LONDON.- Almine Rech Gallery announced that it, along with Gagosian Gallery, will be the exclusive worldwide representation for the Estate of Tom Wesselmann. The collaboration will ensure a cohesive presentation of the artist's legacy to a global audience by mounting innovative exhibitions, promoting scholarly research, and producing publications that will advance a deepened understanding of the artist's contribution to the art historical canon.

A major initiative will be the joint publication of a catalogue raisonné of the Great American Nudes, scheduled for completion in 2018. Wesselmann began this celebrated series in 1961, imbuing his depictions of the female Nude with symbols of American culture alongside art historical allusions to modern masters such as Picasso and Matisse. The series of 101 paintings ended in 1973 with Great American Nude #100.

"Both galleries are passionately committed to Tom Wesselmann's legacy. The Estate looks forward to a period of strategic leadership, sustained scholarly engagement and a program of thought-provoking exhibitions," said Jeffrey Sturges, Director of Exhibitions, The Estate of Tom Wesselmann.

Wesselmann's work is currently on view at Almine Rech Gallery Paris in "A Different Kind of Woman," open through December 21. The exhibition is inspired by the artist's 1970 show at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York and demonstrates a growing interest in re-examining Wesselmann's career through a contemporary lens.

"Tom Wesselmann is one of the century's great American masters," said Almine Rech. "Whilst his work is deeply rooted in the classical European tradition of painting it responds with singular originality to the spirit and conditions of post-war America. Wesselmann acknowledges tradition and breaks with it. Both in terms of content and form his oeuvre positions itself on the side of a social, cultural and political avant-garde. It is radical and relevant to today's conversation in ways we are only now beginning to understand more fully. I am pleased to contribute to this process of rediscovery."

Larry Gagosian stated, "Wesselmann grounded consumer culture and the sexual revolution in art history. Warhol and Lichtenstein took on historical quotations as well, but Wesselmann started with them. He reinvented European history painting in a vibrant new idiom. I am excited this partnership will provide a global platform for a quintessential Pop artist whose imagery is embedded into American culture."

In Summer 2017 the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Villa Paloma will open "Tom Wesselmann: La Promesse du Bonheur," curated by Chris Sharp. The exhibition will address his "prodigious and penetrating contribution in the taboo subject of sexuality, portrayals thereof, and its indissociable link to the boundless promise conveyed by the cultural, material and economic bounty of post-war American society."

Alan Cristea Gallery London will continue to represent Tom Wesselmann's prints and multiples and will publish the catalogue raisonné of prints and editions in 2018.