Wesselmann was born in 1931 in Cincinnati, OH and died in 2004 in New York.

He was a pop artist best known for his combination of advertising and fine art. While attending Hiram College in 1951, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and was trained as an aerial photographer. Wesselmann actually first started off his artistic career by drawing cartoons while in the army as a way of venting his frustrations.

After being discharged in 1954, he studied art at the University of Cincinnati, earning a B.A. in 1956. Working as a freelance cartoonist, he contributed to a number of magazines, then went back to school. He attended Cooper Union, completing a graduate certificate in 1959. By this time, his interest had already turned from cartoons to the creation of collages. By the early 1960s he had begun to form his distinctive “Pop” art style and his first show was staged in 1961 at the Tanager Gallery. This was followed the next year by solo shows at the Green Gallery, and joint shows with fellow popsters like Andy Warhol at the Leo Castelli Gallery.

Wesselmann enjoyed great popularity at the height of the pop art movement of the 1960s, but he was not afraid to evolve. During the 1970s, he focused more and more on the female nude form while simultaneously creating art that was more commercial and less personalized. He also started using other media, including metal, through sculpting. Wesselmann continued to successfully exhibit his art as recently as 2003. His autobiography, Wesselmann (1981), was published under the pen name Slim Stealingworth.

2021
Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, Tom Wesselmann: After Matisse, June 11 to July 30

2019
Almine Rech Gallery, London, Tom Wesselmann, January 30 to March 23
Gagosian, New York, Tom Wesselmann: Flowers, June 14 to August 16

2018
Gagosian, New York, Tom Wesselmann, Standing Still Lifes, January 18 to February 24
Le Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (NMNM), Monaco, Tom Wesselmann: La Promesse du Bonheur, June 29 to January 2019
Gagosian, Beverly Hills, Wesselmann:1963-1983, July 12 to August 24

2017
Vedovi Gallery, Brussels, Tom Wesselmann – Telling It Like It Is, April 18 to June 20
Almine Rech Gallery, London, Tom Wesselmann, October 3, 2017 to January 13, 2018
Gagosian, London, Tom Wesselmann, Bedroom Paintings, October 4 to December 16, 2017

2016
David Zwirner Gallery, London, Tom Wessemann Collages 1959-1964
Van de Weghe Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann, Early Works
Mitchell-Innes and Nash Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann
Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, A Different Kind of Woman

2015
Galerie Gmurzynska, St. Moritz, A Line to Greatness

2014
Denver Art Museum, Beyond Pop Art; A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective
Cincinnati Art Museum, Beyond Pop Art; A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective

2013
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Beyond Pop Art; A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective
Alan Cristea Gallery, Still Life, Nude, Landscape: The Late Prints, London

2012
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Beyond Pop Art; A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective
David Janis Gallery, New York, Painted Black
Galerie Pascal Lansberg, Paris

2011
The Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC, Tom Wesselmann Draws (catalog)
Gallery Fluegel-Roncak, Nuremberg, Tom Wesselmann – Nudes and Flowers
Galerie Klaus Benden, Cologne, Tom Wesselmann, Grafiken

2010
David Janis Gallery, New York
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, Tom Wesselmann, Plastic Works, New York, (catalog)
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Nova Southeastern University, FL, Tom Wesselmann Draws (catalog)
Haunch of Venison Gallery, Tom Wesselmann, Works 1958-2004, London Galerie Klaus Benden, Tom Wesselmann, Flowers, Cologne, (catalog)

2009
Galerie Thomas, Munich, Journey into the Landscape (catalog)
Stadtische Galerie Ravensburg, Ravensburg
Haunch of Venison Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann Draws (catalog)

2008
JGM Galerie, Paris
Mitterrand & Cramer, Geneva
Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Tom Wesselmann, Faces 1963-1993, Cologne and Viersen, (catalog)
Samuel VanHoegaerden Gallery, Knokke, Belgum (catalog)
Bemard Jacobson Gallery, London, Tom Wesselmann, Journeys into the Landscape (catalog)

