Tom Wesselmann

Known for his Pop-Art nude figures–the Great American Nude Series–as well as collages, often with food themes, Tom Wesselmann is a Cincinnati born artist who studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and at Cooper Union* in New York City in the late 1950s.

Art in Review; Tom Wesselmann

By Grace Gluck (New York Times)

Because in the early days of his career he painted still lifes of commercial foodstuffs and, more provocatively, stylized but erotic bodies, or parts thereof (his famous 1960′s ”Great American Nude” series mingled the classic reclining nude with the sexy pinup), Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004) got tagged as a Pop artist. And the designation stuck, even though, in later decades, he moved into new areas of interest, producing landscapes and large abstract cutouts in metal.

Interested early on in cartooning, he had a talent for spare, punchy imagery and an eye for catchy color. But his interest in more formal art, particularly that of Matisse, Picasso and Mondrian, is also abundantly evident in this lively display of 44 works on paper, arranged by his daughter Kate. Wesselmann was a compulsive draftsman, producing many color and compositional studies for most of his finished works, and the show covers decade by decade his varying approaches to his three basic subjects: the nude, the still life and the landscape.

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