“Wesselmann is attracted not so much by the female nude as by the pictorial or advertising reproduction of that nude. So the subject of these works is not the model as an emblem of female beauty but the abstract image of that subject…even when a subtle sensuality caresses the female forms, playing on the lines and lingering on the shapes, even when a veiled eroticism shows through, recalling the elegance of Modigliani, Wesselmann softens the tension by accentuating the female outline and draining away the vibrancy of color.” (Charta, Tom Wesselmann, Milan 2003, p. 13)

The present work is a study for one of Tom Wesselmann's famed Great American Nude series, a project that occupied him through the 1960s and into the 1970s. The final version of #62 is held in the collections of the Princeton University Museum.

By 1961, Wesselmann struggled to find his own personal palette: there were far too many color options and his selections often felt random with no real significance. He needed a way to limit himself and the answer reportedly came through a dream of the colors red, white and blue of the American flag. He chose these hues as the palette for his new series, along with any others he determined to be appropriately patriotic, such as gold and khaki from his time in the US Army.

His flattened, highly anonymous, and sexualized female figures are the among the most recognizable of Wesselmann's works, from a period where the artist came into his own aesthetic after long experimentation. Following a stint in the US Army, Wesselmann returned to the US and intended to become a cartoonist, making enough money from his works printed in magazines to move to New York and pursue this goal. During this time, Wesselmann moved away from the Abstract Expressionism of his artistic peers.