The Swimmer in the Econo-mist

THE SWIMMER IN THE ECONO-MIST

An extraordinary set of three paintings, The Swimmer in the Econo-Mist (1997–98) was commissioned for the Deutsche Guggenheim kunsthalle in Berlin, Germany. A history painting for the end of the millennium, this massive suite addresses the period following the collapse of the Berlin wall and end of the Cold War, as well as the interdependent nature of the global economy. The vortex of imagery and distorted shapes is a metaphor for unrest and change. The painting also refers to the wars that shaped the last century. For Rosenquist, the “econo-mist” is the torrent of cultural and economic activity of our times.

Detail: The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #2, 1997

Rosenquist places the viewer within a panoramic space churned by the roaring spin cycle of imagery drawn from the history of art as well as from popular culture. Vortices of brightly colored laundry detergent boxes whirl across the canvas in The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #2. In The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #3, Rosenquist revisits motifs from his earlier paintings, including an image of the hair dryer used in his first monumental antiwar composition, F-111 (1964–65). In The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1, fragments quoted from Pablo Picasso’s passionately antifascist mural Guernica (1937) are shown in contrast to a contemporary world of consumer products.

Seen as a whole, the swirling images hurtle across the large canvases. They move from black-and-white to vivid color, from abstraction to glimpses of realism, and from the mundane to the extraterrestrial, finally coming to a halt in The Swimmer in the Econo-mist (painting 3). Here, the sun rises in the red, yellow, and black colors of the German flag. Recalling an old Venetian proverb, Rosenquist explains, “‘The artist swims in the water, the critic stands ashore.’ So the swimmer is the active party. And the economy is a dream. It [The Swimmer in the Econo-mist] describes being immersed in a tumult.”

The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #3, 1997–98

--Adapted from wall text written by Sarah C. Bancroft for the Guggenheim Museum's 2003 - 2005 traveling Rosenquist retrospective and Robert Rosenblum's, "An Interview with James Rosenquist" in James Rosenquist: The Swimmer in the Econo-mist, ex. cat. Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (1999: New York and Berlin)

Installation Views

Installation view of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist in James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark, on view April 14–August 19, 2018. Photo: Anders Sune Berg, courtesy of ARoS

Installation view of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist in James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark, on view April 14–August 19, 2018. Photo: Anders Sune Berg, courtesy of ARoS

Installation view of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist in James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, on view November 18, 2017–March 3, 2018. Photo: © Rheinisches Bildarchiv Permalink

Installation view of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist in James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, on view November 18, 2017–March 3, 2018. Photo: © Rheinisches Bildarchiv Permalink

Installation view of The Swimmer in the Econo-ist in James Rosenquist: A Retrospective, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, on view May 13–October 17, 2004. Photo: RAFA RIVAS/AFP via Getty Images

Installation view of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist in James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, on view November 18, 2017–March 3, 2018

Intallation view of The swimmer in the Econo-mist in Guggenheim Collection: The American Avant-Garde 1945-1980, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy, on view February 7–May 6, 2012. Photo: GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images

Installation view of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist source collages and drawings in James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark, on view April 14–August 19, 2018. Photo: Anders Sune Berg, courtesy of ARoS

Installation view of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist drawings and source collages in James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, on view November 18, 2017–March 3, 2018. Photo: © Rheinisches Bildarchiv

Permalink

Installation view of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #2 source collage and painting in James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, on view November 18, 2017–March 3, 2018. Photo: © Rheinisches Bildarchiv

Permalink

Installation view of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist drawings (paintings #1 and #3) in James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, on view November 18, 2017–March 3, 2018. Photo: © Rheinisches Bildarchiv

Permalink

Installation view of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist drawings (for paintings #1, #2, and #3) in James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, on view November 18, 2017–March 3, 2018. Photo: © Rheinisches Bildarchiv

Permalink

The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1

The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #2

The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #3

"There's an old Venetian saying, 'The artist swims in the water, the critic stands ashore.' So the swimmer is the active party. And the economy is a dream. It [The Swimmer in the Econo-mist] describes being immersed in a tumult."

—James Rosenquist

Studies

Study for The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1, 1996–97. Lithographic tusche and pencil on Mylar. 16 5/8” x 36 1/4” (42.2 x 92.1 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin.

Artist studio registration # 97.D01

Study for The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1 and #3, 1996–97. Lithographic tusche and colored ink on Mylar. 16” x 27 3/4” (40.6 x 70.5 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin.

Study for The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1, 1997. Lithographic tusche on Mylar. 15 3/4” x 45 7/8” (40.0 x 116.5 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin.

Artist studio registration # 97.D04

Study for The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1, 1997. Mixed media on paper. 18 1/2” x 37 1/2” (47.0 x 95.3 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin.

Artist studio registration # 97.D05

Study for The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #3, 1997. Mixed media on Mylar. 20” x 25 3/4” (50.8 x 65.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin.

Artist studio registration # 97.D06

Study for The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1 and #3, 1997. Pencil on paper. 21 3/4” x 49 3/4” (55.2 x 126.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin.

Artist studio registration # 97.D07

Study for The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #3, 1997. Lithographic tusche and pencil on Mylar. 20 1/8” x 26 1/4” (51.1 x 66.7 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin.

Artist studio registration # 97.D08

Study for The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #2, 1997. Lithographic tusche and pencil on Mylar. 20 1/8” x 26 1/4” (51.1 x 133.0 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin.

Artist studio registration # 97.D09

Source Collages

Source for The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #3, 1997. Collage and mixed media on paper, with adventitious marks. 17" x 23 1/4" (43.2 x 59.1 cm) [approx.]. Sammlung Deutsche Bank AG.

Artist studio registration # 97.S03

Source for The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1, 1997. Color photocopy and mixed media on cardboard. 11 7/8" x 17 7/8" (30.2 x 45.4 cm). Collection of the Estate of James Rosenquist.

Source for The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1, 1997. Color photocopy and mixed media on cardboard. 11 5/8" x 18 1/4" (29.5 x 46.4 cm). Collection of the Estate of James Rosenquist.

Source for The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #2, 1997. Mixed media on paper. 14" x 47 5/8" (35.6 x 121.0 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin.

Historic Photos

James Rosenquist working on Swimmer in the Econo-mist #2, Aripeka, Florida, ca. 1997

View of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1, in progress, in Rosenquist's Aripeka, Florida studio, circa 1997

View of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #3, in progress, in Rosenquist's Aripeka, Florida studio, circa 1997

View of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1, in progress, in Rosenquist's Aripeka, Florida studio, circa 1997

View of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1 in progress (before final state), in Rosenquist's Aripeka, Florida studio, circa 1997

Judith Goldman standing in front of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1, in progress, in Rosenquist's Aripeka, Florida studio, circa 1997

Installation view of James Rosenquist: The Swimmer in the Econo-mist, Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin, on view March 7–June 14, 1998

Studio assistant Tony Caparello standing in front of The Swimmer in the Econo-mist #1, in Rosenquist's studio, Aripeka, FL, ca. 1997

Press Conference for opening of James Rosenquist: The Swimmer in the Econo-mist, Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin, 1998. Seated left to right: Rolf-E Breuer, Thomas Krens, James Rosenquist, and Lisa Dennison