Tom Wesselmann - New Now New York Tuesday, September 20, 2016 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    OK Harris Gallery, New York
    Private Collection
    Phillips de Pury, New York, November 17, 2006, lot 227
    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.

    View More Works

63

Beautiful Kate No. 17

signed, numbered and dated "#17. Wesselmann 81" lower right; further titled and inscribed "Beautiful Kate #17 GIFT JeNNY WESSELMANN1983" on the reverse of the board; further signed, titled and dated "BEAUTIFUL KATE #17 (VARIABLE EDITION) 1981 WESSELMANN" on the reverse of the backing board
graphite and Liquitex on rag board
3 5/8 x 8 3/4 in. (9.2 x 22.2 cm.)
Executed in 1981.

Estimate
$20,000 - 30,000 

Sold for $42,500

Contact Specialist
Rebekah Bowling
Head of Sale
New York
+ 1 212 940 1250

New Now

New York Auction 20 September 2016