Le nom de Wesselmann évoque irrésistiblement une silhouette lascive et glamour dans le cocon douillet d’un intérieur américain. Même si son intérêt s’est aussi porté sur la nature morte, le nu féminin est le thème essentiel de toute son œuvre. C’est sa marque de fabrique ! Dans la série impressionnante des Grands Nus américains, on peut retrouver la trace des artistes de l’histoire de l’art : Ingres et la sensualité de sa ligne, Matisse et son traitement magistral des aplats, en même temps que des utilisations de reproductions d’œuvres de Mondrian, Renoir, et même de La Joconde. Il s’amuse à désacraliser des compositions célèbres pour mieux se les réapproprier. Cet hommage indirect et souriant aux maîtres s’accompagne d’un sens de la modernité tout à fait exceptionnel. Marqué par la composition cubiste, dans plusieurs œuvres, Wesselmann confronte presque toujours l’image peinte d’une femme dénudée à des objets réels fixés sur le tableau ou posés à côté de lui : porte, rideau de douche, porte-serviette, serviette-éponge, tapis de bain, téléphone, poste de radio, pot de mayonnaise, bannière étoilée… La pin-up incarnée sur la surface de la toile est rendue de ce fait encore plus inaccessible et renforce pour le spectateur l’impression qu’elle ne sera pour lui qu’un pur fantasme, l’image d’un rêve. Les formes pleines, planes et simplifiées du modèle comme sorties d’affiches publicitaires, les organes sexuels clairement définis font de la femme une marchandise aguichante, une vision attirante et provocante, mais qui échappe à la vulgarité. Bouche vermeille souvent entrouverte qui montre l’émail de dents étincelantes, seins aux mamelons dressés, cuisses rondes et musculeuses, hanches abondantes, toison pubienne fournie, mains manucurées d’un vernis rouge sang… sont la marque du modernisme de ses nouvelles Olympia à la chair offerte. Elles posent comme le font les modèles des publicités pour vendre des fleurs, des voitures, des parfums ou des aspirateurs… La pureté des lignes galbées et l’utilisation savante de l’arabesque, mariées à l’éclat des couleurs en aplat, signent la puissance de l’érotisme de ses idoles aux poses suggestives, fardées outrageusement de couleurs primaires. Wesselmann standardise ses courtisanes avant-gardistes en effaçant de leur visage tout trait caractéristique. Leur pouvoir érotique, leur sex-appeal s’accompagnent ainsi d’une dépersonnalisation. Seules leurs lèvres s’offrent à la contemplation. Les plus provocantes de ces œuvres sont des bouches découpées, peintes, lourdement maquillées, fumant une cigarette, symbole de la consommation de l’acte sexuel. Ces formes ont une signification explicitement fétichiste, et l’agrandissement d’un sourire sur deux mètres de hauteur le rend plus abstrait qu’un simple gros plan, mais cela exalte aussi ses connotations charnelles. Souvent, les créations proposent une figuration illusionniste avec à leur côté des objets palpables et concrets, sans démarcation entre l’imaginaire et le réel. Ce mélange entre l’espace tangible, qui peut être celui-là même du spectateur, et la représentation fictive de la femme peinte souligne l’étonnante tendance maniériste de l’artiste. Devant la beauté de ses femmes offertes, on songe aux Vénus alanguies de l’histoire de l’art, comme La Vénus d’Urbin de Titien, Marie-Louise O’Murphy de François Boucher, Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe de Manet, les Odalisques de Matisse… Wesselmann précise sa démarche : « En peignant un nu, je désire surtout m’approcher du corps. Cela est lié à une conception de l’échelle. Je voulais rendre mes peintures plus excitantes en augmentant la dimension de certains éléments à l’intérieur du tableau. Une bouche ou une fleur pouvaient devenir l’élément prépondérant d’une toile. » La sensualité toute puritaine de la société américaine trouve dans cette approche distanciée son reflet le plus ressemblant et le plus brillant. Wesselmann est l’artiste Pop qui érotise l’art de Matisse et met en avant la sexualité autant que la publicité, où elle joue un rôle essentiel. S’il est le peintre de la chair et du fantasme, il est surtout l’incarnation ardente du Pop Art par la présentation d’une réalité souriante et aseptisée. On trouve chez lui des salles de bains éclatantes, des téléphones en bakélite, des boîtes de conserve aux logos criards, des montagnes de pâtisseries, des canettes de bière et de soda mathématiquement empilées… Son œuvre nous plonge dans la classe moyenne américaine. Elle est l’imagier même du Pop Art ! Sa glorification apparente de la société de consommation se fait par la réussite matérielle des femmes qui, comme dans la chanson de Boris Vian La Complainte du progrès, trouvent leur bonheur avec « un frigidaire, un joli scooter, un atomixer et du Dunlopillo… », tous ces éléments de la vie moderne qui rendraient l’existence plus facile ! C’est l’illustration de la jouissance immédiate, du bonheur de ceux qui n’ont pas à réfléchir. Le génie de Wesselmann, comme le souligne François Pluchart dans son ouvrage culte Pop Art, est de réunir « tout ce qui constitue non pas l’ambition de vivre aujourd’hui, mais sa forme imposée par toutes les sollicitations de la publicité ». Mais quand Wesselmann glorifie le corps de bimbos à l’image de produits industriels, il n’est pas dupe et, de façon prémonitoire ou détournée, il montre que nous sommes tous les victimes insatiables et compulsives de la consommation de masse.
