Tom Wesselmann American, 1931-2004
48 x 36 inches
In this important early example from the series, Great American Nude No. 27, Wesselmann includes all his signature imagery and techniques from the series. Contrasting collaged elements with hand-painted passages, the suggestive, cotton-candy pink nude with glossy lips is splayed across the patriotically coloured bedroom, replete with a patterned bedspread, polka dot curtains, and a television. A line-up of enticing ice cream sundaes and milkshakes are collaged onto the bottom register of the composition, suggesting the seductive promises of consumerism.
On the screen of the television in the background of the bedroom, Wesselmann has cleverly included a black and white photograph featuring the artist himself dancing with his wife Claire, Lucas Samaras, Judy Tersch, Carl Lehmann-Haupt, and Claes Oldenburg, Patty Oldenburg and Allan Kaprow.
This image was taken during Claes Oldenburg’s Happening Circus: Ironworks/Fotodeath, performed at the Reuben Gallery in February of 1961. The original film of the happening is in the archives of the Whitney Museum.
Provenance
Green Gallery, New York
Ambassador William Burden, New York
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York
Mayor Gallery, London/Daniel Varenne, Geneva
Acquired by the present owner from the above
Exhibitions
London, The Mayor Gallery, Tom Wesselmann: Paintings 1962 – 1986, 29 June – 31 August 1988, illustrated in colour p.13
Tokyo, Isetan Museum of Art; Sapporo, Museum of Contemporary Art; Shiga, The Museum of Modern Art; Osaka, Museum of Art, Tom Wesselmann: A Retrospective Survey 1959 – 1992, 15 September 1993 – 16 March 1994, p. 22; no. 13, p. 49; no. 13, p. 53, illustrated in colour
Tübingen, Germany, Kunsthalle Tübingen; Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts; Berlin, Altes Museum; Munich, Villa Stuck; Rotterdam, Kunsthal Rotterdam; Speyer, Germany, Historischen Museum der Pfalz Speyer; Paris, Fondation Cartier; Madrid, Fundación Juan March; Barcelona, Palau de la Virreina; Lisbon, Culturgest; Nice, Musée d‘Art Moderne, Tom Wesselmann: Retrospective 1959 – 1993, April 1994 – January 1997, no. 13, p. 61, illustrated in colour; p. 169
Paris, Centre Pompidou, Les Années Pop: 1956 – 1968, 15 March – 18 June 2001, no. 62.4, illustrated in colour; no. 62.4
Bielefeld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, The Big Eat: From Pop till the Present, 25 January – 24 April 2004, p. 52; no. 17, p. 53, illustrated in color; p. 173
London, National Portrait Gallery, Pop Art Portraits, 11 October 2007 – 20 January 2008, p. 103, illustrated in color; p. 181 (dimensions incorrectly listed as 60 x 48 inches)
Ravensburg, Städtische Galerie, Pictures on the Wall of your Heart: Tom Wesselmann und die Pop Art, 1 November 2008 – 11 January 2009, p. 16, illustrated in colour, p. 34, (dimensions incorrectly listed as 60 x 50 inches)
Paris, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Pop Forever: Tom Wesselmann..., 16 Oct 2024 - 24 Feb 2025, ill. in exh. cat. p. 174
Literature
Tom Wesselmann: Paintings 1962 – 1986, London, The Mayor Gallery, 29 June – 31 August 1988, illustrated in colour p.13
Tom Wesselmann: A Retrospective Survey 1959 – 1992, Tokyo, Isetan Museum of Art; Sapporo, Museum of Contemporary Art; Shiga, The Museum of Modern Art; Osaka, Museum of Art, 15 September 1993 – 16 March 1994, p. 22; no. 13, p. 49; no. 13, p. 53, illustrated in colour
The Art Book, Phaidon Press Ltd, 1994, ill. in colour p. 489
Tom Wesselmann: Retrospective 1959 – 1993, Tübingen, Germany, Kunsthalle Tübingen; Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts; Berlin, Altes Museum; Munich, Villa Stuck; Rotterdam, Kunsthal Rotterdam; Speyer, Germany, Historischen Museum der Pfalz Speyer; Paris, Fondation Cartier; Madrid, Fundación Juan March; Barcelona, Palau de la Virreina; Lisbon, Culturgest; Nice, Musée d‘Art Moderne, April 1994 – January 1997, no. 13, p. 61, illustrated in colour; p. 169
Les Années Pop: 1956 – 1968, Paris, Centre Pompidou, 15 March – 18 June 2001, no. 62.4, illustrated in colour; no. 62.4
The Big Eat: From Pop till the Present, Bielefeld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, 25 January – 24 April 2004, p. 52; no. 17, p. 53, illustrated in colour; p. 173
Pop Art Portraits, London, National Portrait Gallery, 11 October 2007 – 20 January 2008, p. 103, illustrated in colour; p. 181 (dimensions incorrectly listed as 60 x 48 inches)
Pictures on the Wall of your Heart: Tom Wesselmann und die Pop Art, Ravensburg, Städtische Galerie, 1 November 2008 – 11 January 2009, p. 16, illustrated in colour, p. 34, (dimensions incorrectly listed as 60 x 50 inches)
Pop Forever: Tom Wesselmann..., Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2024, Gallimard, illustrated in colour p. 174
To be included in the forthcoming Wildenstein Plattner Institute Tom Wesselmann Digital Catalogue Raisonné, no. TWGZCG