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"I find sometimes I get so excited working, especially when starting new ideas; I get so excited that I get uncomfortable. It almost feels dangerous, like I’m flirting with something dangerous."
—Tom WesselmannEmerging to auction for the first time since its creation, the present work is an iconic iteration of Tom Wesselmann’s celebrated series of Mouth paintings. Executed in November 1967, a watershed year for the artist, Mouth #14 (Marilyn) is among the early pivotal works in the series that were conceived in tandem with Wesselmann’s first Smoker paintings. Immersing the viewer into a hypnotic erotism and graphic intensity that characterizes the best of Wesselmann’s works, here the mouth of Marilyn Monroe is transformed into a pair of sultry scarlet lips, her blonde strands of hair evoking sensual flames. Exhibited at Sidney Janis Gallery the year of its creation, Mouth #14 (Marilyn) marks the apex of the Wesselmann’s mid-career painterly investigations that established him at the forefront of the Pop vanguard.
Among the artist’s most highly sought after works, Wesselmann’s Mouth paintings commenced in the mid-1960s as a natural extension of his Great American Nude series. Beginning with the Great American Nudes in 1961, Wesselmann placed youthful female nudes in vibrantly rendered settings while abstracting the figural form and, by the mid-decade, increasingly honed his focus on specific parts of the body. This gradual simplification led to his singular focus on mouths in the titular series initiated in 1965. The Mouth paintings eventually birthed the Smoker series in the year of the present work’s creation, when his friend and model Peggy Sarno paused for a cigarette during a session, marking the pivotal moment when Wesselmann became fascinated with smoke as a subject. Coinciding with this legendary account, the conception of Mouth #14 (Marilyn) may be viewed in parallel to this pivotal juncture. Created after Mouth #11, April 1967, Dallas Museum of Art—the first mouth with a cigarette—and in the same month as Smoker #1 (Mouth #12), Museum of Modern Art—the first work to include both a cigarette and smoke—the present work signals to Wesselmann’s interest in ephemeral smoke in the fiery wisps of hair that float across the lushly rendered lips.
Marilyn Monroe, 1946. Image: André de Dienes/MUUS Collection Though Wesselmann began exploring shaped canvases in 1964 with his Great American Nudes, the artist advanced his investigations with the medium in the Mouth series. This body of work “represented a further evolution in the shaped canvas: a larger scale, closer views, and concentration on body parts,” he noted in his autobiography.”i As Mouth #14 (Marilyn) demonstrates, working on a grand scale allowed Wesselmann to enhance the sensational visual impact of his shaped canvases—now, its immersive proportions could subsume the viewer into an all-encompassing realm of the visceral and verboten. This breakthrough worked in tandem with his increasingly reductive and clarified style as “the paintings themselves took on a more sculptural format as the areas surrounding the objects were eliminated,” as Sam Hunter observed.ii In Mouth #14 (Marilyn), the perpendicular movement of the waving hair over the feminine mouth both engulf and unfurl our imagination as the artist disembodies the subject by eschewing further indicators of Marilyn. It is only by Wesselmann’s unique inclusion of her name in the title that we begin to recognize these lips as those of the iconic Hollywood starlet.
Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe’s Lips, 1962. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Image: Licensed by DACS/Artimage, Artwork: © 2022 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Immediately recalling Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe’s Lips, 1962, the present work is at once an homage to Marilyn’s iconic smile and an embodiment of the relationship between advertising and celebrity. Like Warhol, Wesselmann’s embracement of sexual iconography and American popular culture in the pursuit of beauty made Marilyn the perfect choice for his artistic investigations. Mouth #14 (Marilyn) manifests the artist’s unique Pop lexicon in approaching the universal icon, not through visual repetition as Warhol’s iteration but through visual isolation with intense singularity. In line with the previously noted disembodiment of his subject, Wesselmann along with many of his contemporaries rejected critics’ stifling views on Pop Art. “They really worship Marilyn Monroe and Coca Cola,” as he once expressed. “The importance people attach to things an artist uses is irrelevant...I use a billboard picture because it is real, special representations of something, not because it is from a billboard. Advertising images excite me mainly because of what I can make from them.”iii
Mouth Paintings in Museum Collections
Smoker 1 (Mouth 12), 1967. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY, Artwork: © 2022 Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 
Mouth #7, 1966, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY, Artwork: © 2022 Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 
Mouth #10, 1967, Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Artwork: © 2022 Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 
Mouth #11, 1967, Dallas Museum of Art. Image: © Dallas Museum of Art/Bridgeman Images, Artwork: © 2022 Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York -
Smoker 1 (Mouth 12), 1967. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY, Artwork: © 2022 Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York -
Mouth #7, 1966, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY, Artwork: © 2022 Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
i Slim Stealingworth, Tom Wesselmann, New York, 1980, p. 49.
ii Sam Hunter, “Remembering Tom Wesselmann (1931–2004): And His Alter Ego, Slim Stealingworth,” American Art, vol. 19, no. 2, Summer 2005, p. 110.
