Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York Private Collection Cornette de Saint Cyr, Brussels, 13 April 2010, lot 45 Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
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 69' lower right; titled and numbered 'D6956 DRAWING FOR BEDROOM PAINTING D6956' on the reverse graphite on paper image 14.3 x 20.1 cm (5 5/8 x 7 7/8 in.) sheet 19.8 x 25.5 cm (7 3/4 x 10 in.) Executed in 1969.