Althouse: The idea that the "Great American Nudes" painter Tom Wesselmann was sexist is "so completely the opposite of who he was and how he treated women in real life."

January 21, 2016

The idea that the "Great American Nudes" painter Tom Wesselmann was sexist is "so completely the opposite of who he was and how he treated women in real life."

"He had the same wife for so many years and as their daughter I watched them be madly in love until he died. It was kind of disgusting... everybody was like, how do they have this wonderful, perfect marriage? I mean, he’s my dad so I don’t want to entirely think about it, but finding my mom he was reawakened by sex, so I think that really was a driving force – this woman he loved and was completely attracted to."

From "Great American Nudes artist Tom Wesselmann was no sexist, say the women in his life."

12 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Sexist is in the eye of the beholder. Now everybody go put on politically correct floor length dresses and burquas.

The Feminists might want to rethink that. Camille Paglia could explain it to them again.; 1/21/16, 9:09 AM
Michael K said...: All history must be destroyed so that the new Marxist Utopia can begin.; 1/21/16, 9:15 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Appreciating a nude woman is not sexist.

Sometimes I show my appreciation all over her face.

That is an ejaculation joke.

As the internet can attest, men sometimes ejaculate on nude women's faces.

Sometimes the hair. And with multiple men, all appreciating the same naked woman, her hair coated with appreciation. Viscous appreciation.

The Internet is full of men appreciating women. You can see groups of Japanese men appreciating a woman pretending to be a newscaster, a big black man appreciating a petite white woman, an old fat white guy appreciating an eighteen-year-old girl with pigtails, dressed in a catholic schoolgirl outfit.

I am guessing about that last one, but I think I am right.

I hope I am also right about the "eighteen-year-old" part: appreciating a sixteen-year-old girl all over her face is Wrong.

I even spelled "Wrong" with a capital "W" so don't get ideas.

I am Laslo.; 1/21/16, 9:21 AM
William said...: Are you a better, more rounded person if you wank to Tom Wesselmann nudes rather than to anime? I bet Hillary supporters are happily married, have lots of kids, and jerk off to Tom Wesselmann nudes. Great art is transformative and makes you a better person.; 1/21/16, 9:38 AM
Jupiter said...: Having looked at a few of his paintings, I'm kind of surprised to learn that he was married. Those women may not be wearing any clothing, but I don't know that I would call them "nudes". Let alone naked. I've been more excited by pictures of cheese. Maybe I'm just getting old?; 1/21/16, 10:54 AM
Quaestor said...: I smell an ulterior motive behind this stupid controversy. Could someone with an embarrassingly large collection of Wesselmann pop art be looking to gin up the market?; 1/21/16, 11:34 AM
Jake said...: I'd be less concerned with the thought than he's sexist than I am with the thought that he's a great artist. Did you see those paintings? On second thought, if that's how he translates the female form to canvas, he must be sexist. That shit is ugly. The female form is decidedly not.; 1/21/16, 11:34 AM
Anonymous said...: Never heard of Wesselmann before, to which I say thank goodness His nudes look like a very poor imitation of Gauguin's.; 1/21/16, 12:12 PM
Bill Peschel said...: Not as bad as I anticipated from the comments, but not interesting enough to be worth pursuing.

I hope he had a good time at his easel, and I don't mean anything more than that.; 1/21/16, 1:59 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/21/16, 2:06 PM
Paul Snively said...: Sounds to me like he and his wife raised a daughter with her head screwed on straight, so kudos.; 1/21/16, 3:51 PM
mikee said...: Matisse - Pink Nude (1935). Truly there is nothing new under the sun.; 1/22/16, 11:47 AM