Tom Wesselmann

American, 1931-2004

Still Life #20

© Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

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© Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Still Life #20, 1962

Artwork Details

Currently on View

Collection Highlight

Materials

mixed media

Measurements

overall: 47 3/4 x 47 15/16 x 7 inches (121.29 x 121.76 x 17.78 cm)

Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Credit

Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1962

Accession ID

K1962:16

Still Life #20 is part of a series of sculptural still lifes that Pop artist Tom Wesselmann began creating during the early 1960s. The left side features once-functional items that he collected and then placed in a real cabinet above part of an actual sink. The light above the faucet can be turned on or off, and the cabinet can be opened or closed. On the right, Wesselmann collaged into the composition two-dimensional representations of various types of food and drink. Above these appears a reproduction of a painting by the artist Piet Mondrian, who utilized the elements of art in their purest forms—straight lines, right angles, and primary colors—in an attempt to represent a future utopian society. Wesselmann often included reproductions of the work of other artists in his constructions to demonstrate the ways in which art was becoming integrated into the fabric of everyday life and had joined the commercial world.