Still Life #29 is part of Tom Wesselmann's groundbreaking 1963 series of paintings. This series was made at a critical time in his early career when his early commercial success allowed him to pursue his ideas on a larger scale.
In 1962, after admiring the vivid billboard images observed when traveling by train, he began collecting these reproductions directly from the companies that made them, building up a vast stock of ready-made images around which he could plan his compositions; a contemporary critic praised this find as "an ingenious discovery as material for art".
At nine by twelve feet, Still Life #29 is a larger-than-life representation of a kitchen table. The two main advertising images he selected have formal parallels: the rounded contours and glossy red hues of the huge apple are repeated in the glossy new Volkswagen Beetle seen through a window in the upper left corner of the canvas. Almost all of the remaining elements, ranging from the saltshaker and other fruits to the sunset behind the VW, are all hand painted. Wesselmann's new approach to collage and classical genres, as well as commitment to working on a large scale would all become hallmarks of his own style.
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Work: Oil and printed paper collaged on canvas, in 2 parts
Overall (274.3 × 365.8cm)
