Tom Wesselmann - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale London Wednesday, October 21, 2020 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
    Galerie Daniel Varenne, Paris
    Private Collection, UK (acquired from the above circa 1989)
    Thence by descent to 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

157

Study for Still Life with Fruit, Daisies and Monica

signed and dated 'Wesselmann 86' lower right
Liquitex acrylic and graphite on Bristol board
41.2 x 56 cm (16 1/4 x 22 in.)
Executed in 1986.

Estimate
£60,000 - 80,000 

Sold for £81,900

Contact Specialist

Tamila Kerimova
Specialist, Head of Day Sale, Director

20th Century & Contemporary Art

+44 20 7318 4065
tkerimova@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

London Auction 21 October 2020