Tom Wesselmann United States, 1931-2004
Open Ended Nude Drawing #47, 1973
Acrylic and pencil on board
9.2 by 22.9 cm (3⅝ by 9 in.)
Signed 'Wesselmann', dated '73' and numbered '#47' (lower left)
66015
© Tom Wesselmann/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Further images
Executed in 1973. Tom Wesselmann’s Open Ended Nude Drawing series is a group of compositions begun in the early 1970s that depicts the same singular, tightly cropped reclining nude. Some...
Executed in 1973.
Tom Wesselmann’s Open Ended Nude Drawing series is a group of compositions begun in the early 1970s that depicts the same singular, tightly cropped reclining nude. Some works in the series include acrylic with graphite, while others are devoid of color completely, as is the case with Open Ended Nude Drawing #55. Each work distinguishes the subject by her skin tone, the color of her thigh-hugging tights (or lack thereof) and hair. Every figure highlights the same secondary and primary sex traits of the biologically female form: uncovered pubic hair, prominent nipples, shadowed armpits, and thin closed lips. The nudes Wesselmann depicted are universal and yet they retain an anonymity that, when viewed today, can traverse boundaries of gender-expression. They exude sensuality and with their lack of facial features–including eyes–completely avoid the viewer’s gaze. In this regard, Wesselmann’s work is a practice in abstraction without a complete disavowal of figuration (an increasing trend among Wesselmann’s contemporaries). By simplifying the figure to these few distinguishing characteristics, Wesselmann recodes the traditional nude to become, as the title maintains, open-ended.
Tom Wesselmann’s Open Ended Nude Drawing series is a group of compositions begun in the early 1970s that depicts the same singular, tightly cropped reclining nude. Some works in the series include acrylic with graphite, while others are devoid of color completely, as is the case with Open Ended Nude Drawing #55. Each work distinguishes the subject by her skin tone, the color of her thigh-hugging tights (or lack thereof) and hair. Every figure highlights the same secondary and primary sex traits of the biologically female form: uncovered pubic hair, prominent nipples, shadowed armpits, and thin closed lips. The nudes Wesselmann depicted are universal and yet they retain an anonymity that, when viewed today, can traverse boundaries of gender-expression. They exude sensuality and with their lack of facial features–including eyes–completely avoid the viewer’s gaze. In this regard, Wesselmann’s work is a practice in abstraction without a complete disavowal of figuration (an increasing trend among Wesselmann’s contemporaries). By simplifying the figure to these few distinguishing characteristics, Wesselmann recodes the traditional nude to become, as the title maintains, open-ended.
Provenance
Timothy Baum, New YorkPrivate Collection, New York (acquired from the above)
Private Collection, New York (acquired in 2012)