Museum Bums: A Cheeky Look at Butts in Art

by Mark Small, Jack Shoulder

Based on the eponymous viral Twitter account, Museum Bums, a celebration of classical art, history, and shapely derrières, encourages readers to learn something new while still managing to have a chuckle.

What do Hieronymus Bosch, the Roman cult of Antinous, and the peach emoji all have in common? But of course, butts, of course! 

Divided into six categories of keisters, this humorous history book takes you on a whirlwind tour of the finest rear ends in museums around the world—from the lusciously rendered bottoms of Renaissance painting to the abstract curves of contemporary art. Heritage scholars and art educators Mark Small and Jack Shoulder pair illuminating social commentary, historical context, and lively captions with captivating depictions of tasteful—and sometimes cheeky—bums in art.

Including an angel slyly copping a feel in a sixteenth-century triptych, a twenty-five thousand-year-old bodacious Venus, and Cezanne's dreamy booty-ful bathers, this assortment of artistic behinds is both a celebration and study of the bounty of beautiful bums and their everlasting impressions. Museum Bums invites readers to admire, appreciate, and have a good laugh, all while learning a bit about art and history—a perfect gift for anyone who likes fine arts, museums, and butts. 

LIGHTHEARTED AND  There are not many classical art books that walk the line of lighthearted humor. A book like Museum Bums will fill the hole in the market for books that are both artistically educational and entertaining!

POPULAR TWITTER BY KNOWLEDGEABLE  Heritage scholars and art educators Mark Small and Jack Shoulder run the popular Twitter @MuseumBums and have channeled this playful approach to art history and education into an expanded book! 

BEAUTIFUL, HIGH-QUALITY, AFFORDABLE With the feel of a fine art book, Museum Bums is a gorgeous book that just begs to be displayed in your home. And with humorous content and an affordable price point, it's also a perfect gift for friends and family.

Perfect history buffsArt loversArtistsArt teachersFans of Men to Avoid in Art and Life and other humor/gift books sold at museum stores

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, History, Humor, Coffee Table Books

158 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 5, 2023

Reviews

[Paige]

Didn’t work for me. I was expecting the writing to be cheeky (lol), but I ended up bouncing off the humor. I was also frustrated that, while almost every photo had a caption, many of the captions did not include the date/name/artist of the piece.

The butts are nice, though.

[Powder Scofield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick thoughts for now: beautiful, funny, and thoughtful! A must for any fan of art, humour, and a pleasing posterior!

[Anne Kamsteeg · Rating 3 out of 5]

De onderschriften zijn van alle kanten cringe maar wel leuk boekje verder hihi

[Maeghan L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will make me want to pay closer attention to museums now.

[Nakedfartbarfer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A chunk of this book rises to the level of adequate art writing and it definitely builds up momentum, which makes some of the less funny parts more forgivable. The jacket tells us that this thing was mostly concocted to sell to an already-receptive twitter following, but I think it needed a little more comedic artistry to maintain a tongue-in-cheek conceit for 300 pages.

A weird joke (about sunscreen or something) was often inserted as a caption under a painting where either explication or even a butt pun would clearly go better. You have Henry Scott Tuke using nude male farm laborers as models and you don’t exhort us to “get a whiff of that dairy air?”

[Dr Jelly Head · Rating 2 out of 5]

My thoughts on this are simply down to the fact that I'm probably not the target audience. The target audience? Probably those kooky sort of aunts that like to giggle and gasp at innuendo, but nothing too vulgar. Seven hours of sitting on a chair by myself in an empty museum gift shop brought me here. I was getting bored of my own book and being a normal person of course I would pick something with the title Museum Bums.

I wouldn't say it was necessarily poor, or lacking in effort. Its purpose is a lighthearted look at something that has been a hobby or passion project of somebody who runs a social media account, so my reservations aren't about anything academic. I'm not that obnoxious. I do admit that there were many good arses within, so mission accomplished? Kind of.

I just didn't really enjoy the writing and its style. There was a lot of 'millennialesque' humour and online dialect, which when contrasted with interspersed passages about misogyny and the repression of LGBTQ voices in art made the latter seem quite shallow. I think that the shallowness of the analysis alongside would be my main critique. It felt very forced and sort of sloppy. I finished the book feeling not much of anything.

[Jessica Ogram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be a very quick and enjoyable read, finished in less than 2 hours. I loved how each photograph had a backstory as well as commentary. The way in which it was wrote was like a friend telling you a story, I find those types of writing for non-fiction to be the most gripping and enjoyable. Loved seeing all the arts from different time periods and different places in the world as well as different mediums. I’m highly impressed with this read. As someone who enjoys both reading and art, I was thrilled to be offered the chance to read this book. I learned a lot from reading this. I would easily recommend it.

[Gabe Hendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light but refreshing art history narrative wrapped around a whole lot of fine (art) bums! A thought-provoking and unpretentious look at art and the museums, curators, and historians that have historically worked hard to clothe artist's motivations and intent in strict morality and pretense. A wide range of artists and mediums are exhibited. The images are as clear and sharp as the included texts. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Claire Cobb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting, funny, and factual read. It was unusual to focus all on different bums, but it was a good read. I liked all the humour and the pictures of all the different types of art and statues. I'm glad I was able to get an early release of this in exchange for an honest review.

[Eric Rietveld · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zero stars for the writing which was all try-hard cringe and no humour. If you can get past the writing, the art is great and well curated. Best served as a coffee table book one can crack open and peruse, but not a book to read cover to cover.

[Jim Dalzell · Rating 5 out of 5]

That's a lot of ass. Firm ass. Lumpy ass. Saggy ass. This book has it all!!! Sir Mix-a-Lot would love this book. Highly recommend! It's an ass-tastic good time! An ass-piring piece of art and literature.

[Uilliam Clarke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Museum Bums: a funny and witty book, sadly, only 148 pages long. Anyhow, it let me see pictures of famous historic bums throughout history in museums.

I don't know about you. I think museum dates are the best dates. It's been a long time since I've had one of those. 🙄✨️🖤

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rarely read any art books, but if they were all as entertaining as this one, I might do it more often!

[Daniel Sáenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

És molt interessant mirar l'art des de punts de vista diferents i està clar que des dels culs és una mirada curiosa. A vegades es perd el fil, però com a mínim és un tema atractiu.

[Yola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and educational. What's not to love. (Also bums!)

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book.

[Arya Tabaie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The butts were nice, the art was great, and for its many, many, many faults, the commentary did a good job of providing context for the art.

[Taylor Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t wait to make this a center piece for my library or a conversation piece for my coffee table.

Loved the section on Gods and Monsters, mostly because I’m so interested in Greek Mythology.

[Danika Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unexpected and enjoyable read, well worth the time.

[Nicholas Bland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to read, but not so informative and done strange choices of arty pieces.