With his collages of still-lifes and figures in interior scenes, Tom Wesselmann was part of the Pop Art movement since the late 1950s. These early works already contain the ideas later developed in his 'Great American Nudes'. Like many other Pop artists, Wesselmann used representations in the mass media, such as advertising brochures, posters, films and television, as a source and inspiration. In the early 1960s, Wesselmann began to create female nudes developed from collages, which provoke the viewer through their sexuality. He thus devoted himself to a central theme of American society, which was increasingly confronted with sexualised imagery in advertising.
His participation in the group exhibition 'New Realists' at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York in 1962 laid the foundation for his international career. From April 1993 to January 1997 Wesselmann’s oeuvre was shown in a retrospective in eleven European cities in Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and France. His works are found in major museums and private collections all over the world.
