Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004)
Biography
Tom Wesselmann was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on February 23, 1931. He attended Hiram College in Ohio from 1949 to 1951 before entering the University of Cincinnati. In 1953 his studies were interrupted by a two-year enlistment in the army, during which time he began drawing cartoons. He returned to the university in 1954 and received a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1956; during this time he decided to pursue a career in cartooning and so enrolled at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. After graduation he moved to New York City, where he was accepted into the Cooper Union and where his focus shifted dramatically to fine art; he received his diploma in 1959.
Wesselmann became one of the leading American Pop artists of the 1960s, rejecting abstract expressionism in favor of the classical representations of the nude, still life, and landscape. He created collages and assemblages incorporating everyday objects and advertising ephemera in an effort to make images as powerful as the abstract expressionism he admired. He is perhaps best known for his Great American Nude series with their fat forms and intense colors.
In the seventies, Wesselmann continued to explore the ideas and media which had preoccupied him during the Sixties. Most significantly, his large Standing Still Life series, composed of free standing shaped canvases, showed small intimate objects on a grand scale. In 1980 Wesselmann, using the pseudonym Slim Stealingworth, wrote an autobiography documenting the evolution of his artistic work. He continued exploring shaped canvases (first exhibited in the 1960s) and began creating his first works in metal. He instigated the development of a laser-cutting application, which would allow him to make a faithful translation of his drawings in cut-out metal. The 1990s and early 2000s saw the artist expanding on these themes, creating abstract three-dimensional images that he described as “going back to what I had desperately been aiming for in 1959.” He had indeed come full circle. In his final years he returned to the female form in his Sunset Nudes series of oil paintings on canvas, whose bold compositions, abstract imagery, and sanguine moods often recall the odalisques of Henri Matisse.
Wesselmann worked in New York City for more than four decades. He lived in New York City with his wife, Claire, daughters Jenny and Kate, and son Lane. He died there on December 17, 2004.
Source: The Estate of Tom Wesselmann
Born: 1941
Died: 2004
Education: Hiram College in Ohio from 1949 to 1951, University of Cincinnati 1956, Cooper Union 1959
Exhibitions
2023 Musée Matisse, Nice, Tom Wesselmann: After Matisse, February 24 to May 29
Gagosian, Beverly Hills, Tom Wesselmann: Intimate Spaces, May 3 to June 16
2022 Cristea Roberts Gallery, London, Synthesis and Tension: Tom Wesselmann Editions, April 29 to June 1
Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, Tom Wesselmann: After Matisse, June 11 to July 30
2019 Almine Rech Gallery, London, Tom Wesselmann, January 30 to March 23
Gagosian, New York, Tom Wesselmann: Flowers, June 14 to August 16
2018 Gagosian, New York, Tom Wesselmann, Standing Still Lifes, January 18 to February 24
Le Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (NMNM), Monaco, Tom Wesselmann: La Promesse du Bonheur, June 29 to January 2019
Gagosian, Beverly Hills, Wesselmann:1963-1983, July 12 to August 24
2017 Vedovi Gallery, Brussels, Tom Wesselmann – Telling It Like It Is, April 18 to June 20
Almine Rech Gallery, London, Tom Wesselmann, October 3, 2017 to January 13, 2018
Gagosian, London, Tom Wesselmann, Bedroom Paintings, October 4 to December 16, 2017
2016 David Zwirner Gallery, London, Tom Wessemann Collages 1959-1964
Van de Weghe Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann, Early Works
Mitchell-Innes and Nash Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann
Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, A Different Kind of Woman
2015 Galerie Gmurzynska, St. Moritz, A Line to Greatness
2014 Denver Art Museum, Beyond Pop Art; A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective
Cincinnati Art Museum, Beyond Pop Art; A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective
2013 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Beyond Pop Art; A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective
Alan Cristea Gallery, Still Life, Nude, Landscape: The Late Prints, London
2012 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Beyond Pop Art; A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective
David Janis Gallery, New York, Painted Black
Galerie Pascal Lansberg, Paris
2011 The Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC, Tom Wesselmann Draws (catalog)
Gallery Fluegel-Roncak, Nuremberg, Tom Wesselmann – Nudes and Flowers
Galerie Klaus Benden, Cologne, Tom Wesselmann, Grafiken
2010 David Janis Gallery, New York
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, Tom Wesselmann, Plastic Works, New York, (catalog)
