James Rosenquist
JAMES ROSENQUIST “MOON BEAM MISTAKEN FOR THE NEWS" 1971
James Rosenquist (1933-2017) was one of the most important contributors to American Pop Art.
Shortly after moving to New York City in the 1950s to study fine art, Rosenquist became a commercial painter working on advertising billboards. He worked with dedication as a commercial painter for three years - a time which acted as both the technical training and inspiration for his aesthetic as an artist.
In the early 1960's, Rosenquist began exhibiting painted assemblages of elements from American advertising of the era. He combined culled imagery from prints, photos, and periodicals into bold, playful compositions.
This lithograph is part of Rosenquist's Cold Light suite. He made the prints in the aftermath of surviving a traumatic car wreck, punctuating them with a cold, white moon-circle. In the lithograph, layered blue, orange, and grey marks converge to create depth and dimension, evoking an interior shrouded in darkness. A stark, flat blue shape pierces the veil, the moon in its top right corner shining onto the floor, revealing global newspaper headlines.
The suite retains a somber, poetic, and contemplative tone throughout, though this particular work is based on a lighthearted story:
"I had a lot of fun on the farm with my cousin Archie. He’d been in the battalion that liberated Buchenwald and he told me they had used one room there for the latrine. He said he mistook a moonbeam for a piece of toilet paper on the latrine floor and tried to pick it up. ‘Damn, have you ever tried to wipe your ass with a moonbeam?’ I later made a print based on this image called Moon Beam Mistaken for the News.” -James Rosenquist
The Cold Light suite proved instrumental in the family’s immediate recovery; faced with mounting medical expenses, Rosenquist sold the suite in its entirety to cover the debts he had accumulated. The project marks a turning point in Rosenquist’s dynamic life and foreshadows his growing interest in outer space, which would come to dominate the imagery of his later prints.
"Moon Beam Mistaken for the News" is held in the permanent collection of the National Gallery, Washington, DC.
Questions about this piece? Contact us, call +1.416.704.1720, or visit our Toronto Gallery.
"Moon Beam Mistaken for the News”
From: Cold Light suite
USA, 1971
Five-color lithograph on Arches Cover wove paper
From an edition of 70
Signed, titled, dated, and numbered "3/70", lower edges
Published by Graphicstudio, U.S.F., Tampa (with their blindstamp)
22.5”H 30”W (sheet)
25.5"H 33"W (framed)
Very good condition
Reference: Glenn 38
Artist studio registration: #71.E04
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