Tom Wesselmann: Beyond Pop Art

Tom Wesselmann

May 19 - October 7, 2012

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is hosting the first ever North American retrospective of the American Pop artist Tom Wesselmann, consisting of about 180 of his works, some of which were never exhibited before. Most prominent are seventy-five paintings and earliest metal pieces produced by laser steel-cutting. Of great interest are also his preliminary drawings and maquettes as well as some thirty archival documents such as photographs, letters, billboards, etc. After this exhibition ends in October 2012, it will travel to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond where it will open to the public in the spring of 2013.

This exhibition presents Wesselmann’s most significant series: Great American Nudes, Still Lives, Smokers, Bathtub Collages and Seascapes. The two works just above demonstrate the elegance and simplicity, and even sensuality with which Wesselmann often handled his creative imagery.


Here are two Seascape paintings. In the one just to the left, the Sky - the nurturer of all - is reaching towards the Earth below. A symbolic image of dove could be discerned, with a beak and a head on the left, and an upward wing extended towards the sky on the right.

In the painting below it, and just to the left from this text, a human being is reaching towards the sky and above the clouds. In both painting the sea water is not blue, but almost a green of the grass. Thus this colour not only seems to represent the water, but also grass, both being the part of the Earth's landscape.

Do these two paintings project some spiritual concerns Wesselmann might have harboured? Apparently, at the time he was producing this work (according to his wife Claire Wesselmann, present at the press conference at the inauguration of this exhibition) her husband was writing Haiku style poems. Haiku is traditionally a very short Japanese poetry, involving a juxtaposition of images. Through very laconic means, a very profound and even spiritual meaning is achieved. These two Seascape paintings of Wesselman definitely seam to be "Haiku" paintings, where with very few elements and colours, a poetic visual effect and a profound meaning is achieved.

Early in his career, Tom Wesselmann began to investigate and reinvent traditional genres like the nude, still life and landscape. Beginning with collages, he incorporated a diverse array of materials in his work: advertising billboards, plastic flowers, television sets and neon signs. The photo to the left and above shows a collage-painting with the typical period domestic items which, when properly arranged, create the illusion of "art" of the everyday life. The objects are taken out of the realm of the mundane and are imparted an aesthetic value, thus catapulting them from the everyday drudgery into a seemingly sublime sphere.

The photo on the left is an example of a Wesselmann’s invention of steel line drawings. The idea was to take a pencil drawing from his sketchbook, to “detach” it from the paper, and place it directly on the wall.

Wesselmann had a keen appreciation for the art history. He also incorporated a number of reproductions of paintings he liked in his work, for instance by Matisse, Picasso and Mondrian. In addition, he also incorporated all sort of materials. This new understanding and the definition of genres led him, along with Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, to invent a new Pop aesthetic.  He was especially preoccupied with form and the relationship of shapes to each other. He also used strong undiluted colours, making striking aesthetic and content statements when playing with the tension between colour and shape.

Below is a view of one of the MMFA Exhibition Halls with three  magnificent paintings by Tom Wesellmann.

Click on images to enlarge them.

List of Photos as they appear in the text:

1. Tom Wesselmann, Still Life No. 53, 1964, Painted molded plastic, Mugrabi Collection, MMFA Retrospective 2012, Photo by Nadia Slejskova

2. Tom Wesselmann, Still Life No. 60, 1973, Oil on canvas, New York, Estate of Tom Wesselmann, MMFA Retrospective 2012, Photo by Nadia Slejskova

3. Tom Wesselman, Smoker No. 1, 1967, Oon shaped canvas, in two parts, New York, The Museum of Modern Art Susan Morse Hilles Fund, 1968, MMFA Retrospective 2012, Photo by Nadia Slejskova

4. Tom Wesselmann, Smoking Cigarette No. 2, 1980, Oil on wood and masonite, 173.9 x 200.6 x 45.7 cm, New York, The Estate of Tom Wesselmann, MMFA Retrospective 2012, Photo by Nadia Slejskova

5. Tom Wesselmann, Seascape No. 24, 1967, Oil on shaped canvas, New York, The Estate of Tom Wesselmann, MMFA 2012, Photo by Nadia Slejskova

6. Tom Wesselmann, Seascape No. 22, 1967, Oil on shaped canvas, New York, The Estate of Tom Wesselman, MMFA Retrospective 2012, Photo by Nadia Slejskova

7. Tom Wesselmann, Still Life No. 30,  Oil, enamel and synthetic polymer paint on composition board with collage of printed advertisements, plastic flowers, refrigerator door, plastic replicas of 7-up bottles, glazed and framed color reproduction, and stumped metal, New York, The Museum of Modern Art,  MMFA Retrospective 2012, Photo by Nadia Slejskova

8. Tom Wesselman, Still Life with Two Matisses (Portraits), 1990/1992, Alkyd oil on cut-out aluminum,  New York, The Estate of Tom Wesselman, MMFA Retrospective 2012, Photo by Nadia Slejskova

9. Tom Wesselmann, Sunset Nude with Wesselman, 2003, Oil on canvas, Huston, Sandders Collection, MMFA Retrospective 2012,  Photo by Nadia Slejskova

10. Tom Wesselmann's Retrospective, Exhibition Hall, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2012,  Photo by Nadia Slejskova

You can purchase the exhibition catalogue at the Museum's Boutique and Store.