken by Warhol’s studio assistant, Ronnie Cutrone. The theme of skulls became a major preoccupation for Warhol, and he produced numerous versions of it in paintings. In this image, Warhol combined all three pictorial forms...Category
20th Century Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsScreen
- Still Life - But Not as We Know It 5, 2018By Brad FaineLocated in Greenwich, CTStill Life – But Not as We Know It 5 is one of a series of 12 unique color variations of this title. The digital pigment print with diamond dust on canvas is signed and titled on the...Category
2010s Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsCanvas, Digital Pigment
- Leo (Leo Castelli 90th Birthday Portfolio), 1997By Jasper JohnsLocated in Greenwich, CTLeo, from the Leo Castelli 90th Birthday Portfolio, is an etching on paper, image size 17.62 x 11.75", signed and dated 'J Johns '97' lower right and annotated lower left. From the ...Category
20th Century Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsPaper, Etching
- Plume - Etching, Aquatint, Contemporary Art, Pop Art, Still Life, RosenquistBy James RosenquistLocated in London, GBFrom 'Glass Wishes'. Signed, titled and dated in pencil. Numbered from the edition of 59. Printed and published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles.Category
1980s Pop Art Still-life Prints
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint
- Large Donald Saff Surrealist Pop Art Aquatint Etching Bee, Chair, PotBy Donald SaffLocated in Surfside, FLArtist: Donald Saff Medium: Etching with Aquatint, Hand signed and numbered in pencil Donald Jay Saff (born 12 December 1937) is an artist, art historian, educator, and lecturer, specializing in the fields of contemporary art in addition to American and English horology. Saff was born in Brooklyn, New York. Donald Saff began his undergraduate degree at Queens College, City University of New York, in 1955, initially envisioning a career as an electrical engineer. However, the following year Saff changed his major to art and learned printmaking, to graduate with a B.A. in 1959 and a M.A. in art history from Columbia University in 1960. In the years following, Saff was awarded a M.F.A. from Pratt Institute in 1962 and an Ed.D. in studio art and art history from Columbia University in 1964. In his early career, Saff studied with Robert Goldwater, Robert Branner, Louis Hechenbleikner, and Meyer Schapiro. Saff is primarily known for his work and collaboration with the leading artists of the late-twentieth century, including Robert Rauschenberg, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, Nancy Graves, Philip Pearlstein, and James Turrell. Saff's prolific career is the subject of Marilyn S. Kushner's book, Donald Saff: Art in Collaboration (2010). Saff began his teaching career at Queens College as a lecturer in Art History, Design, and Drawing, from 1961 to 1964. In 1965, Saff was appointed as an associate professor in the visual arts department of the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, and became professor and chairman of the visual arts department two years later. In 1971, Saff became the founding dean of the College of Fine Arts at U.S.F., and was awarded the rank of distinguished professor at the university in 1982. Saff was later named dean emeritus by USF in 1989, and distinguished professor emeritus in 1996. In 1999, Saff was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts at U.S.F. He was appointed the Director of Capital Projects of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, in 2001, followed by the appointment of Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings in 2002. In 1968, Saff founded Graphicstudio at U.S.F. through funding by a seed grant from the Florida Arts Council and community supporters; the following year, Philip Pearlstein was the first artist invited to Graphicstudio to collaborate with Saff and his team. Saff became Founding Dean of the College of Fine Arts at U.S.F. in 1971. Under Saff's directorship, Graphicstudio collaborated with artists such as James Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Shusaku Arakawa, Jim Dine, Lee Friedlander, Nancy Graves, Ed Ruscha, and Roy Lichtenstein. The collection of Graphicstudio is archived in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Graphicstudio was founded by Dr. Donald Saff as part of the renaissance in American printmaking in the 1960s, in the company of studios such as ULAE, Tamarind, and Gemini GEL. This renaissance brought artists involved in the Pop art movement, such as Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, and Jim Dine, together with a growing number of trained printmakers from around the world. After Saff retired from U.S.F., he continued to collaborate with these artists, as well as James Turrell, at Saff Tech Arts in Oxford, Maryland, which was established in 1991. While Saff and Rauschenberg were traveling in China, Rauschenberg conceived of the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI) in 1982, which began in 1984 with Saff as the artistic director. Saff travelled to over twenty countries and met with poets and writers in order to decide which were the most appropriate venues for the show and prepare for Rauschenberg's visit and exhibition. In recent years, Saff has continued to lecture and write on art and the history and mechanics of nineteenth-century clocks; in particular, the work of Charles Fasoldt, in addition to the