Throughout art history, painters from Titian to Rubens to Gauguin found beauty in the bodies of women who would never fit into a size 0. But what would these famous works of art look like were they to conform to today’s Photoshopped standards of beauty?
One explanation of the time is that poor people were skinny, as they were often malnourished, and the people painted were often wealthy. The other explanation is that it was just the fashion of the times.
ReplyDeleteWhen men are shown nude, as by Michaelangelo, they are usually shown as having a smaller penis. It seems to be a conscious choice, maybe it was done so it didn't draw attention. Todays choice for heroic figures, if we did statues of them, would be rather well-endowed.
I kind of doubt they'd do that with today's heroic sculptures - can you imagine Michelangelo's David with John Holmes' massive dong? It would make the whole thing a joke, which is why they didn't do it then and wouldn't do it now.
ReplyDeleteAs for the size of the women in these paintings, I bet it was more the fashion. The models wouldn't have been from money, after all, and while the artists could have beefed them up that defeated the purpose of using a model. Tastes fairly recently were for "heavier" women. Marilyn Monroe would probably be too "fat" for today's catwalk. Or Joan from Mad Men.
Yes, but what inspires the fashion. The fashion is what people with money like.
ReplyDeleteAS an example of statues of males the replica statue of David in Las Vegas had to have it's genitals increased in size as too many people found it amusing. Not horse size but something more typical.
That's Vegas for you, though, and Americans.
ReplyDeleteAs for people with money inspiring the fashion...no. They like what society in general likes. Always have. They're no different, they just have money. There are football fans and NASCAR fans among them these days, and whatever their equivalents were in past centuries.
The problem with doing it this way, the models of today wouldn't have the hips and tits that these women have. You can't just make them thinner and leave everything else the same. Especially in the Renoir, they're built along the lines of Joan on Mad Men. Models today are these small-tittied, narrow-hipped, androgynous things.
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