When viewers look at a naked woman, what might they see? Depending on the artist's technique, they may see the working woman, the erotic woman, and even the unattractive woman. Tom Wesselmann uses his oil painting, The Great American Nude #82 (1966) , to "signify and celebrate male heterosexual desires" through a very erotic painting of a woman (Buchsteiner 9). However, Philip Pearlstein uses his oil painting, Female Model on Chair with Red Indian Rug (1974), to dramatize an oppressed, unattractive woman. While, both paintings contain one nude female model with little facial illustration, Pearlstein more accurately portrays women through both a de-emphasized sexual perspective and life experiences by his use of color, placement, and proportionality, compared to Wesselmann’s male sexual perspective of women.

  Female Model on Chair                                             The Great American Nude #82 (by Tom Wesselmann)
  With Red Indian Rug (by Philip Pearlstein)

In Pearlstein’s five years of graduate study in art history, he learned to incorporate the strategies of Abstract Expressionism and Realism, which allowed Pearlstein to create paintings that illustrated significant life experiences (McCarthy 55). Pearlstein’s foundation in Abstract Expressionism and Realism further enhanced his interests in experimentation and variety because it introduced him to a diverse range of subjects and styles in European art (McCarthy 55). Abstract Expressionism employs "psychic self-expression through a general attitude [rather] than one particular style" (Atkins 36). Likewise, the art produced during this movement had a common thread of "morally loaded themes, often heavyweight and tragic, on a grand scale" (Atkins 37). Similarly, Realism constituted an interest in everyday subjects including an accurate depiction of nature (Atkins 140). As the attitudes attitudes of Abstract Expressionism and Realism influenced Pearlstein, he often painted nude women, which related different life experiences, such as women's oppression, through a de-emphasized sexual perspective.

Like Pearlstein, Wesselmann studied Abstract Expressionism as a graduate student, but he developed his own powerful style through paintings based on sexualized depictions of women (McCarthy 83). After Wesselmann met his wife, he decided to celebrate the sexual fulfillment he found in this new relationship by painting nudes of her (Buchsteiner 9). Wesselmann signified and celebrated male heterosexual desire through his paintings of his wife (Buchsteiner 10). Though Pearlstein employs his creative style to enhance the depiction of women, Wesselmann developed his own artistic style by painting erotic women.

Pearlstein’s use of color in Female Model on Chair with Red Indian Rug (1974) captures the exhausted woman who experience oppression throughout their lifetimes. The dominant color in Pearlstein’s painting appears on the woman's body. When Pearlstein paints his figures, he "tries to see the human body without emotion or sentiment" (Landwehr Preface). Therefore, the nude woman's flesh has a pale white appearance because Pearlstein drains the color from her skin. Likewise, the woman's hands, torso, and ankles have a chalky dryness, similar to a marble statue. Although the woman's lips, chin, and hair appear young, the color of the woman's flesh and body has an old appearance; therefore, Pearlstein symbolizes the worn out and weary women who experience past oppression.

Although Pearlstein's use of color uniquely illustrates women's oppression from real life experiences, Wesselmann's color and object usage in The Great American Nude #82 (1966) signifies only the erotic ways men perceived women. The bluish-purple stockings involve the major color observed in the painting. These seductive-looking stockings help emphasize the woman' s bold nudity and the single article of clothing she wears. The stockings suggest how males imagine seductive women; furthermore, they suggest how men perceive attractive and alluring women. Likewise, the reddish-brown color of the women's feminine parts draws even more attention to her sexuality. The woman's hair, lips, nipples, and pubic area contain the dark red color while the rest of her skin has a pale peach appearance. In this painting, the strategically placed red color symbolizes men's erotic thoughts and desires, while the use of color illustrates the four main sexual areas that men observe in a naked woman.  Therefore, Wesselmann's color usage suggest men's sexual perspective of women, while Pearlstein’s color usage exemplifies a de-emphasized sexual perspective of oppressed women throughout the twentieth century.

While the color helps emphasize each of the artists’ unique purpose, Pearlstein's placement of his female subject also emphasizes how he more accurately portrays women through illustrating their harsh oppression throughout the twentieth century. The first observation the audience notices includes the steel chair that appears toward the left, and not the center. Similarly, the woman sitting on the chair does not face the audience. Through this placement technique, one possesses an "on-looking" state-of-mind as if the woman does not realize the painter draws her. Likewise, the woman appears to have a hunched over posture, which one may interpret the painting as a closed off, secretive space that the painter has invaded. Yet, the female might realize the painter’s presence, and the hunched over posture may demonstrate the desire to suppress her exposed sexuality. Since the woman also seems trapped, because her position does not allow her to easily get out of the chair, Pearlstein captures the outlook on society when women were inferior to men. Because of inferiority toward men, women would suppress their sexuality during the mid-twentieth century. Compared to men, women could not "hold certain jobs, such as doctors, lawyers, or high educators, and they had a reputation of being a mother, wife, and a family nurturer" (American Portrait 658). Therefore, Pearlstein exemplifies the harsh oppression of women, while de-emphasizing sexuality and more accurately portrays women’s real life experiences, through the placement of his female subject.

