James Rosenquist
James Rosenquist was a prominent American artist and a key figure in the pop art movement of the 1960s. Born on November 29, 1933, in Grand Forks, North Dakota, he spent much of his childhood in Minneapolis, where his interest in art was nurtured by visits to museums and his mother’s influence as an amateur painter. Rosenquist initially studied at the University of Minnesota before moving to New York City, where he worked as a commercial sign painter, a role that significantly influenced his later artistic style.
He is best known for his large-scale collage paintings, which feature vibrant, fragmented images drawn from advertisements and mass media. One of his most acclaimed works, "F-111," created in 1965, is a sprawling piece that critiques the intertwining of consumer culture and military power. Throughout his career, Rosenquist's work has been featured in prestigious exhibitions worldwide, including retrospectives at major museums. After his death in March 2017, interest in his contributions to pop art has continued to grow, with recent exhibitions celebrating his legacy and influence on contemporary artists. Rosenquist is remembered not only for his innovative art but also for his insights into the relationship between art, consumerism, and society.
James Rosenquist
Artist
- Born: November 29, 1933
- Place of Birth: Grand Forks, North Dakota
- Died: March 31, 2017
- Place of Death: New York, New York
- Education: University of Minnesota
- Significance: James Rosenquist was an artist who became a key figure in the pop art movement in the 1960s. He was known for his massive collage paintings that combined fragments of images borrowed from advertisements and mass media.
Background
James Rosenquist was born on November 29, 1933, in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and was the only child of Ruth and Louis Rosenquist. His parents were amateur pilots, and his father's search for work repairing planes meant they moved frequently, especially during World War II (1939–1945). After the war, the family settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Throughout Rosenquist's childhood, his mother, who was also an amateur painter, would take him to visit art schools and museums whenever she had the chance. Rosenquist would draw while his parents were away working, sketching everything from battle scenes to vehicles and airplanes. When he was in eighth grade, he made a watercolor painting of a sunset that won him a scholarship for four free classes at the Minneapolis School of Art (now the Minneapolis College of Art and Design). There, he learned from veterans who had studied art in Paris after World War II.
It was not until 1952 when Rosenquist began studying at the University of Minnesota that he began his formal art training. While at the school, he studied under painter Cameron Booth, an American abstract expressionist who introduced his students to modern and contemporary art movements. His first summer at the University of Minnesota, Rosenquist began working as a commercial sign painter, creating billboards, which at that time were painted by hand. This job in commercial sign painting would have a long-term influence on his art, leading him to create large-scale paintings later in his career.
Life's Work
In 1955, Rosenquist moved to New York City to study at the Art Students League of New York, but he left the school after one year. He stayed in New York, and in 1957, he began doing commercial work again, painting billboards across New York City, including in Times Square. By 1960, he decided to quit the commercial work and rented a small studio space in Manhattan. He had his first solo exhibit in 1962 at New York's Green Gallery that ended up selling out. After this, he was included in several groundbreaking group exhibits that helped to establish pop art as a movement. One such exhibit was a survey of new art in 1962 at the Sidney Janis Gallery called the International Exhibition of the New Realists, which put the pop art movement on the map.
Rosenquist created one of his most famous works in 1965; titled F-111, it garnered him international acclaim. The large, room-scale painting is 86 feet (26 meters) long and stretches across 23 canvas panels and aluminum sections. It is considered one of his most ambitious collage paintings and features a full-scale, 73-foot (22-meter) long F-111 fighter plane interrupted by an assortment of images culled from billboards and other advertisements in clashing, bright colors. Among the fragmented images are a tire, spaghetti, a lightbulb, a young girl under a hair dryer meant to resemble a missile head, and a beach umbrella juxtaposed onto an image of an atomic explosion, referencing the military euphemism "nuclear umbrella." The massive piece, created in the early 1960s, evokes what President Dwight Eisenhower warned of as the "military-industrial complex" and suggests a complicity between the "war machine" and consumer culture. F-111 was first shown at the Leo Castelli Gallery and was subsequently exhibited at the Jewish Museum and then taken on a tour in Europe.
Rosenquist's work has been shown in a number of museums around the world. He has had museum retrospectives at the National Gallery of Canada in 1968, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 1972, the Denver Art Museum in 1985, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2003. His work continued to garner attention well into the twenty-first century, with a solo exhibit at the former Haunch of Venison in London in 2006, a solo show at the Acquavella Galleries in New York in 2012, and at the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris in 2016.
Rosenquist for many years worked out of a loft building in New York that he bought in 1977. In his later years, he spent much of his time in Aripeka, Florida, where he had a home, office, and studio space. It was there that Rosenquist lost a great deal of his workincluding a large mural commissioned by the French governmentin 2009, when a catastrophic fire destroyed the properties. Rosenquist also had homes in Bedford, New York, and Miami, Florida. Toward the end of his life, he spent most of his time in New York City, where he passed away in March of 2017 at the age of eighty-three.
In 2024, there was a resurgence of interest in the work of Rosenquist, who many see as an undervalued part of the pop art movement. His works were displayed in several locations in New York, including the Museum of Modern Art--which displayed his enormous F-111 piece--the New York Public Library, and even a Michelin-rated restaurant called Daniel. Several exhibits and auctions of Rosenquist's work were also held as a new generation of collectors and art afficienados were exposed to his work.
Impact
Rosenquist's work as a seminal figure in the pop art movement has left a lasting impact on the art world. Along with other artists of his time, such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Rosenquist's work helped shape and grow the pop art movement. He is also credited for influencing many contemporary artists, including Richard Prince, Marilyn Minter, and Jeff Koons.
Personal Life
Rosenquist's first marriage, to Mary Lou Adams, ended in divorce. At the time of his death in March of 2017, Rosenquist was survived by his second wife, Mimi Thompson; his son, John, from his first marriage; his daughter, Lily, from his second marriage; and a grandson, Oscar.
Bibliography
Blaise, Russ. "James Rosenquist: Biography." Acquavella Galleries, www.acquavellagalleries.com/artists/james-rosenquist. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
"James Rosenquist." Guggenheim, www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/james-rosenquist. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.
James Rosenquist, James Rosenquist/Licensed by VAGA New York, www.jamesrosenquiststudio.com/. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
Johnson, Ken. "James Rosenquist, Pop Art Pioneer, Dies at 83." New York Times, 1 Apr. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/04/01/arts/james-rosenquist-dead-pop-art.html. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
Kazakina, Katya. "Undervalued Pop Legend James Rosenquist Is Having a Moment." Artnet, 2 Feb. 2024, news.artnet.com/market/james-rosenquist-artist-market-profile-2423921. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
Pengelly, Martin. "James Rosenquist, Pop Artist Who Painted Famous F-111, Dies Aged 83." Guardian, 1 Apr. 2017, www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/apr/01/james-rosenquist-pop-artist-f-111-dies-83. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
Souter, Anna. "James Rosenquist Artist Overview and Analysis." TheArtStory.org, www.theartstory.org/artist-rosenquist-james.htm. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.