A blending of red, yellow, white and black swirls and lines.

Fire Fountain

Artist James Rosenquist (American, 1933 - 2017)

Date2005

Mediumlithograph on paper

DimensionsSheet: 35 3/4 × 32 1/4 inches (90.8 × 81.9 cm)

Credit LineKirk Varnedoe Collection, Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, Gift of the artist.

Object number2006.20

On View

Not on view

Copyright© 2023 James Rosenquist, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextJames Rosenquist was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and studied art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (1948), the University of Minnesota (1952-54), and the Art Students League of New York (1955). After leaving the League, he found work as a commercial artist, painting billboards and signs around Manhattan. The commercial imagery in which Rosenquist was immersed during these early years certainly came to bear on his mature work as a preeminent artist of the Pop Art movement. By 1960, he had opted out of sign painting and rented a small studio; his first solo exhibition was held in 1962 at the Green Gallery in New York. Rosenquist became known for juxtaposing unusual and disparate commercial images, often employing unexpected materials and creating on an exceptionally large scale. His "F-111" of 1964-65 measured 86 feet long and was specifically designed to wrap around the room in which it was exhibited. "Fire Mountain", in the Varnedoe Collection, is a fine example of Rosenquist’s work in lithography, a media he has been using since 1964. Rosenquist selected this particular piece for the Varnedoe Collection because the fire and vigor in its composition reminded him of the indefatigable energy with which Kirk Varnedoe championed the arts.

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