The exploration of major artistic trends turns to the revolutionary Pop Art movement that emerged in the late 1950s with a major exhibition entitled “Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &…”, which started on October 17, 2024 will end on February 24, 2025.
The exhibition revolves around Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004), one of the leading figures of American Pop Art, displaying 150 of his paintings and works in a variety of media. They are joined by 70 works by 35 artists from different generations and nationalities. The exhibition provides an incisive overview of Tom Wesselmann’s career, from his first collages to the imposing Standing Still Lifes and his famous Great American Nudes.
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“Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &…” is more than simply a retrospective, explain guest curators Dieter Buchhart and Anna Karina Hofbauer. “It contextualizes Tom Wesselmann’s work within art history and proposes fascinating perspectives on Pop Art, past present and even future.”
What’s more, notes Olivier Michelon, associate curator from the Fondation Louis Vuitton for the exhibition, it underlines links between creations by Tom Wesselmann and other Pop artists and Dadaist precursors such as Marcel Duchamp or contemporary figures like Jeff Koons and Ai Weiwei.
“Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &…” is a must see event for modern and contemporary art aficionados, offering an incisive look at the genesis of Pop art, its roots and current iterations.
A view of “Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &…” Photo: © Adagp, Paris, 2024 © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage
In addition to works by Tom Wesselmann, the exhibition include works by Derrick Adams, Ai Weiwei, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Evelyne Axell, Thomas Bayrle, Frank Bowling, Rosalyn Drexler, Marcel Duchamp, Sylvie Fleury, Lauren Halsey, Richard Hamilton, David Hammons, Jann Haworth, Barkley L. Hendricks, Hannah Höch, Jasper Johns, KAWS, Kiki Kogelnik, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Claes Oldenburg, Meret Oppenheim, Eduardo Paolozzi, Robert Rauschenberg, Martial Raysse, James Rosenquist, Kurt Schwitters, Marjorie Strider, Do Ho Suh, Mickalene Thomas, Andy Warhol, Tadanori Yokoo…
Among the historical icons of Pop Art featured in this exhibition, is Andy Warhol’s famous 1964 screen printing Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, which immortalises Marilyn Monroe in an explosion of vivid and constrasting colours.
With works ranging from Wesselmann’s first collages in 1959 to his large-scale embossed still lifes, his landscapes – which lie on the fringes of abstraction – and his 2004 Sunset Nudes, the exhibition span across all four floors of the Fondation’s building.
The exhibition, which is chronologically linked to Wesselmann’s works and themes, use the artist’s work as a starting point to develop a more general presentation of Pop Art. His Great American Nudes will be in dialogue with the American icons of his contemporaries (Evelyne Axell, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol, Marjorie Strider, Andy Warhol). The Dadaist roots of Pop Art (Marcel Duchamp, Kurt Schwitters) will be the precursors to his large collages. As for his depictions of consumer goods, they prefigure the representations of merchandise in the age of globalization by Jeff Koons or Ai Weiwei. Finally, his nudes and intimate domestic scenes are mirrored by new works from a new generation, some of which (Derrick Adams, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Mickalene Thomas) are created specifically for the exhibition.
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