Heather James Fine Art

A sculpture by Tom Wesselmann. "Bedroom Brunette with Irises" is a contemporary wall sculpture, oil on cut-out aluminum by Blue Chip, Pop artist Tom Wesselmann. The work is unsigned. This piece was conceived in 1988 and frabricated by Lippincott Sculpture studio in 2004. Tom Wesselmann was born in Cincinnati Ohio on February 23 1931. He attended college from 1945-1951, first at the Hiram College in Ohio and then the University of Cincinnati, where he majored in psychology. He was drafted during the Korean War in 1952, and it was during this time that Wesselmann did his first cartoons. After he was discharged and had finished in degree in psychology, Wesselmann began to study drawing at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He sold his first cartoon strips to two magazines, 1000 Jokes and True. In 1956, he was accepted to Cooper Union in New York and he continued his studies there. It was while he was studying in New York, specifically on a trip to the MoMA that Wesselmann became inspired by Robert Motherwell and Willem de Kooning. In 1958, a landscape painting trip to Cooper Union’s Green Camp in New Jersey brought him to the realization that he could make his career in painting, rather than cartooning. After graduation, Wesselmann became one of the founding members of the Judson Gallery, along with Marc Ratliff and Jim Dine. Wesselmann also began to teach art at a public school in Brooklyn and later at the High School of Art and Design. In 1961, Wesselmann began the series that would bring him to the attention of the art world, Great American Nude. After a dream concerning the phrase “red, white and blue”, Wesselmann decided to limit himself to a palette of only those colors (including colors like gold and khaki that are associated with patriotic motifs). This series incorporated representational images along the same patriotic theme, including American landscape photographs and portraits of the founding fathers. Wesselmann often collaged these images from magazines and discarded posters which required him to work in a much larger format than he was used to. As his works became larger and larger he approached advertisers directly to acquire billboards. Wesselmann’s first solo show was held in 1961 at Tanager Gallery. In 1962, Richard Bellamy gave him a one man exhibition at the Green Gallery. In 1962, Wesselmann participated in the group exhibition “New Realists” at the Sidney Janis Gallery and kicked off his international career. In that same year his first pieces with the title of Still Life, came about. In these works, Wesselmann concentrated on the juxtaposition of different elements, i.e. a cigarette ad...

"Soucoupes Volantes (Saucers)" is an abstract Post War gouache painting by Alexander Calder in 1965. The artwork is 42 1/4 x 29 5/8 inches and is 49 1/4 x 35 1/2 x 1 7/8 inches with ...

"Untitled (Sounding Sculpture)" is a Post-War abstract metal sculpture created by Harry Bertoia in circa 1970. This artwork is 103 x 16 x 16 inches and weighs less than 50 lbs. Ber...

“Jimmy Carter III” is a screenprint on J. Green paper by American pop artist, Andy Warhol. The artwork is signed and editioned in pencil, lower middle, "14/100 Andy Warhol”. Andy W...

“Northwest Coast Mask” is a screenprint in bright colors on Lenox Museum Board by American pop artist, Andy Warhol. The artwork is signed in pencil, lower right, "Andy Warhol” and is...

A color screen print with diamond dust by Andy Warhol. "The Shadow" is a self-portrait print executed in a dark, bold palette of browns and blacks by American Pop Artist Any Warhol. ...

“Vivien” is a figurative, silkscreen portrait by Pop artist, Alex Katz. The artwork is signed, in pencil, lower left "Alex Katz 43/60” Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1927, Alex Katz...

"Composition orange et noir (Orange and Black Composition)” is an oil on canvas painting, in bold colors a by French, Cubist artist, Fernand Leger. Fernand Léger was among the most...

"The Zoo" is an abstract Post War oil on panel painting by Hans Hofmann in 1944. The artwork is 21 3/8 x 24 1/2 inches and, with the frame, is 22 1/4 x 25 1/2 x 2 inches. "The Zoo...

"Ohne Titel (Merzbild Mit Schuhsohle) (Untitled (Merz Picture with Shoe Sole))" is an abstract Post War oil and relief assemblage on plywood painting made by Kurt Schwitters in 1945....

"Grey Red" is an oil painting on aluminum by Sean Scully. It is signed verso, " Gray Red, Sean Scully 1 12". The frame of reference for Irish American Sean Scully’s signature blocks and stripes is vast. From Malevich’s central premise that geometry can provide the means for universal understanding to Rothko’s impassioned approach to color and rendering of the dramatic sublime, Scully learned how to condense the splendor of the natural world into simple modes of color, light, and composition. Born in Dublin in 1945 and London-raised, Scully was well-schooled in figurative drawing when he decided to catch the spirit of his lodestar, Henri Matisse, by visiting Morocco in 1969. He was captivated by the dazzling tessellated mosaics and richly dyed fabrics and began to paint grids and stipes of color. Subsequent adventures provided further inspiration as the play of intense light on the reflective surfaces of Mayan ruins and the ancient slabs of stone at Stonehenge brought the sensation of light, space, and geometric movement to Scully’s paintings. The ability to trace the impact of Scully’s travels throughout his paintings reaffirms the value of abstract art as a touchstone for real-life experience. Painted in rich, deep hues and layered, nuanced surfaces, Grey Red is both poetic and full of muscular formalism. Scully appropriately refers to these elemental forms as ‘bricks,’ suggesting the formal calculations of an architect. As he explained, “these relationships that I see in the street doorways, in windows between buildings, and in the traces of structures that were once full of life, I take for my work. I use these colors and forms and put them together in a way that perhaps reminds you of something, though you’re not sure of that” (David Carrier, Sean Scully, 2004, pg. 98). His approach is organic, less formulaic; intuitive painter’s choices are layering one color upon another so that contrasting hues and colors vibrate with subliminal energy. Diebenkorn comes to mind in his pursuit of radiant light. But here, the radiant bands of terracotta red, gray, taupe, and black of Grey Red resonate with deep, smoldering energy and evoke far more affecting passion than you would think it could impart. As his good friend, Bono wrote, “Sean approaches the canvas like a kickboxer, a plasterer, a builder. The quality of painting screams of a life being lived.” Provenance: Timothy Taylor...

A sculpture by Marc Quinn. “Lovebomb” is large scale, floral sculpture of orchids, photo laminate on aluminum, in a palette of of bright colors by British conceptual artist, Marc Qui...