TOM WESSELMANN

Drawn In Steel: Metal Editions Galerie Lelong 16 January–8 March 2025 38 Avenue Matignon, Paris

Press Release

In an echo to “Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &...”, the remarkable retrospective of the artist’s work now on view at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris until 24 February 2025, Galerie Lelong & Co. is delighted to be presenting a group of Tom Wesselmann’s “steel drawings” for the first time. While collage and assemblage play a large part in the artist’s work, drawing had always been a fundamental aspect of his practice, as it was for his contemporary Roy Lichtenstein. What sets Wesselmann apart is his search for a drawing in which the line, whether in black or in colour, is free from the paper and slightly detached from the wall on which it rests. From the mid-1980s onwards, the artist began his Steel Drawings, which would later lead to the Metal Editions that are the subject of this exhibition.

In a text from September 2003, he expressed himself very simply and clearly on this work: “The biggest departure in my work was in laser-cut steel. The original premise was to make drawings in steel as though they magically had just been drawn in steel. All of the act of drawing was still present: the spontaneity, the false line etc. At that time, sophisticated computer laser technology was not yet available but slowly came along to assist my intentions. The steel line drawings looked like they were drawn on the wall and I was intrigued that you could pick up a drawing by the lines and hold it.”

Tom Wesselmann was born in Cincinnati in February 1931 and died in New York in December 2004. After studying at the Cooper Union in New York, he soon joined the informal group dubbed Pop Art by the critics. His works are part of the collections of many museums around the world, including the MoMa and the Whitney Museum (New York), the Smithsonian Museum (Washington D.C.), the Museum Ludwig (Cologne) or the Nationalgalerie (Berlin). While he was recognized later in France than his companions Lichtenstein, Warhol, Rauschenberg or Jasper Johns, several major retrospectives have been dedicated to him in French institutions: at the Fondation Cartier in Paris in 1994, at the Musée Matisse in Nice in 2023, and currently at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

Exhibition organised in collaboration with The Estate of Tom Wesselmann and Cristea Roberts Gallery.

About the Artist

Tom Wesselmann was a pioneering American artist known for his bold contributions to Pop Art. He created provocative and stylised works that redefined representations of the body, domesticity, and consumer culture.

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About the Gallery

Galerie Lelong is located in Paris and New York. It was founded by Jacques Dupin, Daniel Lelong and Jean Frémon.

The Paris gallery has been exhibiting recent works from artists of international standing since 1981. The 1980s were notable for artists who went on to become household names, including Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies, Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, Eduardo Chillida, Paul Rebeyrolle, Pierre Alechinsky, but also for the next generation of artists: Konrad Klapheck, Jan Dibbets, Donald Judd, Robert Ryman, Richard Serra, Jannis Kounellis, Arnulf Rainer, Nicola De Maria and Jan Voss.

In the 1990s, the gallery hosted artists who represented major movements in contemporary art: Sean Scully, Günther Förg, Andy Goldsworthy, Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Antonio Saura. The gallery also increased international recognition of the work of Ana Mendieta.

Since the turn of the century, Galerie Lelong has accentuated the geographical and expressive diversity of its artists: from sculpture and objects by Jaume Plensa, David Nash, Wolfgang Laib, Kiki Smith, Rebecca Horn, Barry Flanagan to installations by Barthélémy Toguo and Lin Tianmiao, without forgetting painting, namely David Hockney, Robert Motherwell, Kate Shepherd, Nalini Malani, Nancy Spero, Juan Uslé, Leon KossoffLeon Kossoff.

Galerie Lelong has a large publishing department which produces and distributes engravings, lithographs, digital prints and multiple objects, and collates these works in catalogues raisonnés.

It produces monumental sculptures to order for public spaces and private clients.

The gallery is present at the leading international contemporary art fairs (Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Basel Hong Kong, Fiac Paris, Frieze London, Frieze New York, Arco Madrid, Art Brussels, Expo Chicago...).

The directors of the gallery are Jean Frémon, Daniel Lelong and Patrice Cotensin in Paris and Mary Sabbatino in New York.

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Address

38 avenue Matignon
Paris
France

Opening Hours

Tues - Sat, 11am - 7pm

Galerie Lelong

38 avenue Matignon, Paris, France

+33 171 722 699
http://www.galerie-lelong.com

Opening hours

Tues - Sat, 11am - 7pm

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