Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog number |
74.9.1 |
Artist |
Wesley, John |
Title |
Female in Bikini with Three Rhinoceroses |
Date |
1965 |
Object Name |
|
Description |
Serigraph titled "Female in Bikini with Three Rhinoceroses" by John Wesley (1928 - ), numbered 60/100. This silkscreen print of three wild beasts juxtaposed with a tall woman in bikini and high heeled shoes poses the kind of humorous enigma long beloved by Wesley. His work is similar to Pop artists like Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns in its style of flat arbitrary color and stylized outline, and in taking its imagery from comic books and mass-media advertising. This silkscreen depicts three rhinoceroses and one maiden in bikini. One is reminded of the foolish run of the "Rhinoceros" in the play by Ionesco. The maiden stands upright, hoping to remain an individual, but relapses into admiring the identical crowd. Her hands are uplifted. One is over her head and the other is over her forehead, covering one eye with the fingers curved imitating a rhinoceros horn. The two colors in this silkscreen are blue and peach. The background is white with a blue and peach. The three rhinoceroses are a colored mass of a medium warm and pretty blue. The stylized rhinoceroses drawn in perfect horizontal profile position are in the picture vertically reverted. The maiden at their side is as tall as the three animals together. She is dressed in a blue bikini, high heeled blue shoes on bare legs and her hair is also the same blue while her body is in peach color. Citation: Extract taken from research paper by Elizabet Erlich (1993) |
Medium/Material |
Ink on paper |
Dimensions |
H-29 W-40 inches |
Search Terms |
Modern Contemporary North America United States 20th century AD Pop Art Sexuality Animal Surrealism Figural |
Exhibition and Publication History |
*"SUMMERSCAPE: an exhibition of artists' books, prints, & kite designs" Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Queens College, CUNY, June 16 - August 7, 1986. * "Goddess, Worker, Mother, Symbol: Images of Women in World Art," G-TM, 1994, #57, pp. 36-7. *"Selections from Permanent Collection, American Painters of 20th Century", Klapper, 1999. |
Culture |
American |