Tom Wesselmann
Tom Wesselmann (1931–2004) was an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement. In response to Abstract Expressionism, his work explored classical representations of the nude, the still life, and the landscape while incorporating everyday commercial objects and advertisements. His work pushes the boundaries between painting and sculpture.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Wesselmann attended Hiram College from 1949 to 1951 before transferring to the University of Cincinnati to study psychology. In 1952, he was drafted to the U.S. Army where he first experimented with cartoons to document his experience. Upon completing his psychology degree in 1954, Wesselmann enrolled at the Art Academy of Cincinnati to pursue his interest in becoming a cartoon artist. In 1956, after selling a number of his cartoons to magazines such as 1000 Jokes and True, Wesselmann moved to New York City to attend Cooper Union. During his studies, his interest shifted from cartoons to fine art, and upon graduation, he founded the Judson Gallery with Marc Ratliff and Jim Dine. Wesselmann met Claire Selley, his lifelong partner and muse, while attending Cooper Union. The pair married in 1963 and had three children.
Wesselmann’s work came to prominence in 1961 with his series The Great American Nude. The series explored the classical subject of the nude, rendering it in conjunction with patriotic imagery and in a colour palette reduced to red, white, and blue. He also incorporated elements of collage, including cuttings from magazine and subway advertisements. Wesselmann's first solo exhibition was at the Tanager Gallery in New York in 1961, and he was included in several other group exhibitions that would define Pop Art. Wesselmann, however, was hesitant about the classification of his work as Pop Art. He felt that he was making aesthetic use of modern consumer objects rather than offering a critique of their consumption.
In 1962, Wesselmann began creating still lives that used collage and assemblages of real objects, such as working television sets. 1964 brought more experimentation as he began developing landscapes which included the sound of a Volkswagen car starting up and canvases shaped as nudes. The most complete study of Wesselmann’s work and artistic development was published as an autobiography written under the pseudonym Slim Stealingworth in 1980. Constantly innovating his approach and materials, Wesselmann transformed his nudes and landscapes into his first drawings in steel in 1983. He created these works by hand cutting the aluminum, and he later developed the first artistic use of laser-cut metal. In the last decade of Wesselmann’s life, he suffered from heart disease, but he was committed to continuing his practice. During these years he explored abstract forms while remaining committed to his long-established interest in the nude.
His artworks have been exhibited internationally and are represented in numerous public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Chicago Institute of Art, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C., among many others.