St. John the Baptist

1988

American, born 1955

Jeff Koons' work from the 1980s is noteworthy for its embrace of the non sequitur. His choices of subjects-whether puppies or the Pink Panther-often seem completely random and irrational, but he also takes advantage of lowbrow styles and materials that propel his art to the brink of kitsch. Such is the case with this work, where the Christian icon is rendered as an overblown dime store trinket.

Porcelain

56 1/2 x 30 x 24 1/2in. (143.5 x 76.2 x 62.2cm)

Gift of the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

2007.121

Provenance: [Sonnabend Gallery, New York]; [Gagosian Gallery, New York]; Virginia and Bagley Wright, Seattle, 1990; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2007

Photo: Jim Strong

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySan Francisco, California, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Jeff Koons, Dec. 10, 1992 - Feb. 7, 1993 (Minneapolis, Minnesota, Walker Arts Center, July 10 - Oct. 3, 1993).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection of Modern Art, Mar. 4 - May 5, 1999.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Pop Departures, Oct. 9, 2014 - Jan. 11, 2015. Text by Catharina Manchanda, et al. No cat. no., pp. 21, 101, reproduced p. 18.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, City of Tomorrow: Jinny Wright and the Art That Shaped a New Seattle, Oct. 23, 2020 - Jan. 18, 2021.

Published ReferencesKoons, Jeff. The Jeff Koons Handbook. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992, illus. p. 107

Koons, Jeff. Jeff Koons. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1992, illus. pl. 46

Stiles, Kristine and Peter Selz, trans., Therories and Documents of Contemporary Art. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996, p. 380

Fairbrother, Trevor. The Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection. Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1999, illus. p. 185

Doss, Erica. Twentieth Century American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, illus. p. 214

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