Among the first of the American Pop Artists, Tom Wesselmann (1931 - 2004) is best known for his "Great American Nudes" series in the 1960's. In the early 1980's, he produced the first "Metal Works" based on his drawings and sketches.

Biography Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004) Born on February 23, 1931 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Wesselmann studied at the Hiram College in Ohio before studying psychology at Cincinnati University. Shortly after he was drafted into the Army for the Korean War where he began cartoon drawings. In 1955 he studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati then moved to New York where he studied under Nicolas Marsicano at the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture. He earned a living by working as a cartoonist for several journals and magazines and taught at a highschool in Brooklyn. Wesselmann's early work was influenced by Abstract Expressionist Willem de Kooning. In 1959 he turned to experimenting with small, abstract collages. In 1960 he changed to painting objects and landscapes. He had his first one-man exhibition at the Tanager Gallery, New York, in 1961. In 1962 he participated in the exhibition The Figure at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 1963 he was included in Pop Goes the East at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, and in 1965 in the Young America 1965 exhibition at the Whitney Museum, New York. He was represented at the São Paulo Biennale, 1967, and at the documenta "4" and "6", Kassel, in 1968 and 1977 respectively. His exhibition Early Still-Lifes 1962-1964 began its tour of the USA at Balboa, California, in 1970. In 1974 his exhibition The Early Years: Collages 1959-62 toured the USA. In the same year he was included in the exhibition American Pop Art, Whitney Museum, New York, and in Illusions of Reality at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, in 1976. His work started with brash collages, assemblages and environments using commonplace commodity articles and modeled on advertising catalogs - usually combined with the exhibitionistic pose of a female body. In the course of his work on the series Great American Nudes he enlarged the format of his canvases. Wesselmann died in New York on December 17, 2004 Curriculum Vitae Tom Wesselmann 1931 Born in Cincinnati, OH 1949-51 Hiram College Ohio 1951-56 BA, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 1954-56 Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 1956-59 The Cooper Union New York Selected Exhibitions 2000 Tom Wesselmann: Blue Nudes, Joesph Helman Gallery, New York, NY 2000 Tom Wesselmann, JGM Galerie Paris, France 1999 Tom Wesselmann: Small Survey: Small Scale, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, NY 1998 Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden 1997 Tom Wesselmann, Galerie Benden, Klimczak Viersen, Germany 1996 Tom Wesselmann Lasers and Lithos, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, NY 1995 Tom Wesselmann, Sindey Janis Gallery, New York, NY 1994 Tom Wesselmann: Recent Works, Galerie Beatrice, Wassermann Munich, Germany 1993 Tom Wesselmann: New Cut Outs and Drawings, Wassermann Galerie Munich, Germany 1992 Tom Wesselmann, Sindey Janis Gallery, New York, NY 1991 Galerie Tokoyo, Tokyo, Japan 1985 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY 1984 Modernism, San Francisco, CA 1983 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY 1982 Recent Work by Tom Wesselmann, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York 1981 Hokin Gallery, Miami, FL 1980 New Sculpture & Paintings by Tom Wesselman, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York 1979 Galerie Serge di Bloe. Brussels 1979 Ehrlich Gallery, New York 1978 Tom Wesselmann: Graphics 1964-77, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA 1976 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York Public Collections Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY Rose Art Gallery, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA Washington University, St. Louis, MO University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, KS Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX Worcester Art Museum, Worchester, MA Cincinnati Art Museum, Cinciinnati, OH Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN Rice University, Houston, TX University of Texas, Austin, TX Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ University of Kansas Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C. National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Sydney & Francis Lewis Collection, Richmond, VA Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, Japan Takashima Art Museum, Tokya, Japan Suermondt Museum, Aachen, West Germany Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, West Germany Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, West Germany Kaiser-Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, West Germany National Galerie, Berlin, West Germany Musée d'Art ed d'Industrie, St. Etienne, France Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, Norway Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark