About this artwork
James Rosenquist’s paintings have a distinctive collage-like appearance and feature symbols of post-war American life drawn from mass media. In Volunteer, he depicted a washing machine, an ice-cream cone, and a person in a business suit, referencing technological progress, indulgence, and conformity. The large blue handprint centered in the composition—an enlargement of the artist’s own handprint—represents the uncertain role of the individual in the rapidly changing world of the 1960s. On the preparatory sketch for this work, Rosenquist wrote: “The volunteer who is puzzled doesn’t know what to do but willing.”
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Contemporary Art
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Artist
- James Rosenquist
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Title
- Volunteer
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Place
- United States (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- 1963–1964
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Medium
- Oil on canvas
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Dimensions
- 183 × 198 cm (72 × 78 in.)
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Credit Line
- Through prior acquisitions of Mary and Leigh Block, Samuel P. Avery Endowment, and Mr. and Mrs. Carter H. Harrison; Robert and Marlene Baumgarten Fund; estate of Solomon Byron Smith; Constance Obright and Samuel and Sarah Deson Memorial funds
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Reference Number
- 1994.311
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Copyright
- © 2019 Estate of James Rosenquist/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.
Extended information about this artwork
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