(Cincinnati 1931–2004 New York)
“Monica in half slip”, titled, signed, dated Tom Wesselmann 1986 on the reverse and Wesselmann 86 ©, with details of technique and dimensions, as well as instructions for hanging, enamel paint on aluminium cut-out, 165 x 193 cm, (PP)

The work has been registered by the Tom Wesselmann Estate, New York under the archive no. 37A.
We are grateful to the Tom Wesselmann Estate, New York for the kind assistance.

Provenance:
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Christie’s New York, 8 May 1996, lot 319
acquired there from the current owner –
Austrian Collection

Exhibited:
New York, Cut-Out Metal Paintings by Tom Wesselmann, Sidney Janis Gallery, 29 April - 30 May 1987 with exhibition catalogue, here listed, without illustration.

The most productive phase of Tom Wesselmann’s career started with the first work in metal, which dates from 1983. These works are based on sketches, which mostly seem to have been jotted down swiftly: landscapes, still lifes, nudes. The drawings made by hand were subsequently transferred to aluminium or steel plates, either electronically or manually, and the forms were then cut out with a laser beam, accurate to the inch. All the essential elements of his previous works are united here. The Metal Works combine traditional motifs with state-of-the-art production technology (Buchsteiner/Letze [eds.], Tom Wesselmann 1959–1993).

Monica in Half Slip may be considered a particularly accomplished example within this group of works.
The works produced as aluminium cut-outs from 1986 on illustrate Tom Wesselmann’s effort to continuously evolve the concept of drawing and eventually surpass it. By using shaped and painted aluminium, Tom Wesselmann managed to transpose the fluidity and intensity of the line into three dimensions, as if the painting had been executed directly on the wall. In doing so he offers a synthesis – extremely novel from a formal viewpoint – between drawing, painting and sculpture.
Most of his nudes were rendered from life and possess the straightforwardness of the Odalisques by Titian. Manet, or Matisse. Wesselmann deliberately left the face blank to avoid the suggestion of a portrait. Thus, as deeply personal as the painting’s content might have been, Wesselmann played with the erotic potential and left it open to subjective interpretation and, most significantly, to the imagination.

Tom Wesselmann met Monica Serra, the model for this and innumerable other works to come, in the early 1980s at the opening of one of his shows. A close friend, confidant and assistant, she shared his love for country music, and when attending the Wesselmann exhibition in Montreal she recalled: “With art, he pushed the limits, but not with music. He didn’t understand why anyone would change it.”
(waterhouse&dodd)