'POP FOREVER TOM WESSELMANN &...' FONDATION LOUIS VUITTON
"POP FOREVER, TOM WESSELMANN &..."
FONDATION LOUIS VUITTON,Paris
17 OCTOBER 2024 - 24 FEBRUARY 2025
Curated by: Dieter Buchhart and Anna Karina Hofbauer
Reported by:Nazli Kok Akbas
NKA ART REPORTS SWITZERLAND-FRANCE-ISTANBUL
Until 24 February 2025, the Fondation Louis Vuitton Paris, is presenting an exhibition dedicated to Pop Art, one of the major artistic movements of 1960s.
Andy Warhol, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn,1984, (acrylic and screen-print on linen, 101.6x1016 cm.) Private collection.
FOUNDATION LOUIS VUITTON, since its inauguration on Octobre 24,2014, the Foundation has repeatedly refrained from organising solo and historical exhibitions. The Foundation seems to want to give to the widest public the opportunity to discover 20th and 21st Century art in an original and very fresh way.
-In 2015, the exhibition 'Keys to Passion.', Foundation presented four subjective approaches to the 20th century art.
-In 2018,The Foundation featured Basquait X Warhol. Painting 4 Hands ,a huge success that drew about 700.000 visitors.
-In 2019, the exhibition 'Charlotte Perriand: Inventing a New World.', presented the designer's work through her connections with artists.
-In 2022, the exhibition 'The Monet-Michel.' put the works of Claude Monet and Joan Michell in posthumous dialogue.
-In 2023, from April 5 to August 28, the exhibition Basquait X Warhol. Painting 4 Hands ,the Louis Vuitton Foundation explored the work of Jean Michel Basquait reveling this time his collaboration with Andy Warhol.
-In 2024, most recently, in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art(MOMA, New York) and the SMK-States Museum of Kunts (National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen), the Foundation presented 'Matisse:The Red Studio'.
In keeping with the logic of the Foundation's programming "Pop Forever ,Tom Wesselmann &..." The Louis Vuitton Foundation turns its attention to one of the leading figures of Pop Art, Tom Wesselmann with a retrospective show of thirty-five artists from 1920s to present.
Tom Wesselmann, Bedroom Painting #3, 1968, (oil paint on linen canvas,152x183 cm) Private collection.
POP ART?
In the years after the Second World War, America experienced an unprecedented period of economic and political growth. Many middle-class Americans moved to the suburbs.
A new kind of music, rock and roll, burst into popular culture and became the soundtrack of teenage rebellion.
Marilyn Monroe was a reigning movie star. Television replaced radio as the dominant medium.
Activists, thinkers and artists led a cultural revolution. The Vietnam War sparked mass protests, the civil rights and women's liberation movements were gaining ground.
In this social ecosystem of high turbulence, the idea of experimentation, the tendency towards high consumption was in the air. During this period, in the mid-1950s, a new generation of artists emerged in Britain and the United States.
The emerging artistic movement was a challenge to the traditions of fine art. In most cases, Pop artists sought to incorporate the dynamics of everyday life into their artistic
practice.
Roy Lichtenstein, Girl in Window(Study for World's Fair Mural),1963 (oil and acrylic on canvas) Whitney Museum of American Art,Gift of The American Contemporary Art Foundation,Inc.
The conceptual manipulation of everyday life through the metamorphosis of images and objects, their amplification or distortion out of their actual context, in a critical or mocking style, is Pop Art's way of "story telling". Product labels and logos figure prominently in the imaginary chosen by Pop artists.
Pop art is also associated with the artistic use of mechanical production or rendering techniques.
Tom Wesselmann, Bathroom Collage #4,1964,(Acrylic, linoleum, wood, painted plastic, glue ,metal and charcoal on board) Private collection.
'POP FOREVER ,WESSELMANN &...'
The Louis Vuitton Foundation is hosting the exhibition 'Pop Forever, Wesselmann &...' until 24th February. The exhibition occupies the entire building and features 150 paintings and works in various media by Wesselmann in dialogue with some 70 works by thirty-five artists of different generations and nationalities since 1920.
The curators' choice of living artists, such as Jeff Koons, Ai Weiwei, Sylvie Fleury and even KAWS, serves their reading of Wesselmann's work.
Photography copyright ,Nazli Kok Akbas NKA Art Reports Switzerland-France-Istanbul Photography 2024. All rights reserved.
Sylvie Fleury, "Skin Crime 3 (Givenchy 318)", 1997 ("Skin Crime 3" features a compressed Fiat 128 painted in pink Givenchy nail polish)Collection Larry Warsh.
WHO IS TOM WESSELMANN(1931-2004)?
Tom Wesselmann, Self Portrait While Drawing, 1983, (oil on shaped canvas,187,9x220,9cm) The Estate of Tom Wesselmann, New York.
Wesselmann in brief;
-He was born in 1931 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
-He attended Hiram College in Ohio between 1949 and 1951.
