Tom Wesselmann - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale New York Tuesday, November 10, 2015 | Phillips

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

New York Auction 10 November 2015 11am

  • Provenance

    Estate of the Artist
    Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York
    Private Collection, New York

  • Catalogue Essay

    “The prime mission of my art, in the beginning, and continuing still, is to make figurative art as exciting as abstract art. I think I have succeeded, but there is still a lot further to go.” - Tom Wesselmann, 1985

  • 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

249

Tom Wesselmann

Dropped Bra (Big Maquette)

circa 1978-80
enamel on aluminum
28 x 58 x 22 in. (71.1 x 147.3 x 55.9 cm)
Signed and inscribed "The Estate of Tom Wesselmann Claire Wesselmann Executor" on the base of the reverse; further stamped and numbered "Wesselman No. 3" on the base of the reverse. This work is 3 of 5 unique maquettes, executed in black, pink, green, yellow and charcoal, that were studies for a large outdoor sculpture of the same subject.

Estimate
$80,000 - 120,000 

Contact Specialist
John McCord
Head Day Sale
New York
+1 212 940 1261

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

New York Auction 10 November 2015 11am