James Rosenquist - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session New York Thursday, May 19, 2022 | Phillips

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  • "The Serenade for the Doll after Claude Debussy or Gift Wrapped Dolls are a result of my feelings about the child who has to look forward to the difficulty of relationships because of AIDS. The coolness, thoughtfulness that will be in a young romance make it seem the complete antithesis of passion. These paintings are painted from dolls covered in plastic wrap and they’re not altered in an expressionist abstract way… I’m fascinated by the reflective plastic and how it changed the color of everything underneath. It is something else. One could see this on a doll, on a shelf in a store as a child could and would they want it. That’s what brought to mind AIDS. Is one tantalized by something one desires that looks ugly but beautiful?"
    —James Rosenquist, interviewed by David Whitney, Leo Castelli Gallery, 1993

    • Provenance

      Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
      Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York
      Art Enterprises Ltd., Chicago
      Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago
      James Goodman Gallery Inc., New York
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

    • Exhibited

      New York, Leo Castelli Gallery, James Rosenquist: The Serenade for the Doll after Claude Debussy or Gift Wrapped Dolls & Masquerade of the Military Industrial Complex Looking Down on the Insect World, March 20–April 17, 1993, p. 31 (illustrated)
      Chicago, Richard L. Feigen & Co., James Rosenquist: Gift Wrapped Dolls or Serenade for the Doll after Claude Debussy, September 10–October 9, 1993

    • Literature

      John Russell, "Gallery View: A Painter Finds That Dolls Can Be Dynamite," The New York Times, April 11, 1993
      Fred Camper, “Plastic–Covered Passion,” Chicago Reader, September 30, 1993 (online)
      Stacey Skold, ed., Art Enterprises: Selections from the Collection, Art Enterprises, Ltd., Chicago, 2000, p. 191

Property of an Esteemed Private Collector

129

The Serenade for the Doll after Claude Debussy, Gift Wrapped Doll #22

signed, titled and dated ""Gift wrapped doll" #22 James Rosenquist 1992" on the reverse
oil on canvas
60 x 60 in. (152.4 x 152.4 cm)
Painted in 1992.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$120,000 - 200,000 

Sold for $138,600

Contact Specialist

Annie Dolan
Specialist, Head of Day Sale, Morning Session
+1 212 940 1288
adolan@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session

New York Auction 19 May 2022