-In 1953 he was in the US Army and started drawing cartoons.
-In 1954 he returned to university and in 1956 received a Bachelor's degree in psychology.
-In 1956 he enrolled at the Art Academy of Cincinnati to pursue a career in cartooning.
-He then moved to New York and was accepted into the Cooper Union, where he concentrated on fine art. He graduated in 1959.
He began his artistic career with small figurative collages made from various sources, including natural elements, paper and advertisements.
Wesselmann considered Portrait Collage #1 to be one of his key works.
Photography copyright ,Nazli Kok Akbas NKA Art Reports Switzerland-France-Istanbul Photography 2024. All rights reserved.
Tom Wesselmann, Portrait Collage #1, (1959,(Pencil, Pastel, Collage and Staples on Cardboard, 24,1x27,9cm)
Tom Wesselmann, Great American Nude #34, 1962, (Mixed media, collage, and assemblage, on wood, including a mechanical bird)
In 1961 Tom Wesselmann began the series 'Great American Nudes', daring to experiment with a unique reflection on the history of the nude in an American context.
Tom Wesselmann, Still Life #33, 1963 (oil and collage on canvas three sections) Mugrabi Collection.
In 1962 Wesselmann worked on a new series of "still life". He included a television set in his painting, which was switched on. He tried to give a patriotic and contemporary form to a certain archetype: a richly laden buffet table or a kitchen trolley.
Tom Wesselmann, Bathtub Collage#1, 1964. (Oil, lacquer, and acrylic on press board with mounted objects) MMK-Musem of Modern Kunst .
In 1963, Wesselmann introduced bathroom fixtures into several of his paintings. It is difficult not to see his recurrent use of raised toilet seats as a reference to the Ready-Mades of the French artist Marcel Duchamp.
Marcel Duchamp (1916-1968), Fontaine 1917/1964, (porcelain with paint,38x4863,5cm.) Centre Pompidou, Musee National d'Art Modern-Centre de Creation Industrielle, Paris.
SEASCAPE SERIES;
Photography copyright ,Nazli Kok Akbas NKA Art Reports Switzerland-France-Istanbul Photography 2024. All rights reserved.
Tom Wesselmann, Little Seascape #1,1965. (Mixed media and collage on wood) The Estate of Tom Wesselmann, New York
In 1966, Wesselmann's Seascape series was about sexual liberation, vitality and the promise of good times in an endless summer. Wesselmann often experimented in his work with the basic concepts of mid-century advertising.
His work reflects all his questions and perceptions of the post-war boom in American society.
Tom Wesselmann, Big Brown Nude,1971.(Oil on canvas) Mugrabi
collection
FEMALE REPRESENTATION IN WESSELMANN'S WORK;
Wesselmann's representation of the female body and the female gaze were central themes in his work. One of his major challenges was to redefine conventional notions of beauty and the female body. In his work, he transformed female representation and the classical notion of beauty into a powerful symbol of eroticism and desire.
It is easy to read his emphasis on women's liberation and the empowerment of women's self-expression.
Tom Wesselmann, Bedroom Painting #29, 1971-1973 (oil on Canvas Portrait of DANIELE THOMPSON) Private collection
BEDROOM PAINTING SERIES;
In the Bedroom Painting series, Wesselmann's main concern was to create a new language of beauty and desire, and now he invites his viewers to question their own approach to sexuality and pleasure.
MATISSE ...
Matisse has always been a central point of reference for Wesselmann in his research into the visual efficiency and the saturation of the image.
Photography copyright ,Nazli Kok Akbas NKA Art Reports Switzerland-France-Istanbul Photography 2024. All rights reserved.
Tom Wesselmann, Sunset Nude with Big Palm Tree, 2004 (oil on canvas) Fukutake Foundation, Naoshima,Japon
Wesselmann was also influenced by the figurative art of the Old Masters, especially the work of Henri Matisse.
Wesselmann once said: "The classical nude is a perfection. But the nude in contemporary life, the woman undressing in front of you, is more than a perfection. She's a person, and that's what I want to paint.
Tom Wesselmann, Judy Trimming Toenails ,Yellow wall, 1960 (Mixed media and collage on wood) The Estate of Tom Wesselmann, New York.
Wesselmann was drawn to Matisse's use of colour and form and his depiction of the female body. He transformed the Matisse odalisque into a "pop icon".
"Pop Forever, Wesselmann &..." is a dual exhibition, both retrospective and thematic, presenting sixteen works by Wesselmann alongside as many other artists who came before him, his contemporaries and members of younger generations.
Nazli Kok Akbas Reports ,Paris 2025
Fondation Louis Vuitton
EXHIBITION
OCTOBRE 17-FEBRUARY 25
"POP FOREVER ,TOM WESSELMANN &..."
CURATORS;
Dieter Buchhart and Anna Karina Hofbauer
Reported By ;Nazli kok Akbas
NKA ART REPORTS SWITZERLAND-FRANCE-ISTANBUL
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