Men to Avoid in Art and Life

by Nicole Tersigni, Jen Kirkman (Foreword)

Started as a Twitter thread and quickly gained widespread popularity, this book perfectly captures those relatable moments when a man explains to a woman a subject about which he knows considerably less than she does. Situations include these men in art and antiquity sharing keen insight on the female anatomy, an eloquent defense of catcalling, or offering sage advice about horseback riding to the woman who owns the horse and many more situations.

Genres: Humor, Art, Nonfiction, Feminism, Graphic Novels, Adult, History

96 pages, Hardcover

First published August 11, 2020

About the author

Nicole is a comedic writer and author of the bestselling humor book, Men to Avoid in Art and Life, and its follow up, Friends to Keep in Art and Life. She lives in Metro Detroit with her husband, daughter, and dog.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this the day I started it, it's a very quick read -- I'm talking ten minutes -- and I've read it probably three times more since. When it's funny it's very, very funny. I wanted to include screenshots but can't figure it out. Complicating things is that the paintings are identified in the back, in an index. That's a serious pain and makes no sense, showing the art divorced from the name of the painting and the artist.

So maybe I'll try again to post the very clever Toulouse-Lautrec caption and the other two or three...or maybe I give up and just provide quotes with links to the paintings. For now I'm giving it a rest and a nonvisual review.

Some of it isn't great but the great ones are so worth it. Hahahaha. Tis the season so yes, I'll edit this and share a laugh with you. Speaking of the season, this is very giftable for friends and the condescending men in your life.

⭐
1/1/21: I promised examples and, hopefully, better late than never. Not being able to show the captions on the painting the way Tersigni has is less than ideal -- but so am I ;)

https://www.rct.uk/collection/406925/...
"I can't talk to you if you're going to get hysterical"

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collect...
"We've been over this a million times: You can't get pregnant if you're on top. It's called gravity"

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
"I only talked over you all night because I didn't want you to embarrass yourself"

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 91-page collection of images paired with sexist sentiments. It's in the vein of the popular humorous memes that pair vintage art with sassy statements; only here, the art is classical and the statements are a painful kind of comedy as they highlight the ludicrous lows of sexism. The author helpfully divided the men to avoid into chapters: the mansplainer, the "concern troll," the comedian, the sexpert, and the patronizer. It'd be nearly impossible to find a woman who hasn't encountered at least one of these varieties.

This amusing little book can be read in about ten minutes. The art is paired well with the statements to drive home the comedy. (On a side note, I'm surprised by the art depicting men physically harassing women but even more so by the fact that the spirit moved those artists in that direction.)

The book's moral: Men, if you wouldn't do or say it to a man, don't do or say it to a woman.

NOTE: This review is cross-posted on The Story Graph and LibraryThing.

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was indeed funny, and I enjoyed the art. It also made me want to strangle someone at times though :-) The humor was biting, sarcastic, and just what I needed for a change while locked down at home for this virus that seems never ending. I’m thinking I need to read humor more often now. Thanks. Advanced electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Nicole Tersigni, and the publisher.

Review of other edition.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loads of giggles and quite a few hearty guffaws. Best enjoyed by women.😉😂

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an artist, I am always looking to find interesting books about visual arts, design techniques and unique takes on the arts. This book, while featuring some great artworks, isn't. While I might be accused of mansplaining, my only intent is to leave a review. The artwork I loved, the humor not so much. Well, maybe it was just a little funny...

Than again, should I put myself in their (female) shoes...

Thanks for the ARC, which I go in exchange for an honest review.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicole Tersigni stumbled into fame — and publication — by pairing works by the Great Masters with misogynistic statements on her Twitter feed. Whether mansplainers, patronizers, clowns or self-styled experts, they’re all here. Laugh-out-loud funny, this book was a wonderful way to end 2020.

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious!

Men to Avoid in Art and Life
By Nicole Tersigni
This is great! Perfect! The book has paintings from museums and each have a comment each of us women have heard at least once before! Hilarious because it's so true! Not funny that there are guys still out there like these! Lol!

[David Wineberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicole Tersigni has been attacking in all directions, for years. Men, life, her husband, her family, men, confinement, men … everything. Now she has collected her thoughts in a cartoonish little book called Men to Avoid in Art and Life. It’s a delightful small collection of scenes magnified out of classic European paintings, with Tersigni’s jaundiced captions over them.

