Tom WESSELMANN

Tom Wesselmann is a pop artist, born in , Reclining Stockinged Nude (Yellow Ohio, in 1931 and who died in New York in 2004. stockings brunette) Oil on Canvas on board This brilliant colorist and draftman struggled to 75 x 130 cm confront the dominance of Abstract Expressionism and 1982 the towering impact of William de Kooning. Even if he was close to or , he saw his artistic development as independent. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in psychology, he began attending art classes at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and then, at the Cooper Union in New York. These studies provided Wesselmann an important early introduction to artistic traditions and precedents for such subjects as the nude model, and an awareness of artists like Matisse, Mondrian, Léger. Monica sitting with Mondrian (variation No.4) Creating and assemblages that incorporated Enamel on cut-out steel 154,9 x 105,4 cm ordinary objects and images from the world of 1988 advertising, he became one of the leaders in the American movement. In the 1980s, Wesselmann embraced new directions in subject matter, especially landscapes and still lives and new techniques including figural shaped canvases, metal drawings and relief . After writing a 1980 autobiography documenting the evolution of his art, he carried on with his investigation of shaped canvases and executed his first laser-cut metal works. He expanded on those themes in the 1990s and early 2000s, creating abstract three- dimensional pictures that brought him back to his artistic starting point. In the final years of his life, he Great American Nude N°68 returned to figuration, with his Sunset Nudes. Liquitex on canvas 163 x 170 cm 1965

Still Life No.60 – Oil on canvas - 309,8 x 845,8 x 218,4 cm – 6 sections, 5 freestandings - 1973

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