RARE \"Pop Art\" Tom Wesselmann Signed 3X5,5 Card COA for Sale

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RARE \"Pop Art\" Tom Wesselmann Signed 3X5,5 Card COA For Sale

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RARE \"Pop Art\" Tom Wesselmann Signed 3X5,5 Card COA:
$499.99

Upfor sale aRARE! \"Pop Art\" Tom Wesselmann Hand Signed 3X5,5 Card Dated 1963.This item is authenticated by Todd Mueller Autographs and comeswith their Certificate of Authenticity.

ES-6714
ThomasK. Wesselmann(February23, 1931 – December 17, 2004) was an American artist associated with thePop Artmovement whoworked in painting,collageand sculpture. Wesselmann was born atCincinnati.From1949 to 1951 he attended college in Ohio; first atHiram College,and then transferred to major in Psychology at theUniversity of Cincinnati. He was draftedinto theUS Armyin1952, but spent his service years stateside. During that time he made his firstcartoons, and became interested in pursuing a career in cartooning. After hisdischarge he completed his psychology degree in 1954, whereupon he began tostudy drawing at theArt Academy of Cincinnati. He achievedsome initial success when he sold his first cartoon strips to themagazines1000 JokesandTrue.Cooper Unionacceptedhim in 1956, and he continued his studies in New York. During a visit totheMoMAhewas inspired by theRobertMotherwellpaintingElegy to the Spanish Republic:“The first aesthetic experience… He felt a sensation of high visceralexcitement in his stomach, and it seemed as though his eyes and stomach weredirectly connected”. Wesselmannalso admired the work ofWillem deKooning, but he soon rejectedactionpainting: “He realized he had to find his own passion he felt he hadto deny to himself all that he loved in de Kooning, and go in as opposite adirection as possible.\" For Wesselmann, 1958 was a pivotal year. Alandscape painting trip to Cooper Union\'s Green Camp in ruralNew Jersey,brought him to the realization that he could pursue painting, rather thancartooning, as a career. After graduation, Wesselmann became one of thefounding members of theJudson Gallery, along with Marc RatliffandJim Dine,also from Cincinnati, who had just arrived in New York. He and Ratliff showed anumber of small collages in a two-man exhibition at Judson Gallery. He began toteach art at a public school inBrooklyn,and later at theHigh School of Art and Design. Wesselmann\'sseriesGreat American Nude(begun 1961) first brought him tothe attention of the art world. After a dream concerning the phrase \"red,white, and blue\", he decided to paint aGreat American Nudeina palette limited to those colors and any colors associated with patrioticmotifs such as gold and khaki.Theseries incorporated representational images with an accordingly patriotictheme, such as American landscape photos and portraits of founding fathers.Often these images were collaged from magazines and discarded posters, whichcalled for a larger format than Wesselmann had used previously. As works beganto approach a giant scale he approached advertisers directly to acquirebillboards. ThroughHenryGeldzahler, Wesselmann metAlex Katz,who offered him a show at theTanager Gallery. Wesselmann\'s first soloshow was held there later that year, representing both the large andsmallGreat American Nudecollages. In 1962, Richard Bellamyoffered him a one-man exhibition at theGreen Gallery.About the same time,Ivan Karpof theLeo CastelliGalleryputWesselmann in touch with several collectors and talked to him works. These Wesselmann viewed without noting anysimilarities with his own {S. Stealingworth, p. 25}. While not a cohesivemovement, the idea ofPop Art(a name coined byLawrenceAllowayand others) was gradually spreading amonginternationalart criticsand the public. In As HenryGeldzahler observed: “About a year and a half ago I saw the works ofWesselmann..., Warhol, Rosenquist and Lichtenstein in their studios (it was moreor less July 1961). They were working independently, unaware of each other, butdrawing on a common source of imagination. In the space of a year and a halfthey put on exhibitions, created a movement and we are now here discussing thematter in a conference. This is instant history of art, a history of art thatbecame so aware of itself as to make a leap that went beyond art itself”. TheSidney JanisGalleryheldtheNew Realistsexhibition in November 1962, which includedworks by the American artistsJim Segal, andAndy Warhol;and Europeans such asArman,Enrico Baj,Christo,Yves Klein,Tano Festa,Mimmo Rotella,Jean Tinguely,andMario Schifano. It followed theNouveau Réalismeexhibition at the GalerieRive Droite inParis,and marked the international debut of the artists who soon gave rise to whatcame to be calledPop Artin Britain and The United States andNouveau Réalismeon the Europeancontinent. Wesselmann took part in theNew Realistshow withsome reservations, exhibiting two 1962 works:Still life #17andStilllife #22. Wesselmann never liked his inclusion inAmericanPop Art, pointing out howhe made anaestheticuse of everyday objects and not a criticism ofthem as consumer objects: “I dislike labels in general and \'Pop\' in particular,especially because it overemphasizes the material used. There does seem to be atendency to use similar materials and images, but the different ways they areused denies any kind of group intention”. Thatyear, Wesselmann had begun working on a new series of still lifes.experimenting withassemblageas well as collage. InStillLife #28he included a television set that was turned on, “interestedin the competitive demands that a TV, with moving images and giving off lightand sound, can make on painted portions”Heconcentrated on the juxtapositions of different elements and depictions, whichwere at the time truly exciting for him: “Not just the differences between whatthey were, but the aura each had with it... A painted pack of cigarettes nextto a painted apple wasn’t enough for me. They are both the same kind of thing.But if one is from a cigarette ad and the other a painted apple, they are twodifferent realities and they trade on each other... This kind of relationshiphelps establish a momentum throughout the picture... At first glance, mypictures seem well behaved, as if – that is a still life, O.K. But these thingshave such crazy give-and-take that I feel they get really very wild”. Hemarried Claire Selley in November 1963. In 1964 Ben Birillo, an artist andbusiness partner of gallery owner Paul Bianchini, contacted Wesselmann andother Pop artists with the goal of organizingThe American Supermarketatthe Bianchini Gallery in New York. This was an installation of a largesupermarket where Pop works (Warhol\'s Campbell\'s Soup, Watts\'s colored wax eggsetc.) were shown among real food and neon signs. In the same year Wesselmann beganworking on landscapes, including one that includes the noise of aVolkswagenstartingup. The firstshaped canvasnudes also appeared thisyear.