Maybe I shouldn’t say jaundiced. That would come from a neutral observer. What they are really are finely targeted and accurate attacks on men abusing women out of total ignorance. Very little exaggeration was necessary to make her captions funny; men already provide. Free.

The book is divided into chapters of paintings, collecting men’s sins into neat buckets: The Mansplainer, The Concern Troll, The Comedian, The Sexpert, and The Patronizer.

The scenes are centered around a woman in a painting, with a man hovering while overexplaining something at her. The really great thing about the paintings is that Tersigni has found women who are just done. Tired of hearing the prattle, fed up with playing the bimbo, or holding off from a slew of expletives for lack of an AR-15 or a Deathstar. They look on, often breaking the fourth wall, like Jack Benny dumbfounded by the noise passing for information.

I leave you with a sampling:
“We’ve been over this a million times. You can’t get pregnant if you’re on top. It’s called gravity.”
“No one wants to see a woman with body hair. It’s unnatural.”
“Let me tell you something about the female body…”
“I know it’s hard for women to sit quietly. But close your eyes and listen. You might learn something.”
“…and women don’t have to be funny, because men are already attracted to them. That’s why only ugly women can tell a joke worth a damn. Anyway, nice to meet you. I’m Bob.”

David Wineberg

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's unfortunate to have to attribute this book such a low rating, but the whole thing feels like a case of half-hearted attempts at humour and political correctness.

First of all, the Foreword by Jen Kirkman really does a disservice to this book. Rather than get me excited to read, the tone and forced jokes actually made me want to put the book down. With vague blanket statements like "Twitter is a daily reminder that I'm a woman" and an unnecessary, unfunny tampon joke, I just don't know what the point of her commentary was. (I also don't really know who she is... I googled her, I guess she's on the cover to help sales?) I would have much preferred something written by Nicole Tersigni herself, perhaps something reflective about the process of revisiting her content and putting the book together.

The content of the book is hit-or-miss, though there are some clever pairings made between the gorgeous artwork and comments that I've sure most women have heard from some men before.

This could be a good gift book, but unfortunately, I think it lacks substance.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book.

[Flybyreader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love it when creative social media accounts reach such heights as to turn into actual physical books. I have a fondness for art memes and this is a collection of feminist art memes that became popular on Twitter. I enjoyed the creativity, humor and the unmistakable match of punchlines and paintings but I found the book too short and insufficient to satisfy your enthusiasm. If you have 15 minutes to spare and humor yourself, then this is the book for you, I just wish it contained more.

[Ivana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this!
Since I am an Art History student I enjoyed seeing the art, but what I enjoyed, even more, is the way the author managed to find a fitting and very true caption to put next to the painting!
I recommend this one to everyone! To those who will get the joke and to those who won't (in the hope this will open their eyes even a little bit).

I might buy this when I get the chance...

[Chantal · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay book to browse when you have nothing to do. Some funny comments next to the paintings. I do think you should be American to get them all. Don't expect a lot out of this book.

[Lata · Rating 3 out of 5]

I snickered at a few of the lines—some of the sarcastic statements felt a little, too real......
I also found myself cringing at some of the images; the men in these paintings look really condescending and creepy, which is no doubt why the author paired them with the statements she did.

[Chrissie Whitley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You probably don't realize it, but you just made a pretty decent joke."

From her fantastic thread on Twitter, Tersigni takes her hilarity to hardcover. It's a quick read and pointedly comical, featuring chapters titled: The Mansplainer, The Concern Troll, The Comedian, The Expert, and The Patronizer. In addition, the art credits are in the back, and a casually funny, must-read foreword (in the front — wink, wink) by Jen Kirkman.

[Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of famous art mixed with observations and snarky comments about men gave me quite a few laughs. Given the pandemic, that makes it worth a recommendation. Very funny!

This unbiased review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicole Tersigni has created this little delight, based upon her well-known Twitter thread of the same name. For readers unfamilar with the latter, Tersigni cleverly pairs examples from the last 500 years of European art with appropriately illustrative statements attributed to the male characters. Examples are grouped into the categories "The Mansplainer", "The Concern Troll", "The Comedian", "The Sexpert" and "The Patronizer". Any woman who has lived in the modern world (and by the look of the facial expressions, many in times past, also) will be all-too familiar with the situations and sentiments depicted.
The artistic examples Tersigni has chosen are absolutely perfect for her material - the reader can't fail to sympathise (and empathise) with the recipients of all this masculine "insight".
Hilarious, and will prove a lovely addition to the collection of art lovers and feminists alike. Also a great gift idea.
Thanks to the author, Chronicle Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advance copy.
#MentoAvoidinArtandLife #NetGalley

[Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Men to Avoid in Art and Life is a title too tempting to resist. I saw it on NetGalley and could not stop myself from having a look at it.

