The Early Pictures

James Rosenquist: The Early Pictures, 1961–1964 is a short catalogue of the pictures Rosenquist painted in the first years of his career, with an essay by Judith Goldman.

Goldman writes about how his earlier work as a billboard painter shaped the pictures, what themes and techniques he settled on, and where he stands beside other Pop artists such as Warhol and Lichtenstein. The book also carries an interview with Rosenquist, a study of the collage sources behind the paintings, and 64 illustrations, most in colour. They include the collage studies he made as blueprints for his larger canvases. Rizzoli published the paperback in New York in 1992, and the Gagosian Gallery is credited alongside it.

Rosenquist (1933–2017) came to painting from sign painting. His pictures use fragments of advertising and cultural imagery, often with touches of surrealism, to show how overwhelming advertisements can be. He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2001.