Industrial Cottage

James Rosenquist, Industrial Cottage, 1977, oil on canvas, 80 x 182 in. (203.2 x 462.3 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2005.25A-E, © 1977, James Rosenquist

Artwork Details

Title: Industrial Cottage
Artist: James Rosenquist
Date: 1977
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 80 x 182 in. (203.2 x 462.3 cm)
Copyright: © 1977, James Rosenquist
Credit Line: Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Architecture — detail — window
Allegory — arts and sciences — industry
Architecture Exterior — domestic — cottage
Object — tool — drill
Object — foodstuff — meat
Object Number: 2005.25A-E
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2005.25A-E

Artwork Description

Industrial Cottage reflects the patchwork of neighborhoods and industrial parks along Florida's Gulf Coast where Rosenquist settled in 1976. The artist was working his way out of debt following a catastrophic car accident, and the title expresses his wry opinion of himself as a "cottage industry." Rosenquist divided the canvas into three zones, populating each with large forms that reflected his years as a billboard painter. In each zone, cold-hued machinery contrasts with softer forms and warmer colors. Rosenquist called the paintings from these years his "self-portraits," and the discordant images suggest that the professional pressures of earning a living—of "bringing home the bacon"—intruded on the comforts of home and his new relationship with the artist Susan Hall.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006