The name Wesselmann irresistibly evokes a lascivious silhouette and glamorous figure in the cozy cocoon of an American home. Although his interest was also in still life, the female nude is the essential theme of all his work. It is his trademark! In the impressive series of Great American Nudes, one can find traces of artists from the history of art: Ingres and the sensuality of his line, Matisse and his masterful treatment of flat tints, as well as the use of reproductions of works by Mondrian, Renoir, and even the Mona Lisa. He has fun desacralizing famous compositions to better reappropriate them. This indirect and smiling homage to the This indirect and smiling homage to the masters is accompanied by a sense of modernity quite exceptional. Marked by the cubist composition, in several works, Wesselmann almost always confronts the painted image of a naked woman with real objects fixed on the painting or posed beside him: door, shower curtain, towel rack The pin-up girl embodied on the surface of the canvas is thus rendered even more inaccessible and reinforces for the viewer the impression that she will only be for him a pure fantasy, the image of a dream. The full, flat and simplified forms of the model as if taken from advertising posters, the clearly defined sexual organs make the woman an enticing commodity, an attractive and provocative vision, but one that escapes vulgarity. Rime-colored mouths often half-open, showing the enamel of sparkling teeth, breasts with erect nipples, round and muscular thighs, abundant hips, full pubic hair, hands manicured with blood-red varnish... are the mark of modernism of his new Olympias with offered flesh.
They pose like the models of the publicities to sell flowers, cars, perfumes or cars, perfumes or vacuum cleaners... The purity of the curved lines and the skilful use of the arabesque, combined with the brightness of the solid colors, sign the power of the eroticism of his idols in suggestive poses, outrageously fardées of primary colors. Wesselmann standardizes his avant-garde courtesans by erasing from their faces any characteristic feature. Their erotic power, their sex appeal are thus accompanied by a depersonalization. Only their lips are offered to the contemplation. The most provocative of these works are cut-out, painted, heavily made-up mouths, smoking a cigarette, symbol of the consumption of the sexual act. These forms have an explicitly fetishistic meaning, and the enlargement of a smile on two meters high makes it more abstract than a simple close-up, but it also exalts its carnal connotations. Often, the creations propose an illusionist figuration with at their with palpable and concrete objects, without demarcation between the imaginary and the real. This mixture between the tangible space, which can be that one even of the spectator, and the fictive representation of the painted woman underlines the astonishing mannerist tendency of the artist. In front of the beauty of his women, one thinks of the languid Venuses of the history of art, like Titian's Venus of Urbino, François Boucher's Marie-Louise O'Murphy Boucher, Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe by Manet, the Odalisques by Matisse... Wesselmann specifies his approach: "By painting a nude, I want above all to approach the body. This is related to a concept of scale. I wanted to I wanted to make my paintings more exciting by increasing the dimension of certain elements within the painting. A mouth or a flower A mouth or a flower could become the dominant element of a painting. The puritanical sensuality of American society is reflected in this distanced The puritanical sensuality of American society finds its most resembling and brilliant reflection in this distanced approach. Wesselmann is the Pop artist who eroticizes the art of Matisse and puts forward sexuality as much as advertising, where sexuality as much as publicity, where it plays an essential role. If he is the painter of the flesh and the fantasy, it is especially the ardent incarnation of the Pop Art by the presentation of a smiling and sanitized reality. One finds at bright bathrooms, telephones in bakelite, cans in the shouting logos cans with shouting logos, mountains of pastries, cans of beer and soda beer and soda cans mathematically stacked... Her work immerses us in the American middle class. It is the very image of Pop Art! Its apparent glorification of the society of consumption society is