iii Lucy R. Lippard, Pop Art, London, 1966, p. 80.Provenance
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Maria and Conrad Janis, Los Angeles (acquired from the above in February 1968)
PaceWildenstein, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2004Exhibited
New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, An Exhibition: Homage to Marilyn Monroe, December 6–30, 1967
Literature
Slim Stealingworth, Tom Wesselmann, New York, 1980, p. 170 (illustrated)
Christin J. Mamiya, Pop Art and Consumer Culture: American Super Market, Austin, 1992, p. 99
Sam Hunter, Tom Wesselmann, New York, 1994, no. 54, p. 127 (illustrated, p. 66)
Linda Bolton, Art Revolutions: Pop Art, London, 2000, p. 17 (illustrated)
Beth McGovern, "Portrait of the Artist," Hiram, vol. 74, no. 2, Spring 2002, p. 11 (illustrated)
Patricia Pate Havlice, World Painting Index: Third Supplement, 1990-1999, vol. I, Oxford, 2003, p. 1155
Tom Wesselmann, exh. cat., MACRO Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma, Rome, 2005, p. 313 (illustrated, p. 98)
Sam Hunter, "Remembering Tom Wesselmann (1931–2004): And His Alter Ego, Slim Stealingworth," American Art, vol. 19, no. 2, Summer 2005, p. 110
John Wilmerding, Tom Wesselmann: His Voice and Vision, New York, 2008, p. 125 (illustrated, p. 126)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.
Property from an Important Florida Collection
Ο◆12
Mouth #14 (Marilyn)
signed and dated "Wesselmann 67" on the overlap
oil on shaped canvas
60 x 108 in. (152.4 x 274.3 cm)
Painted in 1967.
Please note that this work will be included in the Tom Wesselmann Digital Corpus published by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, and will be included in their forthcoming Tom Wesselmann Digital Catalogue Raisonné.
Estimate
$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for $3,236,500
Amanda Lo Iacono
Global Managing Director and Specialist, Head of Evening Sale, New York
+1 212 940 1278
ALoiacono@phillips.com
Carolyn Mayer
Associate Specialist, Associate Head of Evening Sale, New York
+1 212 940 1206
CMayer@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
New York Auction 15 November 2022
1
Ilana Savdie
Marimonda Desplegada
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $176,400
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2
Danica Lundy
Miss Fist Kiss
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $189,000
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3
Lauren Quin
Arrow
Estimate $70,000 - 100,000
Sold for $163,800
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4
Avery Singer
Untitled
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,724,000
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5
Rashid Johnson
Standing Broken Men
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,724,000
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6
Pablo Picasso
Mousquetaire buste
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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7
Julie Mehretu
Tsunemasa (next to Kaija)
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,386,000
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8
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate $35,000,000 - 45,000,000
Sold for $41,640,000
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9
René Magritte
Le météore
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,265,000
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10
Amy Sherald
Pilgrimage of the Chameleon
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,087,000
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11
Loie Hollowell
Lick, Lick in Purple, maroon-yellow
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,361,000
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12
Tom Wesselmann
Mouth #14 (Marilyn)
Estimate $3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for $3,236,500
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13
René Magritte
Le coup de grâce
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,966,000
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14
Anna Weyant
Bum
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $390,600
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15
Mark Bradford
He Barked Just Like a Watchdog
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,870,000
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16
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Circus No. 12 Face 44.30)
Estimate $8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for $9,809,000
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17
Marc Chagall
Le Père
Estimate $6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for $7,404,500
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18
Marlene Dumas
Snow White in the Wrong Story
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $3,781,000
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19
María Berrío
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $1,603,000
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20
Alex Katz
The Grey Dress
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $2,208,000
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21
Yayoi Kusama
All The Eternal Love
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,966,000
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22
Alexander Calder
Plutôt jaune
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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23
Amy Sherald
Madame Noire
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
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24
Jean-Michel Basquiat
To Repel Ghosts
Estimate $7,000,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for $7,862,500
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25
This lot is no longer available.
26
Yayoi Kusama
Nets Blue
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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27
Lucy Bull
Untitled
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $478,800
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28
Willem de Kooning
Untitled
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,870,000
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29
Milton Avery
Hot Moon
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,208,000
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30
Amoako Boafo
Pink Shorts
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $403,200
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31
Rashid Johnson
Untitled Anxious Collage
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $567,000
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32
Joan Mitchell
Cobalt
Estimate $3,000,000 - 4,000,000
Sold for $3,418,000
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33
Andy Warhol
Oxidation
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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34
Alexander Calder
Petite croix
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $4,023,000
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35
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36
Willem de Kooning
Event in a Barn
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $3,055,000
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37
Pablo Picasso
Paysage au pin
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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38
Mickalene Thomas
I Can’t See Me Without You
Estimate $350,000 - 550,000
Sold for $441,000
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39
Balthus
La Sieste
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $1,058,500
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40
Andy Warhol
Nosepicker I: Why Pick on Me (The Broad Gave Me My Face But I Can Pick My Own Nose)
Estimate $300,000 - 500,000
Sold for $491,400
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41
Andy Warhol
Living Room
Estimate $250,000 - 450,000
Sold for $315,000
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42
Robert Motherwell
Open No. 25: In Blue with Variations
Estimate $900,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $2,329,000
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43
Luc Tuymans
Absence
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $453,600
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44
Ernie Barnes
Slam Before the Storm
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $604,800
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45
Carmen Herrera
Noche Verde
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $567,000
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46
Anne Truitt
Autumn Dryad
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $567,000
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