On the other hand, Wesselmann's placement of his female model signifies male heterosexual desire through depicting women only in a sexual manner, instead of representing conservative women during the twentieth century. For example, the nude woman appears in the direct center of the painting. Likewise, the woman has a straightforward and provocative posture, because lies on her left side with her head tilted back and her legs spread apart. This placement technique implies that the woman wishes the painter to paint her. Consequently, since the woman does not appear trapped in the setting of Wesselmann's painting like Pearlstein's illustration, Wesselmann depicts women as willing to expose themselves to an audience and free to express their femininity. Since women tried to cover up their sexuality in a "conservative" manner throughout the mid-twentieth century, Wesselmann does not achieve the most accurate depiction of women (American Portrait 589). On the other hand, Pearlstein more accurately depicts women, because supplies his audience with a de-emphasized sexual image which  men and women to seem slightly equal through the model's placement and "conservative" position.

Moreover, Pearlstein more accurately depicts women through his use of proportionality, which undoubtedly illustrates women's past sexuality suppression by de-emphasizing the female model's sexual parts.  Instead of focusing on sexuality, Pearlstein uses proportionality to make the woman’s body contain several masculine parts. The woman has broad shoulders, big hips, wide feet, and huge thighs, which the audience can easily see. However, the woman’s breast, lips, and pubic area have a small shape. By giving the woman masculine and unattractive body parts, Pearlstein tries to illustrate how a woman’s sexuality was "seen" throughout the years when female sexuality consisted of secretive and hidden characteristics. Women during the mid-twentieth century would suppress their femininity in society because femininity involved being inferior toward men, since women and men were not treated as equal individuals. In addition, women did not possess equal rights as men (American Portrait 624). However, women’s hands and body structure, such as legs, hips and shoulders, had importance because women used those body parts for working in the factories and homes, or giving birth. On the other hand, Pearlstein more accurately depicts women, because he frees women from sexual subordenation by suppling his audience with more manly elements of a woman which allows men and women to seem slightly equal in his painting. He also illustrates how men depicted women as more masculine, and not a frail figure.

On the other hand, Wesselmann's proportionality technique illustrates the imaginary, re-situated woman as purely sexual entities, because he emphasizes the woman's sexual areas. The nude woman has a large bust, full lips, and big hair, which the audience can easily observe. However, other parts of her body, including her shoulders, hips, stomach, and legs, have a small shape and structure, while no parts of her body have a masculine appearance. Wesselmann strives to emphasize the definite portrayal of women from a desirable, male standpoint. However, one cannot characterize all women throughout the twentieth century as small and well "filled out," because women possess different shapes and sizes in body structure. As a result, Wesselmann only emphasizes women as sex objects while not making them equal to men. Therefore, women are still inferior and sexual to Wesselmann, while Pearlstein emphasizes women's life experiences and does not focus just on sexuality.

Although Wesselmann's and Pearlstein's paintings contain little resemblance, one can recognize a similar feature, which captures the painters’ universal viewpoint of women. Both paintings do not emphasize much detail within the woman's face. Wesselmann excludes the woman's facial features, except for her mouth, to emphasize an oral connotation. Since several erotic gestures, including kissing, involved the mouth, men perceived desirable women with full and succulent lips. Wesselmann also illustrates the depiction of the "perfect" woman not as unique, but as a common sexual figure of the male perspective. Similarly, Pearlstein deletes the woman’s face from the painting, which symbolizes how oppression did not distinguish women from one another and did not treat them as unique. In addition, Pearlstein further oppresses the woman in the painting by not including her head and, which contains the most important feature of every woman. However, "oppressed women had no authority to think for themselves or express their thoughts since they possessed a lower standard compared to men" (American Portrait 595).  Thus, Pearlstein illustrates how society depicted the oppression of women not as unique and feminine, but as quiet, working women that could not express their ideas. Both artists illustrate a universal figure of women, but Pearlstein also emphasizes women’s life experiences through a de-emphasized sexual standpoint.

Through techniques of color, placement, and proportionality, Pearlstein developed a style that allowed his audience to see how women’s oppression could look realistic by de-emphasizing sexuality and making women more manly, while Wesselmann signified only male heterosexual desires. Nonetheless, more artists and photographers presently depict women similar to Wesselmann's male sexual perspective by producing works of erotic and sexually attractive women. Throughout advertisements and commercials women are seen as skiny, erotic, and sexy, while men continue to look professional and powering. This type of style in advertisements and paintings might suggest that men still have a more powerful impact and authority on today's society, and women continue to hold a lower standard compared to men.

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The Great American Nude #82. Online. Available at: http://home.t-online.de/home/hillman/nude2.jpg

Female Model on Chair with Red Indian Rug. Online. Available at:  http://www.unc.edu/~dcderosa/STUDENTPAPERS/DerosaART/lindsayp.jpg