Jack Klein (gifted by the artist) Jan Krugier Gallery, New York James Corcoran Gallery, Santa Monica Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2011
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.
signed and dated "Wesselmann 76" lower right ballpoint pen and colored pencil on tracing paper image 4 1/2 x 6 1/4 in. (11.4 x 15.9 cm) sheet 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm) Executed in 1976.
Estimate $25,000 - 35,000
Sold for $22,500
Contact Specialist
John McCord
Head of Day Sale, Morning Session
New York
+1 212 940 1261
20th c. & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session
