Masquerade of the Military Industrial Complex Looking Down on the Insect World

1992

James Rosenquist American, 1933 - 2017

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About the Artwork

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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About the Artwork

Rosenquist’s experience as a billboard painter contributed to a unique vision; his imagery shifts from telescopic to microscopic. Rosenquist bears witness to this country’s triumphs and defeats, its explorations of outer space, and its inquiry into inner truths. Every four years since 1964, the artist has created a “Presidential Election” painting, a “reality check” on the viability and survival of the American Dream. Against a background of trade wars and star wars, “Masquerade” sets into perspective man’s proclivity for destruction—the Stealth bomber—and nature’s wondrous capacity for creation—the butterfly emerging from the caterpillar.

Title Masquerade of the Military Industrial Complex Looking Down on the Insect World

Artwork Date 1992

Artist James Rosenquist

Life Dates 1933 - 2017

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil and mixed media on canvas

Dimensions Overall: 90 inches × 29 feet 2 inches (228.6 cm × 8 m 89 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department Contemporary Art after 1950

Credit Founders Society Purchase, gift of Mrs. George Kamperman by exchange

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 1993.62

Markings

Signed Signed, back of panels: James Rosenquist

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

the artist

(Castelli Gallery, New York, New York, USA)

1993-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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Published References

James Rosenquist. Exh. cat., Castelli Gallery. New York, 1993, pp. 16-17.

Van der Marck, Jan. "The Detroit Institute of Arts." In James Rosenquist: The Big Paintings. New York, 1994, n.p.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

James Rosenquist, Masquerade of the Military Industrial Complex Looking Down on the Insect World, 1992, oil and mixed media on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, gift of Mrs. George Kamperman by exchange, 1993.62.