4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2010.

Silver Skies

Artist James Rosenquist (American, 1933 - 2017)

CultureAmerican

Date1962

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions78 1/2 × 198 × 1 1/2 in. (199.4 × 502.9 × 3.8 cm)
Other (Left panel): 78 1/2 × 66 × 1 1/2 in. (199.4 × 167.6 × 3.8 cm)
Other (Center panel): 78 1/2 × 66 × 1 1/2 in. (199.4 × 167.6 × 3.8 cm)
Other (Right panel): 78 1/2 × 66 × 1 1/2 in. (199.4 × 167.6 × 3.8 cm)

InscribedSigned and dated on reverse of each panel: Silver Skies 1962; 78 x 198; James Rosenquist

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.699

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an unframed oil on canvas painting, done in three panels. It illustrates unrelated objects, from the left to the right: a turkey's head shown sideways, tires, a red rose, someone's knees as they ride a bicycle, the upper portion of a woman's face, the side of a car, the top of a bottle, and a men's shoes. Each collaged image is manipulated in size and color, throwing the viewer off balance. The primary colors are gray and red.

Label TextJames Rosenquist American, 1933 - 2017 Silver Skies, 1962 Oil on canvas Snippets of images float by: a squawking bird, tire tread, a red rose, knobby knees, a woman’s eyes, a car door, a glass bottle, and a shiny shoe. Silver Skies presents a sequence of dreamlike images that flitter along like roadside advertisements seen from a moving car. The combination hints at meaning or a story, but ultimately defies rationality or order. When the Sidney Janis Gallery included the painting in the International Exhibition of the New Realists in 1962, it helped launch the Pop Art movement and win critical acclaim. Not everyone was happy, however. Abstract Expressionists like Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell (whose work can be seen in the previous gallery) quit the gallery in protest, condemning what they saw as the vulgar commercialization of art. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.699 ProvenanceSidney Janis, New York; Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Scull, New York; Green Gallery, New York; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, (Sale No. 3118, No. 33), November 18, 1970; Gregoire Galleries, Inc., New York, November 20, 1970; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"International Exhibition of the New Realists," Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, N.Y., November 1 - December 1, 1962. "Two Decades of American Painting," National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan, October 15 - November 27, 1966; The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan, December 10, 1966 - January 22, 1967; Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, India, March 25 - April 16, 1967; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, June 6 - July 9, 1967; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, July 26 - August 20, 1967. "James Rosenquist Retrospective," National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, January 24 - February 25, 1968. (Exh. cat. no. 8) "New York Painting and Sculpture, 1940-1970," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y., 1969-1970. (Exh. cat. p. 291) "James Rosenquist Retrospective," Whitney Museum, New York, N.Y., April 10 - May 29, 1972; Chicago Museum of Art, Ill., July - August, 1971; Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, Germany, February 1972. "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. (Exh. cat. p. 257) "American Figure Painting: 1950-1980," Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., October 16 - November 30, 1980. "James Rosenquist Retrospective," Denver Art Museum, Colo., May 15 - July 14, 1985; Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, Tex., August 24- October 20, 1985; Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, November 29, 1985 - January 26, 1986; Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y., March 14 - May 4, 1986; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y., June 26 - September 21, 1986; National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., October 24, 1986 - January 11, 1987. "James Rosenquist: A Retrospective," The Menil Collection and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Tex., May 2003; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, N.Y., October 16, 2003 - January 25, 2004; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, May 13 - October 10, 2004. (Exh. cat. no. 20) "Pop to Popism," Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, November 1, 2014 - March 1, 2015.Published ReferencesSidney Janis, _The New Realists_, exh. cat., Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, N.Y., 1962, no. 45. Martha Holmes, "Life with Pop," _Time_ (February 21, 1964): 68-70. John Rublowsky, _Pop Art_ (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1965). Waldo Rasmussen, _Two Decades of American Painting_, exh.cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y., 1967, 70. Brydon Smith, _James Rosenquist_, exh. cat., National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1968, 75. John Russell and Suzi Gablik, _Pop Art Redefined_ (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969), 104-106. Henry Geldzahler, _New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940-1970_, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y., 1969, 58, 291. _Exhibition & Sale at the Parke-Bernet Galleries_, auction cat., New York, N.Y., November 18, 1970, Sale no. 3118, 64, no. 33. Ernest van den Haag, "Art and the Mass Audience," _Art in America_ 59, no. 4 (July/August 1971): 52-55. Evelyn Weiss, _James Rosenquist: Gemälde - Räume - Graphik_, exh. cat., Kunsthalle Köln, Germany, 1972, 4, 20-21,125. Marcia Tucker, _James Rosenquist_, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y., 1972, 24, 63. RT, "Silver Skies -- James Rosenquist," _Chrysler Museum at Norfolk Bulletin_ 1, no. 11 (January 1973): cover page. Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 257. Hugh Adams, _Art of the Sixties_ (Oxford: Phaidon, 1978), 16. Mahonri Sharp Young, "Primitive to Pop," _Apollo_ 107 (April1978): 46-51. Thomas Wayne Stryon, _American Figure Painting, 1950-1980_, exh. cat., The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., 1980, 94. Otto Friedrich, "To Reform the System" _Time_ (February 23, 1981): 36-49, ill. 40. _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_, (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 112. Matthew Baigell, _A Concise History of American Painting and Sculpture_ (New York: Harper & Row, 1984), 353, no. 351. Judith Goldman, _James Rosenquist_, exh. cat., Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colo., 1985, 36-37. Terence Grieder, _Artist and Audience_ (Fort Worth, Tex.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1990), 448, no. 602. Jefferson C. Harrison, _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_ (Norfolk: The Chrysler Museum, 1991), 195, plate 149. Judith Goldman, _James Rosenquist: The Early Pictures, 1961-1964_ (New York: Gagosian Gallery/Rizzoli, 1992), vi, 37, 104. Patricia Martin, "In The Company of Sponsors," _Advancing Philanthropy_ (Spring 1996): 35. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, _James Rosenquist: The Swimmer in the Econo-Mist_, exh. cat., Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin, Germany, 1998, 25-33. Walter Hopps and Sarah Bancroft, _James Rosenquist: A Retrospective_, exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, N.Y., 2003, 84-85, 288, 371-373. Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 230-231, no. 141. Shelley Kruger Weisberg,_Museum Movement Techniques: How to Craft a Moving Museum Experience_ Lanham: AltaMira Press, 2006, 53 (fig. 4.1), 54-55 DVD included. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 81, fig. 94. Jed Perl, ed. _Art in America 1945-1970: Writings from the Age of Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Minimalism_ (New York: Library of America, 2014) fig. 21. Wayne Tunnicliffe and Anneke Jaspers, eds., _Pop to Popism_ (Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2014) 74-75.