Tom Wesselmann

Tom Wesselmann biography

The US-American painter, graphic designer and object artist Tom Wesselmann initially studied psychology and later art at the Art Academy in Cincinnati and the Cooper Union School of Arts and Architecture in New York (1956-59). He is classed as one of the most important representatives of Pop Art. He took his subject matter of nudes and still lifes from the picture world of advertising and everyday culture of the 1960s and 1970s.

His first works took the form of small format collages using waste paper and the remnants of newspapers (Little Great American Nudes, 1961/1962), leading on to the famous series of 'Great American Nudes', with large format still lifes featuring flatly applied, bright colours. Wesselmann fitted the shape of the canvas to the motif, and layered canvases on top of each other. (For example 'Large Nude Nr. 98' in the Museum Ludwig in Cologne consists of five canvases arranged in three layers). He also monumentalised banal, stereotypical and bold erotic motifs in the series 'Bathtubs' in which he mounted real items such as handles, towels and bath taps onto the canvas. From 1983, he began making metal reliefs, cutting the motifs of nudes, still lifes and landscape sketches out with a laser. Wesselman featured in documenta 4 and 6, and the art museums of Denver and Cincinatti are showing a comprehensive retrospective of his work in 2014.