Artwork measures 20 x 24 inches (50.8 x 61 cm). Framed dimensions are 24.8 x 20.9 x 1.6 inches (63 x 53.1 x 4.1 cm).
Executed in 1965, this screenprint on vinyl work by Tom Wesselmann is an early example of the overtly sexual Pop iconography which the artist would continue to develop throughout his celebrated career. Provocatively cropped and flattened, with accentuated lips and nipples (but no eyes), Wesselmann's iconic nude is rendered in bright cartoon colors and a glossy finish.
Tom Wesselmann (American, 1931–2004) was a central member of the Pop Art movement. Wesselmann attended the University of Cincinnati before serving in the army from 1951 to 1954. While he was in the service, he began drawing cartoons, a hobby which he decided to pursue as a career when his two-year tour ended. After graduating from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, he was accepted by the Cooper Union in New York, where he was encouraged by faculty members to pursue painting and printmaking. In the early 1960s, he began to make small collages and assemblages, which included everyday imagery from magazines, advertisements, and consumer culture. His work became more sexually charged in the late 1960s, culminating in his erotic series "Great American Nudes." Wesselmann’s work increased in scale in the 1970s, and he began painting simple objects on shaped canvases for his "Standing Still Life" series. Later, in the 1970s, he created cut-out compositions in aluminum, enamel, and steel. In the last two years of his life, he returned to the female nude that had become a recurring motif in his work, producing the "Sunset Nude" series. Although stylistically similar to the flattened females of his earlier series, the women in the Sunset Nude series are more abstracted and playful, alluding to the famous nudes of Henri Matisse and Man Ray.
Selected Public Collections:
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
