Claire Robe Half Off by Tom Wesselmann

Considered one of the pioneers of the Abstract Expressionist movement in the 1960s, Wesselmann favored the classical representation of the nude through his portrait painting. The one dimensional and central figure of the nude is illuminated with a bright palette and flattened composition.

Add to Wishlist

Artwork Information

Presentation	Edition of 100
Created	1993
Size	61×48
Medium	silkscreen
Signed	Yes
Genre	Pop

Description

Claire Robe Half Off by Tom Wesselmann

Tom Wesselmann was a prolific printmaker. Tom Wesselman Print’s touched upon the medium in the 1960s and 1970s, it was from 1980 that Tom Wesselmann began to take the print medium seriously and devoted more time to the art of printmaking. Tom Wesselman, working in both lithograph and screen print, Tom Wesselman created the majority of his editions as screen prints, a large number of them being created based on sitters Claire, Monica and Vivienne. Often extremely large in format, Tom Wesselmann’s pop imagery lends itself naturally to the screen print medium and the results are bright, crisp and iconic.

Hence, he became known for his “Great American Nude” series, linked to more classical works. Due to his particular aesthetic, he was seen, along with figures like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, as one of the purveyors of Pop Art,

Tom Wesselmann was born on February 23, 1931, in Cleveland, Ohio, and attended university before serving in the Korean War during the early 1950s. While overseas he began to craft cartoons, and upon his return to the States he earned a psychology degree from the University of Cincinnati. He then enrolled at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and later the Cooper Union in New York City, finishing his studies by the late 1950s.

Wesselmann died on December 17, 2004, in New York, after heart surgery, and was survived by his wife Claire and three children. Wesselmann died on December 17, 2004, in New York, after heart surgery, and was survived by his wife Claire and three children.“New York lit him on fire,” said Wesselmann’s second wife, Claire—a fellow Cooper Union student and model for her husband—about the city’s creative scene at that time. Having presumed he would continue cartoon work, Wesselmann was inspired by innovative exhibitions to go in a new direction and worked as a collagist, having initial showings at the Tanager and Green galleries by the early ’60s.