Tom Wesselmann, Still Life #60, 1973. A hyper-realist composition with sunglasses, nail varnish, lipstick and a ring.

Pop Art Forever

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 22 October 2024 > What's On


A new exhibition in Paris celebrates the Pop Art movement and in particular American artist Tom Wesselmann, one of its pioneers. Less well known in Europe than Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein, he worked with many of the same themes of advertising, collages, comic strips and mass media. As well as 150 of his work, there are 75 by other pop artists, including contemporary ones such as Jeff Koons and Ai Weiwei.

Tom Wesselmann was born in Cincinatti, Ohio, in 1931. He studied art after serving in the Korean War. He spent all of his career in New York and exhibited with artists like Lichtenstein and Warhol. He experimented with collage and produced a series of still lifes using everyday objects and the series "Great American Nudes".

Tom Wesselmann, Still Life #15, 1962

From the late 1960s, Wesselmann experimented with shaped canvases, providing fragmentary glimpses of his subject, such as this self-portrait.

Tom Wesselmann: Self Portrait While Drawing, 1983

The exhibition presents 150 of Wesselmann's works alongside 70 works by 35 other artists within the field of Pop Art, from the 1950s to the present day. Including Roy Lichtenstein's comic-strip-inspired paintings.

Roy Lichtenstein, Thinking of Him, 1963

Contemporary works by Jeff Koons, Ai Weiwei continue Pop art's fascination with consumer and everyday objects. Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury took a car, often considered a male obsession in advertising and and popular culture, crushed it and "feminised" it with a coat of pink nail polish.

Sylvie Fleury, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Givenchy), 2009

 

Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &...
Till 24 February 2025
Fondation Louis Vuitton Paris

There is a a downloadable guide in English that could be useful for class visits.



Webpicks Useful websites and online tools for classroom use
> Pop Art: Teaching Resources
> David Hockney Video
Ready to Use Downloadable resources ready to use in class
> Andy Warhol: From A to Z