done by the material success of women who, as in the song in Boris Vian's song La Complainte du progrès, find their happiness with "a refrigerator, a pretty scooter, an atomixer and of Dunlopillo...", all these elements of the modern life which would make the existence easier! It is the illustration of the immediate enjoyment, the happiness of those who do not have to think. The genius of Wesselmann, as François Pluchart underlines it in his cult work Pop Art & Co, is to join together "all that constitutes not the ambition to live today, but its form imposed by all the solicitations of the publicity". But when Wesselmann glorifies the body of bimbos with the image of industrial products, he is not fooled and, in a premonitory or diverting way, he shows that we are all the insatiable and compulsive victims of the mass consumption.
They pose like the models of the publicities to sell flowers, cars, perfumes or cars, perfumes or vacuum cleaners... The purity of the curved lines and the skilful use of the arabesque, combined with the brightness of the solid colors, sign the power of the eroticism of his idols in suggestive poses, outrageously fardées of primary colors. Wesselmann standardizes his avant-garde courtesans by erasing from their faces any characteristic feature. Their erotic power, their sex appeal are thus accompanied by a depersonalization. Only their lips are offered to the contemplation. The most provocative of these works are cut-out, painted, heavily made-up mouths, smoking a cigarette, symbol of the consumption of the sexual act. These forms have an explicitly fetishistic meaning, and the enlargement of a smile on two meters high makes it more abstract than a simple close-up, but it also exalts its carnal connotations. Often, the creations propose an illusionist figuration with at their with palpable and concrete objects, without demarcation between the imaginary and the real. This mixture between the tangible space, which can be that one even of the spectator, and the fictive representation of the painted woman underlines the astonishing mannerist tendency of the artist. In front of the beauty of his women, one thinks of the languid Venuses of the history of art, like Titian's Venus of Urbino, François Boucher's Marie-Louise O'Murphy Boucher, Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe by Manet, the Odalisques by Matisse... Wesselmann specifies his approach: "By painting a nude, I want above all to approach the body. This is related to a concept of scale. I wanted to I wanted to make my paintings more exciting by increasing the dimension of certain elements within the painting. A mouth or a flower A mouth or a flower could become the dominant element of a painting. The puritanical sensuality of American society is reflected in this distanced The puritanical sensuality of American society finds its most resembling and brilliant reflection in this distanced approach. Wesselmann is the Pop artist who eroticizes the art of Matisse and puts forward sexuality as much as advertising, where sexuality as much as publicity, where it plays an essential role. If he is the painter of the flesh and the fantasy, it is especially the ardent incarnation of the Pop Art by the presentation of a smiling and sanitized reality. One finds at bright bathrooms, telephones in bakelite, cans in the shouting logos cans with shouting logos, mountains of pastries, cans of beer and soda beer and soda cans mathematically stacked... Her work immerses us in the American middle class. It is the very image of Pop Art! Its apparent glorification of the society of consumption society is done by the material success of women who, as in the song in Boris Vian's song La Complainte du progrès, find their happiness with "a refrigerator, a pretty scooter, an atomixer and of Dunlopillo...", all these elements of the modern life which would make the existence easier! It is the illustration of the immediate enjoyment, the happiness of those who do not have to think. The genius of Wesselmann, as François Pluchart underlines it in his cult work Pop Art & Co, is to join together "all that constitutes not the ambition to live today, but its form imposed by all the solicitations of the publicity". But when Wesselmann glorifies the body of bimbos with the image of industrial products, he is not fooled and, in a premonitory or diverting way, he shows that we are all the insatiable and compulsive victims of the mass consumption.