(Cincinnati 1931–2004 New York)
“Nancy Scribble”, 1983, titled and inscribed with The Estate of Tom Wesselmann as well as signed by Claire Wesselmann on the overlap and with the archive no. F9, oil on canvas, 152.5 x 101.5 cm, framed, (PP)

We are grateful to Brian Kenny, The Tom Wesselmann Estate, New York, for confirming the authenticity and registration of this work under the archive no. F9.

Provenance:
The Tom Wesselmann Estate, New York
Opera Gallery, London
European Collection

Exhibited:
Cologne, Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Tom Wesselmann – Faces 1963–1993, 16 April – 7 June 2008, exh. cat. page 26, ill.

Tom Wesselmann numbers among the leading figures of the American Pop Art movement of the 1960s. However, he distanced himself from this label, since he focused much more on expressing the visual power of colours and forms than criticising consumer culture. In 1985 he wrote: “The prime mission of my art, in the beginning, and continuing still, is to make figurative art as exciting as abstract art. I think I have succeeded, but there is still a lot further to go.“

Wesselmann painted fewer portraits than nudes and still lifes, but they are nevertheless present throughout his entire oeuvre, typifying his playful take on the traditional genres of art history. His portraits stand out due to their particular emotional quality.

The present portrait, Nancy Scribble, depicts a woman looking straight forward, challenging the viewer to meet her gaze face-on. The woman shown is Nancy Rosen, an art historian with whom Wesselmann was acquainted. In the early 1980s, he dedicated a series of portraits to her, in which he depicted Rosen wearing different pairs of spectacles. By reducing her face down to its key components, he captures her personality, but also enables the portrait to act as a universal representation of the female face and its beauty, rather than merely depicting one particular individual.

The quickly-painted, confident lines and immediacy of their movement achieve a greater expressiveness through the larger-than-life size of the portrait. Its characteristic style, in particular the distinctive shading and liberal use of white space, marks the start of a new form of expression for Wesselmann. Around the same time, he developed a group of works entitled Steel Drawings. These expansive drawings, cut from aluminium, saw him combine the intimate spontaneity of his line with the permanent solidity of metal.