Cat Woman – Mel Ramos

Description

Mel Ramos is internationally recognized as a contemporary master and luminary in the Pop Art pantheon. In 1963, Mel Ramos, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein took part in two, first of their kind Pop Art exhibitions that are credited with cementing the American Pop Art movement: “Pop Art USA” at the Oakland Art Museum and “Pop Goes East” at the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston. These artists are heralded as ushering in the beginning of the American Pop Art movement, and the end of Abstract Expressionism as the dominant style.

Mel Ramos (1935-2018) became known for juxtaposing glamorous, stylized female nudes with artifacts of American commercialism – recognized by his distinctive pin-up girls posing with and popping out of larger-than-life consumer goods, such as candy bars and soft drinks.

Mel Ramos meticulously hand-painted all of his works while also maintaining his commitment to mentorship with a full-time position as an art professor at California State University, East Bay. Both Mel and his late wife, Leta, were passionate arts educators and Arts for Oakland Kids is deeply grateful to the Mel and Leta Ramos Family Foundation for their donation of these limited edition (signed and numbered) lithographs. The sale of these works will carry on Mel and Leta’s legacy by funding grants for teaching artists to bring arts education programs to students in Oakland’s most under-resourced public schools.

While Ramos is widely viewed as one of the most significant representatives of the Pop movement, he created far fewer works than his contemporaries; don’t miss this rare chance to own one of his legendary works. Ramos’s auction record of $1.69 million was set in 2012 at Sotheby’s London.