Tom Wesselmann - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session New York Thursday, May 19, 2022 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Galerie Boulakia, Paris (acquired directly from the Studio in 2003)
    Private Collection, Switzerland
    Private Collection, New York
    Private Collection, France
    Private Collection
    Christie’s, New York, May 16, 2019, lot 739
    Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

  • Artist Biography

    Tom Wesselmann

    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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138

Final Study for Kate Nude

signed, titled and dated “FINAL STUDY FOR KATE NUDE 1977 Wesselmann 77” on the overlap
oil on canvas
14 3/4 x 18 3/4 in. (37.5 x 47.6 cm)
Painted in 1977.

Estimate
$70,000 - 100,000 

Sold for $115,920

Contact Specialist

Annie Dolan
Specialist, Head of Day Sale, Morning Session
+1 212 940 1288
adolan@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session

New York Auction 19 May 2022