Two nudes

My entry in the contest surrounding Lawrence Weschler's new book, Everything that Rises.





Please let there be no narrative to explain Henri Rousseau’s perfectly insane Mauvaise Surprise, the forest scene of a blasé nude, ferocious bear and hidden gunman. Nothing could do justice to such a bizarre image.

It’s a painting made all the more strange by its reflection in Morris Hirshfield’s The Artist and His Model. The women are undeniably similar. Both have stripped off their last piece of clothing (check the tree behind the nude in the Rousseau) and their faces are empty of any exprression. Hirshfield paints himself into the bear’s place in his painting (both appear at profile) where, instead of claws, he holds up three long brushes.

For me though, the convergence doesn’t end at the composition; I can’t find a hint of sexuality in either of these paintings. I don’t know why I expect a bear attack to be sexualized but both image – especially side by side – seem that much stranger for their chastity.