Mel Ramos

Bianchini Gallery, New York
Christie's, New York, November 9, 1988, Lot 81
Private Collection, USA
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago
Acquired by the present owner from the above in August 2004

 

Cologne, Galerie Ricke, 1966

Elizabeth Claridge, The Girls of Mel Ramos, Chicago, 1975
Thomas Levy, Mel Ramos: Heroines, Goddesses, Beauty Queens, New York, 2002, p. 6, illustrated in color
Donald Kuspit, Mel Ramos: Pop Art Fantasies, The Complete Paintings, New York, 2004, p. 78, illustrated in color

This work is in very good condition. There is a white scuff mark located in the black ground 1 ¾ in from the bottom, extending 10-11 ½ in. from the right. Otherwise, there are no apparent condition issues with this work. The edges are taped and the work is framed in black wood under Plexiglas. Not examined under UV light.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Painted in 1964, the present work is one of Mel Ramos's first paintings of the female nude.  Based on a postcard of a pin-up girl viewed through a keyhole, it belongs to a series of Peek-a-Boo paintings which have become some of the most sensual icons of pop art.  In this series, each work is titled according to the hair color of the model who seductively poses in the key-shaped aperture, heightening the viewer's sense of voyeuristic pleasure.  With a playful faux startle, Peek-a-Boo, Brunette #3 peeks over her right shoulder and locks eyes with us, her cover dangles daintily from her hand, revealing her curvaceous figure.  She seems to beckon us with a confidence and casualness evocative of the burgeoning power and defiance of the 1960's second wave feminism.  Her deep brunette hair, stylishly arranged in a quintessentially 1960's bouffant hairdo, further elevates the vintage appeal of the present work, sparking nostalgia for a very specific time which witnessed the first steps of contemporary sexual liberation. 

Deliberately erotic and provocative, Ramos uses the female form in his Pop iconography to comment on the increasing use of sex to sell in the media and advertising.  However, much like Tom Wesselmann's Great American Nude series, the artist's multi-layered paintings also engage and update the motif in art history, incorporating it into a strict pop lexicon.  Much like Edouard Manet's infamously confrontational female protagonists, Ramos' model stares directly out, thereby engaging the viewer's space and co-opting us into a complicit participation in this elicit exchange. Though, by peering through a keyhole, the viewer is ostensibly the voyeur, the model is a more than willing accomplice with her coy acknowledgement of our presence. As such, Ramos' painting forces us to acknowledge a frank sexual exchange, laying bare the titillation that has existed for centuries in the motif of the nude, concealed behind the aesthetic veneer of art historical gloss.