Dishes

1964

American, 1933 - 2017

Rosenquist originally worked as a billboard painter, and incorporated the cool, flat style of billboard painting, along with its scale and commercially-derived subject matter, into his canvases. Like many of his peers, the artificially clean and tidy reality presented in advertisements stood in stark contrast to America's political reality in the 1960s.

Oil on canvas

50 x 60 in. (127 x 152.4cm)

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

2014.25.65

Provenance: [Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, New York]; purchased from gallery by Virginia and Bagley Wright, Seattle, Washington, Oct. 21, 1964

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, California, Dwan Gallery, James Rosenquist, Oct. 27 - Nov. 21, 1964. Cat. no. 9.

Washington, D.C., Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Twentieth Century Painting from Collections in the State of Washington, [dates not recorded],1966 (Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum Pavilion, Dec. 8, 1966 - Jan. 8, 1967).

Oswego, New York, State University College, Contemporary American Still Life, organized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Jan. 6 - 29, 1967 (Crawfordsville, Indiana, Wabash College, Feb. 14 - Mar. 7, 1967; Lubbock, Texas, Texas Technologies College, Mar. 24 - Apr.16, 1967; Jacksonville, Florida, Cummer Gallery of Art, May 1 - 22, 1967; San Francisco, California, San Francisco State College, June 6 - 27, 1967; East Lansing, Michigan, Kresge Art Center, Michigan State University, Sept. 29 - Oct. 22, 1967; Macon, Georgia, Mercer University, Nov. 13 - Dec. 4, 1967; College Park, Maryland, University of Maryland, Jan. 5 - 28, 1968).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum (Modern Art Pavilion), The Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection: Artists of the Sixties, May 23 - June 29, 1969. Cat. no. 17.

London, England, Hayward Gallery, Pop Art, July 3 - Aug. 30, 1969.

Cologne, Germany, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, James Rosenquist Retrospective, Jan. 28 - Mar. 12, 1972 (New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Apr. 11 - May 29, 1972; Chicago, Illinois, Museum of Contemporary Art, dates unknown).

Denver, Colorado, Denver Art Museum, The Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection: American Art Since 1960, Feb. 1 - Mar. 16, 1975. Cat. no. 24.

La Jolla, California, Museum of Contemporary Art, Castelli and His Artists/Twenty-Five Years, Apr. 23 - June 6, 1982 (Aspen, Colorado, Aspen Center for the Visual Arts, June 12 - Aug. 8, 1982; New York, Leo Castelli Gallery, Sept. 11 - Oct. 9, 1982; Portland, Oregon, Portland Center for the Visual Arts, Oct.19 - Nov. 29, 1982; Austin, Texas, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Dec. 17, 1982 - Feb. 13, 1983).

Portland, Oregon, Portland Art Museum, American Art: A Portland Perspective, Nov. 28, 1984 - Jan. 20, 1985.

Denver, Colorado, Denver Art Museum, James Rosenquist Retrospective, May 18 - July 14, 1985 (Houston, Texas, Contemporary Art Museum, Aug. 23 - Oct. 20, 1985; Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines Art Center, Nov. 29, 1985 - Jan. 26, 1986; Buffalo, New York, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Mar. 7 - May 4, 1986; New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, June 12 - Sept. 7, 1986; Washington D.C., National Museum of American Art, Oct.10 - Dec. 31, 1986).

New York, New York, Gagosian Gallery, James Rosenquist: The Early Years, Apr. 15 - July 30, 1992.

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

Houston, Texas, The Menil Collection and the Museum of Fine Arts, James Rosenquist: A Retrospective, May 17 - Aug. 17, 2003 (New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Oct. 16, 2003 - Feb. 4, 2004; Bilbao, Spain, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, May 12 - Oct. 17, 2004; Wolfsburg, Germany, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Feb.19 - June 5, 2005).

New York, New York, Acquavella Galleries, The Pop Object: The Still Life Tradition in Pop Art, Apr. 10 - May 24, 2013.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Pop Departures, Oct. 9, 2014 - Jan. 11, 2015. Text by Catharina Manchanda, et al. No cat. no., p. 102, reproduced p. 61 [no object number at time of publication].

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 ReferencesHerzka, D[orothy]. “Pop Art One.” New York: Publishing Institute of American Art, 1965. (illus. no. 18)

Rublowsky, John. “Pop Art, Images of the American Dream.” New York: Basic Books Inc., 1965.

Pellegrini, Aldo. “New Tendencies in Art.” New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1966, illus. p.237.

Hudson, Andrew. "A 'Freshness of Eye' Wafted in From the West Coast," in The Washington Post, 1966 (date unknown)

Richard, Paul. "Still Life Artists Play Reality Game" in The Washington Post, 21 January 1968: 1G. Illustrated.

Tucker, Marcia. “James Rosenquist.” New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1972.

Davis, Douglas. “Art: The Biggest Pop" in Newsweek 79, no. 17 (24 April 1972): 80–81. Illustrated.

Weiss, Evelyn. “James Rosenquist: Gemälde-Räume-Graphik.” Cologne: Wallraf-Richartz-Museums, 1972, p.127.

Maytham, Thomas N. et al. “The Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection: American Art Since 1960.” Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1975. Cat. no. 24 (unpaginated), illus. first.

Tomkins, Calvin et.al. “Castelli and His Artists/Twenty-Five Years: A catalogue and exhibition marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Castelli Gallery.” Aspen, Colorado: The Center, 1982.

Johnson, Patricia. "Rosenquist's Billboard-Size Works Are Beautifully Rewarding" in Houston Chronicle, 31 August 1985.

Goldman, Judith. “James Rosenquist.” New York: Viking Penguin Press Inc., 1985. P.124.

Richard, Paul. “James Rosenquist’s Dreamy Landmarks in Time”, Washington Post, October 23, 1986.

Goldman, Judith. “James Rosenquist: The Early Pictures, 1961–1964.” New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1992, illus. p.53.

Gutterman, Scott. "James Rosenquist" in Atelier, no. 787 (September 1992): 21–29, illus. p.24, installation view.

Hackett, Regina. “Small Show Reveals Pop Art's Darks and Lights” in Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 30 May 1995: C1, C3, ref. p. C3.

Hopps, Walter, and Sarah Bancroft. “James Rosenquist: A Retrospective.” New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2003, illus. p. 115; ref. p. 375.

Bennett, Lennie. “Rosenquist’s America” in The St. Petersburg Times, 16 November 2003: 8D, illustrated.

Kuspit, Donald. “James Rosenquist, Surrealist Esthete” in Artnet Magazine, November 17, 2003.

Hopps, Walter. “James Rosenquist: A Retrospective.” New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2004. Cat. no. 45. P. 115.

van der Marck, Jan. “Reminiscing on the Gulf of Mexico: A Conversation with James Rosenquist” in American Art 20, no. 3 (Fall 2006): 84–107. Ref. p.95.

Ishikawa, Chiyo et al. "Seattle Art Museum Downtown." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 2007, illus. p. 56

Ishikawa, Chiyo, ed. "A Community of Collectors: 75th Anniversary Gifts to the Seattle Art Museum." Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 2007, illus. p. 47

Rosenquist, James, with David Dalton. “Painting Below Zero: Notes on a Life in Art.” New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, p.315.

Wilmerding, John. “The Pop Object: The Still Life Tradition in Pop Art”. New York: Acquavella Galleries, 2013, pp. 70, 107, 249; illus. pp. 71, 107, 249.

Manchanda, Catharina. "Pop Departures." Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 2014, p. 102, illus. p. 61

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