La Promesse du Bonheur

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Tom Wesselmann: La Promesse du Bonheur, curated by Chris Sharp with the scientific coordination of Cristiano Raimondi, held at Villa Paloma in Monaco June 29, 2018, through January 6, 2019, this catalogue is a critical overview of a key American Pop artist and an important opportunity to analyze specific aspects of his work: Victorian and post-Victorian sexuality, female agency, postwar economic abundance, beauty, the erotics of anticipation, the politics of the gaze, and strategies of indeterminacy. Every aspect of the books design, including its more than 170 color illustrations, is conceived to reflect on the artists haptic, indexical painterly approach and oversize scale system.

Through Steven Marcuss concept of pornotopia and the perspective of economy and abundance in postwar American society, the critical essay by Chris Sharp examines Wesselmanns depictions of the sexual, developed formally in the works by means of hyperbole, hierarchies of elements, elision, and omission. The second critical essay by Sabrina Tarasoff leverages Julian Wassers iconic 1963 photograph Duchamp Playing Chess with a Nude, the 1969 breast action during one of Theodor W. Adornos classes, and more to deliberate the intentional in-betweenness in Wesselmanns work, interest as a category preceding definition, semantic versus formal dimensions, and midcentury sensibilities regarding masculinity and female empowerment.