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Nova Southeastern University, FL, Tom Wesselmann Draws (catalog)
Haunch of Venison Gallery, Tom Wesselmann, Works 1958-2004, London Galerie Klaus Benden, Tom Wesselmann, Flowers, Cologne, (catalog)
2009 Galerie Thomas, Munich, Journey into the Landscape (catalog)
Stadtische Galerie Ravensburg, Ravensburg
Haunch of Venison Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann Draws (catalog)
2008 JGM Galerie, Paris
Mitterrand & Cramer, Geneva
Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Tom Wesselmann, Faces 1963-1993, Cologne and Viersen, (catalog)
Samuel VanHoegaerden Gallery, Knokke, Belgum (catalog)
Bemard Jacobson Gallery, London, Tom Wesselmann, Journeys into the Landscape (catalog)
2007 Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA
Flora Bigai Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Venice
Galerie Leu, Munich
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, Drop Outs, New York (catalog)
Yvon Lambert, New York, Drop Outs (catalog)
2006 L&M Arts, New York, The Sixties (catalogue)
Robert Miller Gallery, New York, Sunset Nudes (catalogue)
Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Blue Nudes (catalogue)
Imago Gamin, Palm Desert, CA
The Columns Art Center, Korea
2005 Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma (MACRO), Rome (catalogue)
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, Works on Paper Retrospective (catalogue)
2004 Galerie Rive Gauche, Paris
Bernard Jacobson Gallery, Tom Wesselmann New York, May 25 – June 30 (catalogue)
2003 Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL
Robert Miller Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann (catalogue)
University of California at Long Beach, Long Beach (catalogue)
Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio
Flora Bigai Arte Moderna E Contemporanea, Venice (catalogue)
Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, California
Berlin Projects, Berlin, Neue Gemalde and Zeichnungen
2002 Buschlen Mowatt Galleries, Vancouver, Canada
JGM Galerie, Paris, Tom Wesselmann: Blue Nudes
Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA, Tom Wesselmann, Blue Nudes
Thomas Ammann Fine Arts, Basel
Heland Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm
2001 Pillsbury Peters Fine Art, Dallas
Danese Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann: 3-D Maquettes
Editions Terminus, Munich
Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA
2000 Galerie Hans Mayer, Berlin
Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Viersen, Germany, Tom Wesselmann: Paintings and Metal Works Galerie Guy Pieters, Knokke-Heist, Belgium
Heland Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm
JGM Galerie, Paris
Joseph Helman Gallery, New York. Tom Wesselmann: Blue Nudes (catalogue)
Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL
Cincinnati Art Gallery, Cincinnati
Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Cologne, Torn Wesselmann: Abstract Maquettes (catalogue) Galerie Uwe Opper, Kronberg, Germany
1999 Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann: Small Survey: Small Scale (catalogue)
Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL, Wesselmann Maquettes and Nude Cut-Outs
James Mayor, London (catalogue)
Artiscope, Brussels, Tom Wesselmann Nudes
Galerie Kaess Weiss, Stuttgart
Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL
1998 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann New Abstract Paintings (catalogue) Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Viersen Germany
Michael Lord Gallery, Milwaukee
Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm
1997 Galerie Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf (catalogue)
Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Viersen, Germany
1996 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann Paper Maquettes
Fred Hoffman, Santa Monica, CA, Tom Wesselmann A Survey: 1959-1995 (catalogue) Wetterling Teo Ltd., Singapore (catalogue)
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann Lasers and Lithos
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann New Abstract Paintings (catalogue)
1995 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, catalogue. (catalogue)
Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL (catalogue)
1994 Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI, Larger than Life: Two Paintings by Tom Wesselmann
Institut für Kulturaustausch, Tübingen, Germany, Retrospective 1959-1993, organized by Thomas Buchsteiner and Otto Letze):, exhibition traveled to Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; Altes Museum, Berlin; Museum Villa Stuck, Munich; Kunsthal, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Historisches Museum der Pfalz, Speyer, Germany; Foundation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain. Paris; Fundacion Juan March, Madrid: Palais de la Virreina, Barcelona; Culturgest, Lisbon; Museé de l’Art Moderne, Nice, France) (catalogue)
Nikolaus Fischer Gallery, Frankfurt
Gana Art Gallery, Seoul
Didier Imbert Fine Art, Paris
Galerie Beatrice Wassermann, Munich