The idea is to pair classical paintings of couples with funny captions relating to men's behavior.

It is interesting how the author collected paintings where women seemed truly annoyed, bored, astonished or simply fed up.

Some jokes were better than others, but overall I enjoyed this book.

On a side note, I wish the information about the paintings was easily accessible. I had to keep going to the end of the book to find the names of those unknown to me.

[Radwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful hilarious book for all women suffering from the men of the internet. It got that classical art memes feel to it, as the author chose a number of beautiful classic paintings to add some common sentences used by different types of men, online or IRL.

They're split into: The mainsplainer, The concern troll, The "comedian", The sexpert, and The patronizer. It was fun and I thank netgalley for the digital arc.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get what the author is trying to do, but…meh. This sort of humor is good for memes on social media, but that’s about it.

[Trin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember when the Twitter thread this is based on was going around; I thought it was super sharp and amusing. Unfortunately, this seems to be one of those "less is more" things, or a lesson in why not all Twitter threads need to be books. The joke simply gets old, because Tersigni doesn't push the concept or evolve it in any way. And with so many more examples of the original gimmick -- classic art featuring images of men saying classic nonsense to women who seem to barely be able to contain their irritation, but of course must -- the ratio of perfectly paired images and captions ends up reduced, until one feels like too many of the ones included should have been consigned to the also-ran pile.

While the original thread felt like a fresh take on well-known tropes, the book just ends up feeling slight -- or worse, like a case of feminism bowing to capitalism.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

[sologdin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Develops Solnit's signature polemic into effective internet-style captions of classical paintings. Witty and cool.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

The snarkiest possible interpretation of men in art.
The concept of the book consists in taking any classic painting and adding sexist captions to suit the portrayed figures expressions and poses.
This is how good it gets, just to give you an idea:


It's a really fast read with just under 100 pages of art pieces with hilarious lines that really suit the pictures. It's really easy to get into and grants a few certain cackles.


It's not all perfect: sometimes the captions get repetitive since they're divided by type of men (the Mansplainer, the Concern Troll, the Comedian, the Sexpert, and the Patronizer) rather than mixed up and some are too vague and circumstantial to be funny.
Additionally I found it really botheresome to have all the paintings' details listed at the end, rather than attached to each one. Who even thought of such a cruelty??
Actual rating: 3.5 stars

[Ayesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obsessed!!!

[Debby Tiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was funny in some ways but not deeply meaningful. Many women will recognize the sayings as things they have heard before. Personally, it was saddening for me to see how common these put-downs of women are.

This seems like a coffee table or bathroom book, not something you would want to read very often.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and fun read! I only wish there was more!

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

So funny!

[Stacia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah. That hit the spot and was pretty damn funny. It's interesting to see how many paintings have a female giving that "ykim" stare directly at the viewer (and which are put to good effect here). I think every female reader can relate.

[Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley

This was pretty good but it could have been so much better. I feel like a lot of the comments were either not as funny as they could have been [although still very true] or either felt like they were repeating themselves a lot. Also while there were a lot of really great pieces of art chosen, there were also several that didn't really feel like they fit with the comment that was put with them. It's a great idea but probably just needed a bit more editing with the comments and more time looking for appropriate pictures. It's really ridiculous how many old paintings have women in them that just look so entirely bored or annoyed and you have to wonder if that is because men saw that look on women's faces and went 'that must mean she's into me' or if the painter used a model and they were so annoying during the process that the model just had that look on her face the whole time. Overall pretty interesting but also I feel like I've seen better compilations of this on Tumblr so [shrug].

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this funny look at mansplaining. I love those internet memes where people caption classical paintings and this book delivered much of the same humor. It has me rolling my eyes and busting out laughing in equal measure. A fun, quick look at one of the most annoying issues women have faced throughout history.

[Terry ~ Huntress of Erudition · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hahaha - It is so satisfying to see the annoyed, yet jaded expression on the woman's face in great works of art when the man is being so infuruatingly patronizing!
Nicole Tersigni's inventive book reminds me of reading a narrative by the great comedienne, Jane Austen.
I especially liked the foreword by Jen Kirkman, very funny!