Tom Wesselmann - Modern & Contemporary Art New York Wednesday, July 17, 2024 | Phillips

Modern & Contemporary Art

New York Auction 17 July 2024

  • Provenance

    Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
    Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above in 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.

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32

Tom Wesselmann

Maquette for Smoking Cigarette (Relief)

signed, inscribed and dated "Wesselmann 83 83-21" on the reverse; signed, titled and inscribed "83-21 MAQUETTE FOR SMOKING CIGARETTE RELIEF. WESSELMANN" on the reverse of the Plexiglas box
Liquitex on rag board, in Plexiglas case
maquette 10 1/2 x 13 5/8 x 4 5/8 in. (26.7 x 34.6 x 11.7 cm)
overall 17 1/4 x 24 x 6 1/8 in. (43.8 x 61 x 15.6 cm)
Executed in 1983.

Please note that this work will be included in the Tom Wesselmann Digital Catalogue Raisonné Project published by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute.

Estimate
$10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for $13,970

Contact Specialist

Nina Piro
Specialist, Associate Vice President
npiro@phillips.com
646-647-5387
 

Modern & Contemporary Art

New York Auction 17 July 2024