Trained as a billboard painter, Rosenquist began creating large-scale, lavishly composed works as a Pop artist in the 1960s. House of Fire exudes the dynamism and sensuous polish that have characterized his work since that period. In this allegorical triptych, prosaic objects become strangely treacherous: a grocery bag is mysteriously suspended in air, a supernaturally radiant bucket of molten steel descends through a window, and fiery lipsticks align like a battery of guns. The allusions to violence, sex, and consumerism recall earlier works such as the artist's monumental F-111 of 1965, which mixes imagery of a U.S. Air Force fighter-bomber with that of a child and a mass of spaghetti, producing a heightened sense of seduction and danger.
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[Castelli Feigen Corcoran, New York, 1981–82; sold to MMA]
New York. Castelli–Feigen–Corcoran. "James Rosenquist," March 3–April 17, 1982, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Ten New Narrative Paintings," September 15–November 30, 1983, no catalogue.
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale. "New Narrative Painting: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," February 9–26, 1984, no. 21.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection One: Twentieth-Century Art," February 1–April 30, 1985, no catalogue.
Menil Collection and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "James Rosenquist: A Retrospective," May 17–August 17, 2003.
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "James Rosenquist: A Retrospective," October 17, 2003–February 4, 2004, no. 97.
Lisa M. Messinger. "Twentieth Century Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1981–1982. New York, [1982], p. 59, ill. (color).
John Russell. "Art: A Good Way to Look at French Old Masters." New York Times (March 26, 1982), p. C24.
Kay Larson. "The Fire Within." New York Magazine 15 (May 22, 1982), pp. 54–55, ill. (color).
Bruce Duff Hooton. "Rosenquist's House of Fire." Art World 6 (March–April 1982), pp. 1, 4.
Amei Wallach. "The Met Buys a Rosenquist." Newsday (March 27, 1982), p. II/19, ill.
Kathleen Howard, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 1983, p. 425, no. 32, ill. (color).
Grace Glueck. "The Met Makes Room for the 20th Century." New York Times (September 18, 1983), p. H30.
Nicolas A. Moufarrege. "Flash Art Reviews | James Rosenquist, Leo Castelli." Flash Art no. 115 (January 1984), p. 36.
Lisa Mintz Messinger inNew Narrative Painting: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale . Fort Lauderdale, 1984, unpaginated, no. 21, ill. (overall and detail).
Judith Goldman. James Rosenquist. New York, 1985, ill. p. 174.
Eliot Nusbaum. "Rosenquist Show: Impressive Collection." Des Moines Sunday Register (December 1, 1985), p. 5C.
Kay Larson. "The Met Goes Modern: Bill Lieberman's Brave New Wing." New York Magazine 19 (December 15, 1986), p. 46, ill. p. 45 (color).
Elyse Topalian. "Modern Art in the Met." Apollo 124 (October 1986), p. 362, colorpl. 22.
Lisa Mintz Messinger in20th Century Art: Selections from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Vol. 2, Painting: 1945-1985. New York, 1986, pp. 56–57, ill. (color, overall and detail).
William S. Lieberman in20th Century Art: Selections from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Vol. 2, Painting: 1945–1985. New York, 1986, p. 7.
Amei Wallach. "New Flights of Fancy." Newsday (June 29, 1986), p. II/13.
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 9, The United States of America. New York, 1987, p. 157, colorpl. 119.
Holland Cotter. "Advertisements for a Mean Utopia." Art in America 75 (January 1987), p. 88.
Theodore F. Wolff. "Metropolitan Museum of Art: Big Lift from a New Wing." Christian Science Monitor (February 2, 1987), p. 25, ill.
Kathie Beals. "The Met Goes Modern with New 20th-century Wing." Courier-News (February 17, 1987), p. B-5.
Jed Perl. "People Are Talking About. . .Art: Gamble at the Met." Vogue 177 (January 1987), p. 40, ill. (color).
Helen Schwartz. "Contemporary Art Wing Opens at Metropolitan." Home News (February 1, 1987), p. E1, ill.
Helen Kohen. "Metropolitan Goes Modern With New Wing." Miami Herald (February 1, 1987), p. 8K, ill.
Amei Wallach. "It's Modern's Time at the Metropolitan." Newsday (January 4, 1987), p. II/4, ill.
Amei Wallach. "James Rosenquist's Explorations in Space." Newsday (February 8, 1990), p. A3.
Barbara Burn, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd rev. ed. (1st ed., 1983). New York, 1994, pp. 446–47, no. 33, ill. (color).
Lowery Stokes Sims and Sabine Rewald inStill Life: The Object in American Art, 1915-1995. Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Marsh Art Gallery, Richmond, Va. New York, 1996, pp. 19–20, fig. 11 (color).
Judith Goldman inJames Rosenquist: The Swimmer in the Econo-mist. Exh. cat., Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin. New York, 1998, p. 33, fig. 10 (color).
Stella Paul. Twentieth-Century Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Resource for Educators. New York, 1999, pp. 119–21, ill. (detail and bw) and ill. p. 118 (color).
Ruth E. Fine in Walter Hopps and Sarah Bancroft. James Rosenquist: A Retrospective. Exh. cat., Menil Collection and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2003, p. 54, no. 97, ill. pp. 192–93 (color).
Michael Kimmelman. "Mixing Catchy Pop Images To Make Haiku Writ Large." New York Times (October 17, 2003), ill. p. E33.
James Rosenquist with David Dalton. Painting Below Zero: Notes on a Life in Art. New York, 2009, pp. 272–73, 319, ill. n. p. (color).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2012, pp. 430–31, ill. (color).
Sarah Lyall. "Is There a Perp in the Painting?" New York Times (April 27, 2016), p. C1.
Kathryn Calley Galitz. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Masterpiece Paintings. New York, 2016, p. 535, ill. (color), colorpl. 498.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2019, p. 430, ill. pp. 430–31 (color).
James Rosenquist (American, Grand Forks, North Dakota 1933–2017 New York)
1967
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