development of time distribution from the Harvard College Observatory, and the horological innovations of Richard F. Bond. He has lectured on Fasoldt for the Antiquarian Horological Association in Cincinnati, OH (2001), the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors in Pittsburgh, PA, and Anheim, CA (2003), and at the 26th Annual Ward Francillon Time Symposium in Houston, TX (2004), among other venues. Saff continues to work with the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, collaborating with Jonathan Betts and Rory McEvoy, on the trials of Burgess Clock B. (See "Honors.") Exhibitions Saff's individual work spans across his career of collaborative art. As early as 1965, Saff produced Duino Elegies, a print suite that was published and exhibited by Martin Gordon Gallery in New York and at the Galleria Academia in Rome; it was acquired by the Library of Congress, the Brooklyn Museum, and Lessing Rosenwald. Saff also collaborated with printers Galli and Arduini in Urbino to create print suites Breezes (1969), exhibited and published by the Martin Gordon Gallery. Additionally, Saff collaborated with Galli on print suites Paradise Lost (1970) and Numbers (1972), the former printed in Tampa, FL, and exhibited at the Martin Gordon Gallery, the University of South Florida Gallery, the Toronto Art Gallery, and the Loch Haven Art Center, FL. Numbers was exhibited at Multiples Gallery, New York. In 1979, Saff produced print suite Fables that was published and exhibited by the Getler/Pall Gallery in New York, followed by the print suite Constellations (1980), which was also exhibited at the Tom Lutrell Gallery in San Francisco. In 1981, Saff had solo exhibitions of his artwork in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Udine, Italy, Youngstown State University, OH, the Leo Castelli Gallery, NY, and in "Recent Acquisitions" at The Museum of Modern Art, NY. Additionally, Saff had solo exhibitions at Dyansen Gallery, NY (1982), at I. Feldman Gallery, Sarasota (1983), and at Edison Community College, FL (1988). In 1989, the retrospective Donald Saff: Mixed Metaphors, 1956–1989 was held at the Tampa Museum of Art and traveled to the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, followed by his solo exhibition Winged Metaphors: Sculpture and Prints by Donald Saff at the Barbara Gillman Gallery in Miami later that year. In 1997, Brenau University Galleries exhibits Poetics: The Work of Donald Saff in Gainesville, GA. The same year, the Tampa Museum of Art exhibited Donald Saff/Robert Rauschenberg: In Collaboration. Finally, the Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD, exhibited Donald Saff: Gravity and Constellations; Selected Works in 2006. Honors Saff was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at Queens College (1960), a Yaddo Fellowship, Saratoga Springs, NY (1963), and Fulbright Fellowship (1964) to Italy where he studied at Istituto Statale di Belle Arti. While in Urbino, Saff met lifelong friend and colleague Deli Sacilotto, with whom he would co-author Printmaking: History and Process (1978) and Screenprinting: History and Process (1979). He received the Governor's Award for the Arts from the State of Florida in 1973, and was awarded the Florida Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Grant in 1980. In 1997, Saff was awarded the title "Printmaker Emeritus" by the 25th Southern Graphics Council Conference in Tampa, F.L. In 2002, he was appointed as Visiting Distinguished Professor of Rhode Island School of Design. In April 2015, Saff was awarded a certificate from the Guinness World Records for his work on completing the world's most accurate pendulum clock, "Clock B", which was started by Martin Burgess in 1975. The official title awarded by Guinness World Records, as "the most accurate mechanical clock with a pendulum...Category
1980s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint
- Delicatessen Trays - Americana Nostalgia Pop Art Black and WhiteLocated in London, GBWAYNE THIEBAUD b. 1920-2021 Mesa, Arizona 1920-2021 Sacramento, California (American) Title: Delicatessen Trays, 1965 Technique: Original Hand Signed, Dated and Numbered Etching an...Category
1960s Pop Art Still-life Prints
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint
- Amsterdam VIII ed 28/50 - museum glass framed black-white aquatint etch printBy Olivier JuliaLocated in Doetinchem, NLAmsterdam VIII is an intriguing early career aquatint dry-needle etch print by renowned French-Dutch artist Olivier Julia. It depicts a detail of an old Amsterdam house facade is bot...Category
1980s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsRag Paper, Etching, Aquatint
- Amsterdam III ed 28/50 - museum glass framed black-white aquatint etch printBy Olivier JuliaLocated in Doetinchem, NLAmsterdam III is an intriguing early career aquatint dry-needle etch print by renowned French-Dutch artist Olivier Julia. It depicts a detail of an old Amsterdam house facade is both...Category
1980s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsRag Paper, Etching, Aquatint
- Amsterdam II ed 28/50- museum glass framed black-white aquatint etch printBy Olivier JuliaLocated in Doetinchem, NLAmsterdam II is an intriguing early career aquatint dry-needle etch print by renowned French-Dutch artist Olivier Julia. It depicts a detail of an old Amsterdam house facade is both ...Category
1980s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsRag Paper, Etching, Aquatint