Tom Wesselmann was born on February 23, 1931 in Cincinnati, Ohio. From 1949 to 1951 he attended Hiram College in Ohio before attending the University of Cincinnati. In 1953 his studies were interrupted by a two-year enlistment in the army during which he began to draw caricatures. He returned to the university in 1954 and received a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1956; during this time he decided to pursue a career as a caricaturist and enrolled in the Cincinnati Academy of Arts. After graduating, he moved to New York City, where he was accepted into the Cooper Union and where his focus shifted dramatically to the visual arts; he received his diploma in 1959.
Tom Wesselmann became one of the leading American pop artists of the 1960s, rejecting Abstract Expressionism in favor of the classic depictions of the nude, still life, and landscape. He created collages and assemblages with everyday objects and advertising ephemera to create images as powerful as the abstract expressionism he admired. Tom Wesselmann is perhaps best known for his Great American Nude series with their bold forms and intense colors.
In the seventies, Tom Wesselmann continued his exploration of the ideas and media that had occupied him in the sixties. Most significant was his large series Standing Still Life, which consisted of free-standing, sculpted canvases and showed small, intimate objects on a large scale. In 1980, Wesselmann wrote an autobiography under the pseudonym Slim Stealingworth that documented the development of his artistic work. He continued to explore moulded canvases (first exhibited in the 1960s) and began to create his first works in metal. He initiated the development of a laser-cut application that would enable him to make a faithful translation of his drawings into cut-out metal. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the artist expanded on these themes and created abstract three-dimensional paintings, which he described as a “return to what I had desperately sought in 1959”. The circle had indeed come full circle. In the last years of his life, he returned to the female form in his series Sunset Nudes, a series of oil paintings on canvas whose bold compositions, abstract images, and serene moods are often reminiscent of Henri Matisse’s Odalisques.
Tom Wesselmann worked in New York City for more than four decades. He lived in New York City with his wife Claire, his daughters Jenny and Kate and his son Lane. He died there on December 17, 2004.
Exhibitions (Selection)
2015
POtPourri, Galerie Thomas Modern, München, Deutschland
Intimate Spheres / Sphères intimes, Ma Galerie, Paris, Frankreich
2014
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
2013
Tom Wesselmann, Galerie Thomas Modern, München, Deutschland
Alan Cristea Gallery: Still Life, Nude, Landscape: The Late Prints, London, UK
2012
Objects Of Desire, Davidson Contemporary, New York, NY
Beyond Pop-Art, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montreal, Kanada
Tom Wesselmann, Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, Kanada
Tom Wesselmann, David Janis Gallery, New York, USA
2011
Highlights, Galerie Klaus Benden, Köln, Deutschland
Grafiken, Galerie Klaus Benden, Köln, Deutschland
Tom Wesselmann, Kreeger Museum, Washington, D.C.
2010
Tom Wesselmann: Plastic Works, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
Tom Wesselmann: Draws, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, USA (solo)
Tom Wesselmann: 1958 – 2004, Haunch of Venison Gallery, London, England (solo)
2008
Dessins, gouaches, maquettes et peintures, JGM Galerie, Paris, Frankreich (solo)
2007
Tom Wesselmann, The Columns Gallery, Seoul, Korea (solo)
Tom Wesselmann, Drop-Out, Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
Tom Wesselmann, Drop-Out, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
2006
Tom Wesselmann, Nudes, The Andipa Gallery, London, England (solo)
2004
Marcel Strouk / Galerie Rive Gauche, Paris, Frankreich (solo)
2000
Tom Wesselmann, Blue Nudes, Joesph Helman Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
Tom Wesselmann, JGM Galerie, Paris, Frankreich (solo)
1999
Tom Wesselmann, Small Survey: Small Scale, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1998
Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
1997
Tom Wesselmann, Galerie Benden&Klimczak Viersen, Deutschland (solo)
1996
Tom Wesselmann, Lasers and Lithos, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1995
Tom Wesselmann, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1994
Tom Wesselmann, Recent Works, Galerie Beatrice Wassermann, München, Deutschland (solo)
1993
Tom Wesselmann: New Cut Outs and Drawings, Wassermann Galerie, München, Deutschland (solo)
1992
Tom Wesselmann, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1991
Galerie Tokoro, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1985
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1983
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1982
Recent Work by Tom Wesselmann, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1981
Hokin Gallery, Miami, USA
1980
New Sculpture & Paintings by Tom Wesselman, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1979
Galerie Serge di Bloe, Brüssel, Belgien Ehrlich Gallery, New York, USA Ehrlich Gallery, New York, USA
1978
Tom Wesselmann: Graphics 1964-77, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, USA (solo)
1976
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
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