Irene Sieberger
Senior Specialist
Lot 7*
Tom Wesselmann(1931-2004)Cut Out Nude (Green)
1965
1965
Amended
15 October 2021, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £156,500 inc. premium
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Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004)
Cut Out Nude (Green)
1965
signed and dated 65
acrylic, pencil and paper collage laid on board
43.1 by 57.5 cm.
16 15/16 by 22 5/8 in.
1965
signed and dated 65
acrylic, pencil and paper collage laid on board
43.1 by 57.5 cm.
16 15/16 by 22 5/8 in.
Footnotes
Provenance
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (#11266)
Private Collection, US
Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York (CA1833)
Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1995
In the late 1950s, Tom Wesselmann began a series of small collaged nudes in interior settings, composed from magazine cuttings. From 1961, these provided the compositional basis for his acclaimed and iconic Great American Nude series. Wesselmann's nudes, with their simplified curves and passages of rich colour are arguably the most widely recognised pieces, not only of his extensive and celebrated career, but epitomise the American Pop avant-garde that defined a generation championing progressive attitudes in the midst of the glamourisation of Hollywood and the proliferation of televisual and print media.
In this present work, Cut Out Nude (Green) from 1965, the enticing image of a brunette woman, languishingly posing with her arms stretched over her head is rendered in piquant clarity in painted, collaged elements. She appears to us as an idealised and attractive female form, a modern Venus. Her relaxed pose suggests she is completely at ease in her nudity with visible tan lines and a wide joyful smile, reclined in an intimate display evoking historical depictions of women in their private spaces.
This is not a figure that is submitting to the viewer, but instead appears to be relishing the attention and freedom her position allows. Wesselmann is not concerned with surface or sculpting – there is no hint of dimension to his nude – but rather we are presented with flat forms and brilliant colours, so definitive of iconic works produced at the height of Pop Art in the 1960s.
He often intentionally left the faces of his models blank, avoiding the suggestion of a portrait and allowing his viewers to be open to individual interpretation and leave room for the imagination. The only features Wesselmann includes here are those essential to sensual simplification such as lips and nipples, poignantly identified in bright red, believing that any intonation of personality would interfere with the forthrightness of the subject.
Wesselmann consistently referenced the classical representation of the nude throughout his figurative painting. In the present work, the one-dimensional, central figure of the nude is illuminated with a bright green palette and flattened composition. His theme has strong art historical credentials in the motif of the sleeping Venus, evolving into the reclining Odalisque, that adorns the walls of the world's greatest museums in the paintings of Ingres, Manet and Matisse. The latter's influence on Wesselmann was especially profound, identified in his own fluid and supple forms. Wesselmann's voluptuous reclining nudes put a new spin on Matisse's Odalisques, yet we can clearly identify inspiration from the sensuousness of Matisse's forms and vibrant palette. Invigorated by the shifting, luxurious forms of Matisse; Wesselmann shunned the almost clinical eye of his Pop contemporaries in favour of colours and subjects that were at once recognisable and ideal.
Wesselmann approached and revived the theme of the artist's muse in a completely novel way. His Great American Nudes as modern odalisques represent the most exceptional examples of his iconic visual language and capture the cultural energy of Post-War America that was going through significant shifts in second wave feminism, sexual liberation and hippie movements. The Great American Nudes established Wesselmann as a master of colour and collage, whose deft manipulation of art historical and contemporary symbols distinguished him as one of the leading American Pop artists of his time.
Saleroom notices
Please note that the medium should read: acrylic, watercolour, pencil and paper collage laid on carboard
