Tom Wesselmann - SKETCHLINE

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February 23, 1931, Cincinnati (the USA) - December 17, 2004, New York (the USA)

Tom Wesselmann

description

One of the main artists of American pop art, known for images of stylized female nudes, which were the central theme and subject of close attention of the painter. Drawing inspiration from Abstract Expressionism, especially works of Willem de Kooning, the artist rethought the images and created his unique style, incredibly realistic, alluring and at the same time cold and detached, not affecting the deep feelings of the viewer.

Tom Wesselmann began his career as a cartoonist. He worked in several popular magazines, including the so-called “men’s” magazines; this fact explains the eroticism and outright sexuality of most of his paintings. Despite the fact that the subject and style of the artist’s works is wide and varied, Tom Wesselmann entered the history of fine art as the author of the Great American Nude series of paintings. The paintings created in the 1960s depict attractive female figures against the backdrop of the famous symbols of American society depicted in patriotic red, white and blue colours.

Without identifying himself with any art movement, Tom Wesselmann conducted a constant dialogue with his predecessors and contemporaries, and also had a profound influence on subsequent generations of American artists. His ability to represent the female body as a commodity echoes the work of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, and the artist’s claim that there is “no meaning in his works” gave rise to Frank Stella’s famous saying that painting “is just what you see, and nothing more”.

 

Key ideas:

– Female images in the works of Tom Wesselmann are alluring and erotic. He depicted relaxed girls, on the beach with a cocktail in their hands or smoking a cigarette with lipstick on their lips. Their silhouettes are clearly defined, and their postures are relaxed. The author carefully drew such details as lips, teeth, nipples and nails of women. These details are invariably present in every work and were a kind of Wesselmann’s fetish.

– The works of famous Abstract Expressionist Willem de Kooning had a tremendous influence on the entire work of Tom Wesselmann. The first time he saw his series entitled “Women” in the late 1950s, the artist experienced a real cultural shock, and his work found a completely different vector of development. Combining the smooth texture of posters and the attractiveness of abstract forms, he tried, in his own words, “to make figurative art as exciting as abstract art”.

– There are no half-tones, hints and riddles in the works of Tom Wesselmann. His colours are bright and open, and the plots do not contain a deep meaning but only demonstrate the reality that is happening “here and now”. Women in the artist’s works, despite all their emancipation and attractiveness, cause a feeling of cold detachment. They are faceless and resemble mannequins from a shop window or actresses from commercials that only demonstrate external attractiveness but do not experience any real feelings.

– Throughout his career, the artist has denied belonging to Pop art. Although he used elements of advertising and household items in his paintings, Tom Wesselmann never exalted or criticized the culture of consumption. According to him, he only strove to get away from abstract art as far as possible, making things as objective and tangible as possible – therefore, understandable to the widest audience. The artist said that his main interest was not to draw attention to the subject but to use these objects in accordance with his goals.

 

Tom Wesselmann

On Artist

flow

Abstract Expressionism

Fauvism

Pop art

friends

Alex Katz

Roy Lichtenstein

Mark Ratliff

artists

Henri Matisse

Willem de Kooning

Edouard Vuillard

Piet Mondrian

Robert Motherwell

By Artist

flow

Pop art

friends

Alex Katz

artists

Jim Dine

Eric Fischl

Frank Stella

Claire Selby

John Currin

Jeff Koons

description

Made in bright colours and a simplistic manner with large colour planes typical of the artist, the composition depicts two naked women. In this work, Tom Wesselmann paid tribute to the legacy of great Henri Matisse, quoting one of Matisse’s works and adding recognizable features of his creative manner to it.

2003

description

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Tom Wesselmann created a series of paintings, in which he depicted a nude model against a background of famous works of art. In addition to paintings by Piet Mondrian, who was one of the artist’s idols, he used paintings by R. Lichtenstein, E. Warhol and H. Matisse, paying tribute to these masters.

1988

description

Although Tom Wesselmann insisted on the complete voidness of his work, the picture from the series “Bedrooms” depicting the face of a girl against the backdrop of a home interior evokes certain feelings. Bright makeup and naked breasts of the young woman look attractive, and her closed eyes indicate relaxation and enjoyment.

1984 - 1993

description

In the works of Tom Wesselmann of the 1980s, you can often find interesting compositions that consist of several separate canvases of an unusual shape. Usually, those are all the same objects that the author loved: smoking cigarettes, women's lips and breasts, meal and small household items, like lipstick or sunglasses.

1981

description

The work belongs to the series of works “Drop Out”, which Tom Wesselmann created under the impression of his vacation on the sea coast. The special atmosphere of the sun-drenched beach and the relaxation of sunbathing bodies are reliably conveyed in this picture.

1982

description

During his career, Tom Wesselmann created many images of a huge mouth with bright red puffy lips. This image has become a recognizable visiting card of the artist, a kind of symbol that is an integral part of popular culture and periodically appears in various interpretations.

1967

description

This work from the famous Great American Nude series demonstrates all the main features of Tom Wesselmann's painting. The viewer can see an attractive lying girl, whose bright lips are the only visible part of her face, seductive nipples on her bare chest and shiny yellow hair.

1965

description

Despite the fact that Tom Wesselmann denied that he was a representative of Pop art, this picture is an excellent example of this style. The still life depicts goods typical of America in the mid-20th century: white bread, a bottle of Coke, a can of stew, lemons and a pack of cigarettes.

1963

description

The work is a collage of real objects and two-dimensional pictorial images. In the left part of the work, the artist placed a kitchen cabinet that can be opened and closed, as well as a part of a real sink above which an electric light is ignited.

1962

description

Great American Nude is Tom Wesselmann's largest and most famous series of works. Here, he depicted a naked man lying on a bed in a room where a portrait of the president and a drawing of the American flag hanging on the wall.

1961