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“In a sense the spaghetti is like an abstract expressionist painting. De Kooning loved it. He said it was sexy.”
—James RosenquistThe sinuous form of spaghetti permeates the vernacular of Pop that has come to define much of James Rosenquist’s career, from its debut in the 1961 painting I Love You With My Ford to its iconic appearance in F-111 and numerous manifestations across paintings and prints. Perhaps most personally, the dish was the budget meal that sustained Rosenquist and his comrades in their early days as they struggled through the 60s New York art scene: “We used to be starving artists. So a group of us, if everyone paid $0.50, someone would make a ton of spaghetti, and we’d all eat.”i
Source for F-111, Spaghetti, Spaghetti (Gray), and The Friction Disappears, 1964. Photographs and mixed media on cardboard. 15" x 11 3/4" (38.1 x 29.9 cm). Museum of Modern Art, New York, Promised gift of Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis [PG281.2009.7]. © James Rosenquist Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Used by permission. All rights reserved. However, it is the aesthetic attributes of spaghetti that spoke to Rosenquist, beyond his personal connection to the dish. “When I copied a 1940s spaghetti illustration, I had to ask myself, why am I doing this? I didn’t honestly know. It was just an instinct about images as pure form. I’m not in love with spaghetti per se; the spaghetti is there simply as a visceral color field. I think of it in terms of form and color.”ii It is no wonder De Kooning saw Rosenquist’s utilization of spaghetti as something sensual. Under Rosenquist’s command of scale, color, and dimension, the once-humble meal becomes something seductively curvilinear, bold, and enticing, charged with newfound movement and emotion.
It is a metamorphosis similar to that facilitated by advertising. In Spaghetti, Rosenquist poetically transforms the banal into the beautiful in a methodology not unlike that of the 1950s Life magazine ads for canned Franco-American Spaghetti he snipped and collaged. Both are, perhaps, “enlarged to show texture,” drawing upon Rosenquist’s early career as a commercial billboard painter. The result is a fragment of the commercialized world, a shiny, bright image with none of the typical messaging or instruction. These fragments exist in a world that is somewhere over there, beyond us, a place that we can’t quite get to, even though we have been given a cryptic invitation to enter.iii
No title, “spaghetti and fork,” 1964, abandoned. Lithograph on white wove paper. 19 7/8 x 26 1/4 in. (50.5 x 66.7 cm). © James Rosenquist Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Spaghetti is emblematic of Rosenquist’s reputation as an experimenter, continuing to return to familiar imagery for new outcomes. In fact, spaghetti was the first image that came to mind when Tatyana Grosman handed Rosenquist a lithography stone on his preliminary visit to Universal Limited Art Editions in 1964. While initially frustrated by the variables at play in printmaking, he continued his efforts, eventually incorporating spaghetti fragments into numerous prints, including Forehead I and Forehead II (lot 208) and F-111 (lot 224). After years of refining his process, Rosenquist reached enlightenment regarding his spaghetti imagery with the present 1970 lithograph: Rosenquist declared it “was the best spaghetti I made…. I had been getting a lot of practice!”iv
i Tino Grass, “F-111,” in Stephan Diederich and Yilmaz Dziewior, James Rosenquist: Painting As Immersion, 2017, p. 152.
ii James Rosenquist, Painting Below Zero: Notes on a Life in Art, 2009, p. 97.
iii Charles Baxter, “Eighteen Midwests for James Rosenquist,” in James Rosenquist: His American Life, 2018, p. 49.
iv Constance Glenn, James Rosenquist: Time Dust, Complete Graphics 1962 -1992, 1993, p. 48.
Exhibited
New York, Off Paradise, Good Clean Fun, June 17 - August 17, 2021 (this impression)
Literature
Constance Glenn 31
211
Spaghetti (G. 31)
1970
Lithograph in colors, on Copperplate Deluxe paper, with full margins.
I. 29 1/8 x 41 1/4 in. (74 x 104.8 cm)
S. 30 7/8 x 42 in. (78.4 x 106.7 cm)
Signed, titled, dated and numbered 19/50 in pencil (there were also 10 artist's proofs), co-published by Castelli Graphics and Hollanders Workshop, New York (with the Hollanders Workshop blindstamp), framed.
