Tom Wesselmann's Poetic Interventions

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WESSELMANN’S ARTISTIC INTENTIONS Tom Wesselmann is a famous artist who is known for painting many seductive pictures. His sexual paintings demonstrate his high level of interest towards women as sexual beings. He frequently paints women and uses them as symbols for sex. In each of his paintings, Wesselmann emphasizes women’s luscious femininity when he uses vibrant colours to paint every one of their body parts. Wesselmann’s 1973 painting named Smoker #9, is extremely informational. The painting informs observers that the artist finds smoking to be sexy, especially when the smoking is done by women. This particular painting reveals an immense amount of symbolism; the painting shows a set of slightly opened red lips, and a cigarette loosely fashioned between long, sexy fingers. Through the artist’s wonderful use of colours and shapes, Smoker #9 tells any observer that both the fingers and the set of lips belong to a woman. Both the woman’s lips and fingernails are painted an erotic red, revealing a sense of seduction. The cigarette is…show more content…
The woman’s red lips and red finger nails are the main focus of the picture because the artist does not want the woman’s luscious features to sink into the background. The symbolism behind Wesselmann’s use of the colour red and how it relates to sex is best described by Thomas Buchsteiner and Otto Letze, authors of the book Tom Wesselmann. The two note, “The individual elements of his pictures are combined in an apparently free interplay of forms and exotic reds to form a composition that expresses the spontaneity of sexual gesture” (Buchsteiner & Letze 35). Buchsteiner and Letze’s implication proves how Wesselmann’s use of the colour red contributes to his sexual expression. This vibrant colour highlights the notion of his passion towards women as he outlines (in red) a woman’s alluring

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