Tom Wesselmann - Seascape 22
Tom Wesselmann - Seascape 22
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Limited Edition: 74
Exhibition: Beyond Pop Art: A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective
Material: Printed 2-ply vinyl
Dimensions: 30" x 89" (76 x 226cm)
Hanging Hardware Included
Summary
Besides being a leading figure in the Pop Art movement (ah yes, he disliked that label for its overemphasis on the materials used), Tom Wesselmann was a fan of country music. He wrote over 400 songs, including “I Love Doing Texas With You,” which was included on the soundtrack for the 2005 Academy Award-winning film, Brokeback Mountain. The Denver Art Museum’s Beyond Pop Art: A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective explored the artist’s connection to country music as part of his four decade artistic career. The banner used to promote the exhibition featured Seascape #22 painted in 1967.
Description
Beyond Pop Art: A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective surveyed Tom Wesselmann’s work chronologically beginning with his abstract collages as he fought off a preoccupation with the work of Willem de Kooning, through his best known Great American Nude series, iconic Pop art still life series, steel cut drawings, and sunset nudes. With 100 works, including preliminary drawings, maquettes, and archival documents, the exhibition allowed a glimpse into Wesselmann’s creative process. His female figures and Pop Art works are replete with American symbols, including images of U.S. presidents, flags and stars, and canned goods.
Wesselmann was known to work long hours exclusively in his New York studio, but in 1966, he was invited to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Inspired by sunbathing women on the beach, he experimented with the female form by zeroing in on a foot, shaping canvasses, and creating Drop-Outs whereby negative space might accentuate a breast. Seascape #22 was born following this rare, yet influential, "vacation" and exemplifies Wesselmann’s movement towards large formats and blown up body parts framed by beach scenery. He made numerous studies in Cape Cod, and back in New York used a projector to enlarge them. Seascape #22 is oil on shaped canvas and measures nearly eight by five feet
"Beyond Pop Art" appears at the top of the banner and "A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective" below Seascape #22, both in red capital letters. The Denver Art Museum logo is on a red background at the bottom. Both sides of the banner are identical.
Provenance
This banner was displayed around the Denver area between July 13 and September 31, 2014. The exhibition began at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, traveled to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and then the Denver Art Museum, and continued on to the Cincinnati Art Museum.