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Lot Essay
The 1960s were a vital moment for Wesselmann, who explored a staggering number of possibilities in different media, subject matter and variations on his most enduring subject: the female nude. Although critics have often pointed to the prurient aspects of his work, his subject matter follows a long line of artists who have made the sensuous female nude their raison d'être. Indeed, his early nudes of women in bath tubs are much more indebted to Bonnard's late paintings than to any of his American contemporaries. The innovative formal structure and his signature handling of the flat surface of the female nudes assure Wesselmann's placement in the canon of Post-War American art.
The relationship between the female body and still life compositions became Wesselmann's central focus during this period. Women, or reclining nudes, were often prominently featured in his earliest works, juxtaposed with arrangements of everyday objects. Later, the reclining nude became more specific, eventually taking over his compositions. Wesselmann presented both full and cropped images of a sensual female form at the beach or in the bedroom in such a format that suggested the voyeuristic appeal of female models in men's magazines, as well as the erotically charged drawings by Picasso from the 1960s. This was just as influential on Wesselmann's oeuvre as his sustained observation of Women by de Kooning. "I wanted to paint like de Kooning, but I couldn't...it wasn't my language. But I was so excited by the ideas of de Kooning that I was determined to find my own way" (as quoted in S. Hunter, Tom Wesselmann, 1994, p. 16). Rather than realize nudes in an abstract expressionist manner, Wesselmann realized them in a flatly graphic style reminiscent of the advertising culture of the 1960's.
Tom Wesselmann's Study for Seascape #17, executed in 1966, features the artist's iconic female nude-seductive and sensual, yet with Wesselmann's command of line and form. It focuses on the contours and details of the breasts. This, together with the high clouds and low horizon are meticulously realized in subtly gradated tones-the artist's delicate graphite lines adding an additional level of sensuality. The breasts loom over the landscape in a dramatic juxtaposition of image and background, reminiscent of Magritte's penchant for enigmatic disembodied images.
The relationship between the female body and still life compositions became Wesselmann's central focus during this period. Women, or reclining nudes, were often prominently featured in his earliest works, juxtaposed with arrangements of everyday objects. Later, the reclining nude became more specific, eventually taking over his compositions. Wesselmann presented both full and cropped images of a sensual female form at the beach or in the bedroom in such a format that suggested the voyeuristic appeal of female models in men's magazines, as well as the erotically charged drawings by Picasso from the 1960s. This was just as influential on Wesselmann's oeuvre as his sustained observation of Women by de Kooning. "I wanted to paint like de Kooning, but I couldn't...it wasn't my language. But I was so excited by the ideas of de Kooning that I was determined to find my own way" (as quoted in S. Hunter, Tom Wesselmann, 1994, p. 16). Rather than realize nudes in an abstract expressionist manner, Wesselmann realized them in a flatly graphic style reminiscent of the advertising culture of the 1960's.
Tom Wesselmann's Study for Seascape #17, executed in 1966, features the artist's iconic female nude-seductive and sensual, yet with Wesselmann's command of line and form. It focuses on the contours and details of the breasts. This, together with the high clouds and low horizon are meticulously realized in subtly gradated tones-the artist's delicate graphite lines adding an additional level of sensuality. The breasts loom over the landscape in a dramatic juxtaposition of image and background, reminiscent of Magritte's penchant for enigmatic disembodied images.