Lane Wesselmann (gifted from the artist in 1983)
Sotheby's, New York, November 1, 1984, lot 223
Private Collection, New York
Anthony Ralph Gallery, New York
Donald Morris Gallery, Michigan
Private Collection, Michigan (acquired from the above)
Thence by descent to the present owner
New York, Anthony Ralph Gallery, 20th Century Works on Paper, October 21–November 20, 1986
American • 1931 - 2004
As a former cartoonist and leading figure of the Pop Art movement, Tom Wesselmann spent many years of his life repurposing popular imagery to produce small to large-scale works that burst with color. Active at a time when artists were moving away from the realism of figurative painting and growing increasingly interested in abstraction, Wesselmann opted for an antithetical approach: He took elements of city life that were both sensual and practical and represented them in a way that mirrored Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol's own methodologies.
Wesselmann considered pop culture objects as exclusively visual elements and incorporated them in his works as pure containers of bold color. This color palette became the foundation for his now-iconic suggestive figurative canvases, often depicting reclining nudes or women's lips balancing a cigarette.
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