Sightseeing
- Date
- 1962
- (not assigned)
- North and Central America
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 246
- Dimensions
- 48 × 60 in. (121.9 × 152.4 cm)
framed: 50 1/8 × 62 3/16 × 3 in. (127.3 × 158 × 7.6 cm) - Credit Line
- Funds given by the Shoenberg Foundation, Inc.
- Rights
- © James Rosenquist / Licensed by ARS, New York, NY
- Object Number
- 19:1975
NOTES
James Rosenquist started his career as a billboard painter, creating advertisements and images of consumer goods on a monumental scale. His early training is evident in this work—vibrantly painted colors, block lettering, and enlarged details of recognizable imagery, in this case a bouquet of roses. Rosenquist drew inspiration for this painting from the back of a tour bus he regularly saw while painting signs in New York City’s Times Square. Sightseeing blurs the line between banal tourism and the supposedly elevated act of viewing art in a gallery or museum.
Provenance
by 1964 -
Edward Janns Jr. [1]
Smith Collection
- 1975
The Mayor Gallery (James Mayor), London, England [2]
1975 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from The Mayor Gallery [3]
Notes:
[1] The painting is listed as from the Janns (or Jahns) collection in a 1964 publication ["Amerikansk pop-konst: Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, George Segal, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselman." Stockholm: Moderna Museet Stockholm, 1964, p. 72].
[2] According to an invoice from the Mayor Gallery dated Febuary 26, 1975, the provenance record of "Sightseeing" includes the Edward Janns Jr. Collection, the Smith Collection and the Mayor Gallery [SLAM document files].
[3] See Note [2]. Invoice dated June 10, 1975 from the Mayor Gallery to the Museum confirming that the payment for "Sightseeing" was received [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Aquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, March 4, 1975.
Edward Janns Jr. [1]
Smith Collection
- 1975
The Mayor Gallery (James Mayor), London, England [2]
1975 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from The Mayor Gallery [3]
Notes:
[1] The painting is listed as from the Janns (or Jahns) collection in a 1964 publication ["Amerikansk pop-konst: Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, George Segal, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselman." Stockholm: Moderna Museet Stockholm, 1964, p. 72].
[2] According to an invoice from the Mayor Gallery dated Febuary 26, 1975, the provenance record of "Sightseeing" includes the Edward Janns Jr. Collection, the Smith Collection and the Mayor Gallery [SLAM document files].
[3] See Note [2]. Invoice dated June 10, 1975 from the Mayor Gallery to the Museum confirming that the payment for "Sightseeing" was received [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Aquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, March 4, 1975.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.