Estimate
$3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $10,795
Works from the James Rosenquist Estate
New York Auction 15 February 2024
200
James Rosenquist
Circles of Confusion, from 11 Pop Artists, Volume I (G. 10)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $2,794
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201
James Rosenquist
Whipped Butter for Eugene Ruchin, from 11 Pop Artists, Volume II (G. 11)
Estimate $400 - 600
Sold for $3,556
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202
James Rosenquist
For Love, from 11 Pop Artists, Volume III (G. 13)
Estimate $1,000 - 2,000
Sold for $2,540
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203
James Rosenquist
F-111 (Leo Castelli Gallery)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $6,350
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204
James Rosenquist
A Drawing While Waiting for an Idea (S. 6, G. 14)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $2,794
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205
James Rosenquist
Morning Mirror (G. 15)
Estimate $600 - 900
Sold for $2,286
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206
James Rosenquist
Circles of Confusion & Lite Bulb
Estimate $600 - 900
Sold for $3,556
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207
James Rosenquist
Small Doorstop
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $95,250
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208
James Rosenquist
Forehead I; and Forehead II (G. 20 & 21)
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $3,048
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209
James Rosenquist
See-Saw, Class Systems (G. 22)
Estimate $500 - 700
Sold for $2,794
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210
James Rosenquist
Night Smoke II (S. 15, G. 26)
Estimate $1,500 - 2,500
Sold for $3,302
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211
James Rosenquist
Spaghetti (G. 31)
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $10,795
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212
James Rosenquist
Tumbleweed (G. 32)
Estimate $600 - 900
Sold for $889
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213
James Rosenquist
Delivery Hat, from Cold Light Suite (G. 35)
Estimate $400 - 600
Sold for $1,651
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214
James Rosenquist
Mirrored Flag; Moon Beam Mistaken for the News; and Cold Light, from Cold Light Suite (G. 37-38 & 40)
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $7,620
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215
James Rosenquist
Earth and Moon, from Cold Light Suite (G. 43)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $5,715
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216
James Rosenquist
Pulling Out (G. 47)
Estimate $600 - 900
Sold for $3,048
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217
James Rosenquist
Hey! Let's Go for a Ride (G. 55)
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $9,525
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218
James Rosenquist
Brighter than the Sun (G. 57)
Estimate $600 - 900
Sold for $3,048
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219
James Rosenquist
Short Schedule (S. 1972.05, G. 61)
Estimate $500 - 700
Sold for $2,540
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220
James Rosenquist
Banner #1
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $3,302
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221
James Rosenquist
Banner #2
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $9,525
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222
James Rosenquist
First [When was the first time you had your eyes examined?] (G. 64)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $2,286
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223
James Rosenquist
Off the Continental Divide (S. 17, G. 69)
Estimate $7,000 - 10,000
Sold for $6,985
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224
James Rosenquist
F-111 (south) (west) (north) (east) (G. 73)
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $228,600
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225
James Rosenquist
Tampa—New York 1188 (G. 81)
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $9,525
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226
James Rosenquist
Head Stand (G. 777, G. 104)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $2,286
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227
James Rosenquist
Terrarium (G. 154)
Estimate $1,000 - 1,500
Sold for $2,286
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228
James Rosenquist
Industrial Cottage (G. 159)
Estimate $1,000 - 1,500
Sold for $2,286
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229
James Rosenquist
Sheer Line (S. 1979.41, G. 163)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $4,826
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230
James Rosenquist
Idea I; and Idea II (G. 165 & 166)
Estimate $600 - 900
Sold for $1,397
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231
James Rosenquist
Doorskin (G. 168)
Estimate $1,000 - 2,000
Sold for $1,651
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232
James Rosenquist
Chambers (S. 19, G. 173)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $1,270
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233
James Rosenquist
Dog Descending a Staircase (S. 20, G. 174)
Estimate $6,000 - 9,000
Sold for $16,510
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234
James Rosenquist
High Technology and Mysticism: A Meeting Point (G. 180-186)
Estimate $4,000 - 6,000
Sold for $4,826
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235
James Rosenquist
The Glass Wishes: eight plates (G. 1014-1016, 1018-1019, 1021, 1023 & 1024, G. 187-189, 191-192, 194, 196 & 197)
Estimate $4,000 - 6,000
Sold for $3,810
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236
James Rosenquist
The Kabuki Blushes, from Secrets in Carnations (G. 206)
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $7,620
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237
James Rosenquist
Welcome to the Water Planet (G. 211)
Estimate $4,000 - 6,000
Sold for $10,160
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238
James Rosenquist
The Prickly Dark (G. 212)
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $6,096
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239
James Rosenquist
The Bird of Paradise Approaches the Hot Water Planet, from Welcome to the Water Planet (G. 214)
Estimate $8,000 - 12,000
Sold for $44,450
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240
James Rosenquist
Time Door Time D'Or, from Welcome to the Water Planet (G. 218)
Estimate $10,000 - 15,000
Sold for $30,480
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241
James Rosenquist
Space Dust, from Welcome to the Water Planet (G. 219)
Estimate $10,000 - 15,000
Sold for $21,590
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242
James Rosenquist
Caught One Lost One for the Fast Student or Star Catcher, from Welcome to the Water Planet (G. 222)
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $7,620
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243
James Rosenquist
House of Fire (G. 223)
Estimate $15,000 - 25,000
Sold for $25,400
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244
James Rosenquist
The Light Bulb Shining (G. 228)
Estimate $2,500 - 3,500
Sold for $7,620
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245
James Rosenquist
Speed of Light
Estimate $15,000 - 25,000
Sold for $39,370
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246
James Rosenquist
The Stowaway Peers Out at the Speed of Light
Estimate $15,000 - 25,000
Sold for $27,940
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247
James Rosenquist
The Xenophobic Movie Director or Our Foreign Policy
Estimate $7,000 - 9,000
Sold for $6,985
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248
James Rosenquist
The Memory Continues but the Clock Disappears
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $10,160
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249
James Rosenquist
Time Lines
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $7,938
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