“The building of war planes provided income for countless American families, but I couldn’t understand why the government wasn’t building hospitals and schools instead of warplanes that would immediately become obsolete.”
–James Rosenquist

James Rosenquist (b. 1933). F-111, 1964–65. Multipanel room installation: oil on canvas and aluminum, panels, 3 m 4.8 cm x 26 m 21.28 cm overall. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alex L. Hillman and Lillie P. Bliss Bequest (both by exchange), 1966. © James Rosenquist / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Rosenquist grew up part of a generation that reached adulthood in the years following World War II and watched the changing American landscape as it was reflected in the pages of Life and Look magazines. Images from these pages would later become source material for his paintings.

Americans during the 1950s were optimistic about the future. As the decade progressed, Americans prospered, buying cars, moving to the suburbs, and enjoying many of the latest technological advances. But despite the success of many white, middle-class Americans, the 1950s was also a decade marked by military buildup and social and racial inequality.

Within a short span of ten years, the civil rights, antiwar, and women’s movements, and the space race, cold war, and nuclear proliferation would have profound effects on the country. For Rosenquist, current events, cultural patterns, and what he likes to call “the temper of the times” would become essential themes in and continuing influences on his art.

F-111 is the most famous of Rosenquist’s antiwar paintings. At 86 feet long and surrounding the viewer on four walls, it shows, among other things, an F-111 fighter plane, a nuclear bomb detonating, and a little girl sitting under a hair dryer. The work addressed the detachment of a consumer society fueled by the military industrial complex during the cold war and alluded to the escalating conflict in Vietnam.

• Describe what you see in this painting. Write a list of all of the images that you can decipher in this work. Then, as a class, make a cumulative list. Are there additional things that your classmates recognized? Which parts of this work are still hard to interpret?
• This work is 86 feet long and consists of fifty interlocking pieces, but is intended to be seen as one enormous painting extending along all four walls of a gallery. Describe how being surrounded by this painting might feel. How has Rosenquist made these individual parts connect into one painting? Do you think he has been successful?
• F-111 is considered by critics to be an expression of antiwar sentiment. What do you see in this painting that supports that idea? What images might you include if you were making an antiwar statement? Suggest other ways that this work might be interpreted.

Rosenquist took eight months to complete this monumental painting. When displayed in 1965, it was applauded by many as world’s largest Pop painting, but some critics used words like “pretentious,” “juvenile,” “stale,” and “flat” in their reviews. Write your own critical review of this work. You may want to consult the arts section of your local newspaper to get a feeling for how various critics discuss works of art.

Rosenquist expresses his views both through his art and through his actions. In 1972 he was arrested and jailed while protesting the war in Vietnam. He has also traveled around the country campaigning for artists’ rights. Brainstorm a list of current political or social issues. Discuss issues that affect society such as poverty, pollution, ecological stability, or international relationships. Ask students, “How can you respond artistically to the issue you feel strongly about?” Then ask them to devise two responses to the issue they have chosen. One response should be artistic, a poem, drawing, musical composition, or any creative medium they choose. The other response should be community-based, such as working in a political campaign, a homeless shelter, or organizing a neighborhood clean-up. When both projects are completed, students should present them to the class.

A time capsule is a collection of objects and information about a particular place and time that is stored away to be discovered at some later time. Just as F-111 is filled with images from the 1960s, create a list of 20 contemporary images and objects that you feel are characteristic of life today. Then share your list with your classmates. Debate and decide which objects should be selected to tell future generations about life today.

Rosenquist found many of the images he transformed in his paintings in Life magazine, a popular weekly publication that covered news events as well as the arts, entertainment, and fashion, primarily through photographs. You may be able to find copies at your local library or used bookstore. Looking through them will help to place some of Rosenquist’s imagery in context. Be sure to look at the advertisements as well as the articles, since it is in the ads that Rosenquist found much of his source materials. Discuss how Life magazine is different from magazines today.