TOM WESSELMAN

February 23rd, 1931 – December 17th, 2004
Born in Cincinnati, OH

American painter, sculptor and printmaker. Famous for his Great American Nude series, he is widely regarded as one of the leading figures of American Pop Art. Alongside his contemporaries Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist, he forged a new movement using materials and images of everyday popular culture. He explored all kinds of techniques from plastic bas-relief to laser-cut steel drawings and multi-paneled shaped canvases. Late in career, he strongly acknowledged the influence of Matisse and Mondrian in his works. The Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Rome exhibited a retrospective of the artist in 2005 and a lifetime retrospective was shown at The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2012.