The artwork titled “Gift Wrapped Doll #37,” created by James Rosenquist in 1997, exemplifies the Pop Art movement and is characterized by its figurative genre. As a quintessential piece of the late 20th-century Pop Art tableau, it weaves the realm of commercial aesthetics into the fabric of fine art.
The artwork itself presents a close-up visage of a doll, partially obscured and distorted by what appears to be a translucent, blue-tinted wrapping material. The effect of the wrapper gives the impression of the doll being a gift or commodity, playing into one of Pop Art’s central themes—the interplay between consumer goods and their representation in art. The use of vibrant colors and the sharp contrast between the yellows, blues, and flesh tones add to the dramatic visual impact of the work. The smooth gradients and painterly quality suggest a blend of precision and expressiveness, hallmarks of Rosenquist’s style.
By overlaying the face of the doll with a sheen of wrapping, the artist may be commenting on societal views of beauty, the objectification within consumer culture, or the very notion of art as a consumable product. While the title “Gift Wrapped Doll #37” implies one of a series, it also insinuates a sense of depersonalization and mass production—an echo of the familiar dichotomy in Pop Art between individual expression and commodified repetition.
