F-111

Label TextEarly in his career, Rosenquist supported himself by painting billboards, and the commercial imagery, fragmented sections, and expansive size of this format shaped his aesthetic. As billboards for various products fight for our attention, Rosenquist fills his work with vivid combinations of competing imagery, juxtaposed in ways that can be seen as both arbitrary and suggestive. In 1965, Rosenquist created F-111, a monumental canvas that would become a signature work. Ten years later, he used lithography to further experiment with F-111’’s images, resulting in this panorama of prints. Despite its glossy and candy-color appearance, this work centers around an F-111 fighter plane, and the combination of innocent and violent imagery in the piece can be interpreted as a condemnation of American military policy.

James Rosenquist was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, in 1932. Between 1936 and 1944, he and his parents moved from Perham, Minnesota, to Minneapolis to Vandalia, Ohio, and back to Minneapolis. Rosenquist won a scholarship to study art at the Minneapolis Art Institute in 1948. He began attending the University of Minnesota in 1953, and that summer he traveled around the Midwest painting industrial product signs, including gasoline signs in Iowa. In 1955, Rosenquist received a scholarship to the Art Students League in New York.

Source: news, November December 1993.

The painting F-111, a comment on weapons and taxes, was inspired by several incidents in Rosenquist's life and career, among them a trip to the Six Flags over Texas amusement park where he saw a silver bomber parked in the grass.

Source: NEWS November December 1993

Exhibition History"F-111 and American Pop Images," Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA

"MCM - Y2K: A CENTURY OF ART ON PAPER," Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Published References"Gallery Guide," Des Moines Art Center for the "F-111 and American Pop Images" exhibition

DimensionsOverall: 37 7/8 × 295 1/8 in. (96.2 × 749.6 cm)
Frame (a): 37 7/8 × 71 1/4 in. (96.2 × 181 cm)
Frame (b): 37 7/8 × 76 5/16 in. (96.2 × 193.8 cm)
Frame (c): 37 7/8 × 71 1/4 in. (96.2 × 181 cm)
Frame (d): 37 7/8 × 76 5/16 in. (96.2 × 193.8 cm)
Sheet (a): 36 9/16 × 70 1/8 in. (92.9 × 178.1 cm)
Sheet (b): 36 1/2 × 75 in. (92.7 × 190.5 cm)
Sheet (c): 36 3/4 × 70 in. (93.3 × 177.8 cm)
Sheet (d): 36 9/16 × 75 in. (92.9 × 190.5 cm)

Accession Number 1993.12.a-.d

Classificationsprint

CopyrightVAGA

Inscriptionslower right corner (margin): "James Rosenquist 1974" (pencil); see individual screens for further inscriptions.

Catalogue raisonnéGlenn 73

Edition13/75

Collections

WorksonPaperHighlights