2007
Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA
Flora Bigai Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Venice
Galerie Leu, Munich
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, Drop Outs, New York (catalog)
Yvon Lambert, New York, Drop Outs (catalog)

2006
L&M Arts, New York, The Sixties (catalogue)
Robert Miller Gallery, New York, Sunset Nudes (catalogue)
Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Blue Nudes (catalogue)
Imago Gamin, Palm Desert, CA
The Columns Art Center, Korea

2005
Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma (MACRO), Rome (catalogue)
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, Works on Paper Retrospective (catalogue)

2004
Galerie Rive Gauche, Paris
Bernard Jacobson Gallery, Tom Wesselmann New York, May 25 – June 30 (catalogue)

2003
Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL
Robert Miller Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann (catalogue)
University of California at Long Beach, Long Beach (catalogue)
Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio
Flora Bigai Arte Moderna E Contemporanea, Venice (catalogue)
Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, California
Berlin Projects, Berlin, Neue Gemalde and Zeichnungen

2002
Buschlen Mowatt Galleries, Vancouver, Canada
JGM Galerie, Paris, Tom Wesselmann: Blue Nudes
Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA, Tom Wesselmann, Blue Nudes
Thomas Ammann Fine Arts, Basel
Heland Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm

2001
Pillsbury Peters Fine Art, Dallas
Danese Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann: 3-D Maquettes
Editions Terminus, Munich
Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA

2000
Galerie Hans Mayer, Berlin
Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Viersen, Germany, Tom Wesselmann: Paintings and Metal Works Galerie Guy Pieters, Knokke-Heist, Belgium
Heland Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm
JGM Galerie, Paris
Joseph Helman Gallery, New York. Tom Wesselmann: Blue Nudes (catalogue)
Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL
Cincinnati Art Gallery, Cincinnati
Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Cologne, Torn Wesselmann: Abstract Maquettes (catalogue) Galerie Uwe Opper, Kronberg, Germany

1999
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann: Small Survey: Small Scale (catalogue)
Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL, Wesselmann Maquettes and Nude Cut-Outs
James Mayor, London (catalogue)
Artiscope, Brussels, Tom Wesselmann Nudes
Galerie Kaess Weiss, Stuttgart
Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL

1998
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann New Abstract Paintings (catalogue) Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Viersen Germany
Michael Lord Gallery, Milwaukee
Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm

1997 Galerie Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf (catalogue)
Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Viersen, Germany

1996
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann Paper Maquettes
Fred Hoffman, Santa Monica, CA, Tom Wesselmann A Survey: 1959-1995 (catalogue) Wetterling Teo Ltd., Singapore (catalogue)
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann Lasers and Lithos
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann New Abstract Paintings (catalogue)

1995
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, catalogue. (catalogue)
Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL (catalogue)

1994
Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI, Larger than Life: Two Paintings by Tom Wesselmann
Institut für Kulturaustausch, Tübingen, Germany, Retrospective 1959-1993, organized by Thomas Buchsteiner and Otto Letze):, exhibition traveled to Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; Altes Museum, Berlin; Museum Villa Stuck, Munich; Kunsthal, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Historisches Museum der Pfalz, Speyer, Germany; Foundation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain. Paris; Fundacion Juan March, Madrid: Palais de la Virreina, Barcelona; Culturgest, Lisbon; Museé de l’Art Moderne, Nice, France) (catalogue)
Nikolaus Fischer Gallery, Frankfurt
Gana Art Gallery, Seoul
Didier Imbert Fine Art, Paris
Galerie Beatrice Wassermann, Munich

1993
O.K. Hanis/David Klein Gallery, Birmingham, MI, Nudes, Landscape. Still Lifes
Foundation Veranneman, Kruishouten, Belgium, Tom Wesselmann Wassermann Galerie, Basel Art Fair, Basel Switzerland
Shimbun. lsetan Museum of Art, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Tom Wesselmann: A Retrospective Survey 1959-1992, organized by Sankei Japan; and traveled to Museum of Contemporary Art, Sapporo, Japan; The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga. Japan; Museum of Art, Kintetsu, Japan (catalogue)
Wassermann Galerie, Munich, Tom Wesselmann: New Cut-Outs and Drawings

