Artist: Tom Wesselmann (American, 1931-2004)
Title: "Nude (Lithograph)"
*Signed, dated, and numbered by Wesselmann in pencil lower right
Year: 1976
Medium: Original Lithograph and Screenprint with Embossing on Rives BFK paper
Limited edition: 49/75, (there were also 12 artist's proofs)
Printer: Styria Studio, New York, NY
Publisher: Multiples Inc., New York, NY
Reference: "Tom Wesselmann" - Stealingworth page 285; "Synthesis and Tension: Tom Wesselmann's Editions" - Cristea Roberts Gallery No. 9, page 36-37
Sheet size: 22.5" x 30.13"
Image size: 13.5" x 23.63"
Condition: A superior example in mint condition
Rare
Notes:
Provenance: one owner ever - private collection - Chicago, IL; acquired from van Straaten Gallery, Chicago, IL in 1979, retaining their original gallery label. This work is also sometimes referred to as "Nude with Rose". Printed in thirty-four colors. Styria Studio chop mark/blind stamp lower right. Multiples Inc. chop mark/blind stamp lower left. Rives BFK watermark lower left. Some pencil inscribed reference numbers on verso.
Our example here is in mint condition with strong colors as the day it was printed having been previously archivally framed and properly stored. For reasons unknown, most all examples of "Nude (Lithograph)" that appear today, their colors have greatly attenuated (faded) over the past 45 years. Also, the printer and publisher of this edition are almost always incorrectly defined backwards, as Styria Studios as the publisher and Multiples Inc. as the printer.
William (Bill) van Straaten (1937-2013) founded van Straaten Gallery in Chicago in 1969, a contemporary art gallery with an international reputation. He served as president of the Chicago Art Dealers Association. He ran the gallery at 646 North Michigan Avenue for 33 years until 2002. In 2003, van Straaten moved his operations to Steamboat Springs, Colorado establishing Riverhouse Editions, a fine art publisher. In 2008, van Straaten moved to Denver and acquired the Sandy Carson Gallery on Santa Fe Drive, which operated as the van Straaten Gallery for five final years before closing in 2012.
