ABSTRACT
R emembered as Arlene Butter by her high-schoolclassmates, she took the name Hannah Wilke from her own middle name and the surname of her first husband. Essentially a Jewish princess from Great Neck, with vocal intonations reflecting the less classy neighborhoods of Brooklyn, she transformed herself into an art-world star. I remember when I first met her early in 1970 as the girlfriend of the sculptor Claes Oldenburg, then at the peak of his artistic career. As he was driving us home with Wilke beside him in the front seat, my date at the time commented on the exquisiteness of Wilke’s nose. What I didn’t see at first was that the rest of her body was likewise distinguished. Little did I suspect in 1970 that she would often exhibit it, not only in pictures but in live performances. A 1975 exhibition announcement shows her with her chest bare, her lush black hair falling over her shoulders, and the top of her jeans well below her navel (long before this sexy style became fashionable among young women). Around the time I also saw her perform live at The Kitchen with just a toga around her trunk, and it kept dropping down to reveal pubic hair. In 1974, she portrayed herself as a liberated woman, telling a reporter for New York magazine that she divided her loft into two parts “so whoever I’m living with can’t see
my work and criticize it until I’m ready to show it.” My first thought was that Wilke was an opportunist exploiting her good looks just as she had earlier captured a prominent artist.