1992
Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, Tom Wesselmann Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann: New Metal Paintings (catalogue)

1991
The Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, Wesselmann: Graphics/Multiples Retrospective 1964-1990
Edward Totah Gallery, London
Gallery Tokoro, Tokyo
Tasende Gallery, Chicago International Art Exposition

1990
John Stoller Gallery, Minneapolis
Blum Helman Gallery, Santa Monica
Gloria Luria Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, FL
Hokin Gallery, Palm Beach
Posner Gallery, Milwaukee
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
O.K. Harris, New York
Studio Trisorio, Naples, Italy
Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta
Galerie Experanza, Montreal
Wilkey Fine Arts, Medina, Washington
Galerie Joachim Becker, Cannes
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

1989
Blum Helman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Waddington Galleries. Ltd., London
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York
Galerie Joachim Becker, Cannes

1988
Galerie Tokoro, Tokyo, Wesselmann Recent Works
Sander Gallery Booth, Hamburg Art Fair, Germany
Mayor Gallery, London
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Stein Gallery, Chicago, Tom Wesselmann Retrospective: Graphics & Multiiples (exhibition traveled to Cumberland Gallery, Nashville; Hokin Gallery, Palm Beach: Charles Foley Gallery, Columbus, OH; Nan Miller Gallery, Rochester, NY; The Hara Museum, Tokyo.)

1987
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Queens Museum, Flushing, NY
Galerie Esperanza, Montreal
Galerie de France, Paris
The Cooper Union, New York

1986
Hokin Gallery, Bay Harbor, Florida
Gallery Quintana, Bogota, Columbia
Galerie Joachim Becker, Cannes, France
Gallerie Denise Rene Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf, Cut-Outs
O.K. Harris, New York
Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati
Galerie Quintana, Bogota, Colombia
Galerie Joachim Becker, Cannes
Galerie Denise Rene Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf

1985
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Hokin Gallery, Palm Beach
Jeffrey Hoffeld 8 Co., New York

1984
Galerie Esperanza, Montreal
Modernism, San Francisco
McIntosh/Drysdale Gallery, Houston

1983
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, New Work by Tom Wesselmann (catalogue)
Sander Gallery, New York
Delahunty Gallery, Dallas

1982
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (catalogue)
Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles

1981
Hokin Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, FL
Hokin Gallery, Chicago

1980
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, New Sculpture & Paintings by Tom Wesselmann (November 6 – December 6) (catalogue)
1979
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (catalogue)
F.LA.C. Grand Palais, Paris
Ehrlich Gallery, New York
Serge de Bloe, Brussels
Hokin Gallery, Miami

1978
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Tom Wesselmann Graphics 1964-77

1976
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (catalogue)

1974
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (catalogue)
Galerie des 4 Mouvements, Paris
Art Galleries, California State University,
Long Beach, Wesselmann, The Early Years: Collages 1959-62, exhibition traveled to Trisolini Gallery of Ohio University, Athens; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City

1973
Multiples Gallery, New York and Los Angeles

1972
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, Tom Wesselmann (catalogue)
Rosa Esman Gallery, New York
Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm

1971 Jack Glenn Gallery, Corona del Mar, CA

1970 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (catalogue)
Newport Harbor Art Museum, Balboa, CA. Early Still-Lifes 1962-1964, exhibition traveled to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; The Lincoln Art Museum, Massachusetts)




1968 Dayton’s Gallery 12, Minneapolis, exhibition traveled to Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; De Cordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, An Exhibition of New Work by Tom Wesselmann (February – March) (catalogue)

1967 Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Pans, Tom Wesselmann
Galleria Gian Enzo Sperone. Torino, Italy

1966 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York

1965 Green Gallery, New York

1964 Green Gallery, New York

1962 Green Gallery, New York

1961 Tanager Gallery, New York