CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 5/22/2015

Pop Art Myths

"Tom Wesselmann, one of the first Pop artists to take an interest in the theme of feminine sensuality, confessed, 'I like to think that my work is about all kinds of pleasure.' In 1961 he began work on the series that would best define his output, Great American Nudes, in which he limited his palette to the colors of the American flag, red, white, and blue, along with other colors that he considered 'patriotic,' like the gold on the flag's cord or the khaki of military uniforms…" Who better to feature over Memorial Day weekend, and what better art movement? Featured image, "Great American Nude #52" (1963), and the above excerpt from Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza curator Paloma Alarcó's text, are reproduced from Pop Art Myths. "By flattening out the shape of the body against the picture plane, Wesselmann creates a certain abstract, depersonalized quality that contrasts with the fleshy treatment of the erogenous zones, the pubis, the prominent breasts, and the full lips, which, as in the majority of his compositions, turns his painting into an allegory of woman as sexual symbol."