Gagosian announces a new exhibition of nude paintings by Tom Wesselmann at the gallery's Beverly Hills location. Tom Wesselmann: Intimate Spaces follows the 2018 exhibition Wesselmann: 1963-1983 and Tom Wesselmann: Standing Still Lifes at Gagosian New York. Opening details are below.
In partnership with the artist's estate, the exhibition features essential works that define U.S. Pop art. Wesselmann brought innovative mixed media to still lifes, interior paintings, landscapes, and nudes that captured the energy of the emerging commercial culture.
Smoker #8, 1973
Oil on canvas
108 1/4 x 163 1/4 inches (275 x 414.7 cm)
© The Estate of Tom Wesselmann/Licensed by ARS/VAGA, New York
Photo: Jeffrey Sturges
Courtesy the Estate and Gagosian
My one intention is to always find new ways to make exciting paintings using the situation of the traditional nude.
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Great American Nudes
Tom Wesselmann: Intimate Spaces focuses on the artist's primary subject, the female nude with key works from Great American Nudes (1961–73). Wesselmann’s nudes became icons of the 1960s sexual revolution. "Wishing to avoid portraiture, the artist frequently deemphasized facial features, foregrounding both abstraction and overt eroticism.“
"The figures dealt primarily with their presence,” he wrote (by his pseudonym, Slim Stealingworth). “Personality would interfere with the bluntness of the fact of the nude. When body features were included, they were those important to erotic simplification, like lips and nipples. There was no modeling, no hint at dimension.”
Great American Nude #53, 1964
Oil and printed reproductions on canvas
120 x 96 inches (304.8 x 243.8 cm)
© The Estate of Tom Wesselmann/Licensed by ARS/VAGA, New York
Photo: Jeffrey Sturges
Courtesy the Estate and Gagosian
The Estate of Tom Wesselmann, Almine Rech, and Gagosian are also publishing a forthcoming book, Tom Wesselmann: Great American Nudes, authored by Susan Davidson with an essay by Rachel Middleman. It will be the first comprehensive publication dedicated to his body of work. The exhibition Tom Wesselmann: After Matisse is on view at Musée Matisse, Nice, until May 29, 2023.
Gagosian Beverly Hills
Intimate Spaces
Opening reception: Wednesday, May 3, 6–8pm
May 3–June 16, 2023
456 North Camden Drive, Beverly Hills