Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004) was an American artist central to the Pop Art movement. He attended the University of Cincinnati before serving in the army from 1951 to 1954. While he was in the service, he drew cartoons, a hobby that became a career when his two-year tour ended. In the early 1960s, he began to make small collages and assemblages, which included everyday imagery from magazines, advertisements, and consumer culture. His work became more sexually charged in the late 1960s, culminating in his erotic series, Great American Nudes.

Wesselmann's work increased in scale in the 1970s, as he began painting simple objects on shaped canvases in his Standing Still Life series. Later in the 1970s, he created cut-out compositions in aluminum, enamel, and steel. In the last two years of his life, he returned to the female nude that had become so iconic in his work, producing the Sunset Nude series.