1993 O.K. Hanis/David Klein Gallery, Birmingham, MI, Nudes, Landscape. Still Lifes
Foundation Veranneman, Kruishouten, Belgium, Tom Wesselmann Wassermann Galerie, Basel Art Fair, Basel Switzerland
Shimbun. lsetan Museum of Art, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Tom Wesselmann: A Retrospective Survey 1959-1992, organized by Sankei Japan; and traveled to Museum of Contemporary Art, Sapporo, Japan; The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga. Japan; Museum of Art, Kintetsu, Japan (catalogue)
Wassermann Galerie, Munich, Tom Wesselmann: New Cut-Outs and Drawings
1992 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, Tom Wesselmann Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann: New Metal Paintings (catalogue)
1991 The Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, Wesselmann: Graphics/Multiples Retrospective 1964-1990
Edward Totah Gallery, London
Gallery Tokoro, Tokyo
Tasende Gallery, Chicago International Art Exposition
1990 John Stoller Gallery, Minneapolis
Blum Helman Gallery, Santa Monica
Gloria Luria Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, FL
Hokin Gallery, Palm Beach
Posner Gallery, Milwaukee
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
O.K. Harris, New York
Studio Trisorio, Naples, Italy
Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta
Galerie Experanza, Montreal
Wilkey Fine Arts, Medina, Washington
Galerie Joachim Becker, Cannes
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
1989 Blum Helman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Waddington Galleries. Ltd., London
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York
Galerie Joachim Becker, Cannes
1988 Galerie Tokoro, Tokyo, Wesselmann Recent Works
Sander Gallery Booth, Hamburg Art Fair, Germany
Mayor Gallery, London
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Stein Gallery, Chicago, Tom Wesselmann Retrospective: Graphics & Multiiples (exhibition traveled to Cumberland Gallery, Nashville; Hokin Gallery, Palm Beach: Charles Foley Gallery, Columbus, OH; Nan Miller Gallery, Rochester, NY; The Hara Museum, Tokyo.)
1987 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Queens Museum, Flushing, NY
Galerie Esperanza, Montreal
Galerie de France, Paris
The Cooper Union, New York
1986 Hokin Gallery, Bay Harbor, Florida
Gallery Quintana, Bogota, Columbia
Galerie Joachim Becker, Cannes, France
Gallerie Denise Rene Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf, Cut-Outs
O.K. Harris, New York
Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati
Galerie Quintana, Bogota, Colombia
Galerie Joachim Becker, Cannes
Galerie Denise Rene Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf
1985 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Hokin Gallery, Palm Beach
Jeffrey Hoffeld 8 Co., New York
1984 Galerie Esperanza, Montreal
Modernism, San Francisco
McIntosh/Drysdale Gallery, Houston
1983 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, New Work by Tom Wesselmann (catalogue)
Sander Gallery, New York
Delahunty Gallery, Dallas
1982 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (catalogue)
Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
1981 Hokin Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, FL
Hokin Gallery, Chicago
1980 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, New Sculpture & Paintings by Tom Wesselmann (November 6 – December 6) (catalogue)
1979 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (catalogue)
F.LA.C. Grand Palais, Paris
Ehrlich Gallery, New York
Serge de Bloe, Brussels
Hokin Gallery, Miami
1978 Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Tom Wesselmann Graphics 1964-77
1976 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (catalogue)
1974 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (catalogue)
Galerie des 4 Mouvements, Paris
Art Galleries, California State University,
Long Beach, Wesselmann, The Early Years: Collages 1959-62, exhibition traveled to Trisolini Gallery of Ohio University, Athens; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
1973 Multiples Gallery, New York and Los Angeles
1972 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann (catalogue)
Rosa Esman Gallery, New York
Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm
1971 Jack Glenn Gallery, Corona del Mar, CA
1970 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (catalogue)
Newport Harbor Art Museum, Balboa, CA. Early Still-Lifes 1962-1964, exhibition traveled to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; The Lincoln Art Museum, Massachusetts)
1968 Dayton’s Gallery 12, Minneapolis, exhibition traveled to Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; De Cordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, An Exhibition of New Work by Tom Wesselmann (February – March) (catalogue)
1967 Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Pans, Tom Wesselmann
Galleria Gian Enzo Sperone. Torino, Italy
1966 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
1965 Green Gallery, New York
1964 Green Gallery, New York
1962 Green Gallery, New York
1961 Tanager Gallery, New York