art, food, humor, reflections

Beauty According to Art

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I know close to nothing about art but I do know what I like.  Then again, squirrels are natural nut-pickers which is barely different to being nit-pickers.  Hence we are quite qualified to be critics.  On such flimsy reasoning, I shall apply my superior rodent-sized brain to being an art critic, philosopher, and sociologist while incidentally finding the cure for cancer and solving the Grand Unified theory.

My topic today is beauty as portrayed in art.  They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Well, the Squirrel observes that for most of history, man has considered fat to be beautiful.  Don’t believe it?  Let’s take a short trip though the history of art.

Exhibit Number One is the Venus of Willendorf which is the vision of feminine beauty as crafted by some Paleolithic caveman from about 20,000 years ago.

Venus – Man’s Image of Feminine Beauty (circa 20,000 BC)

For Exhibit Two, the Squirrel presents to you representative art from the Baroque Period around the 16th Century by Peter Paul Rubens.   A Rubens woman, according to the art historian Sir Kenneth Clark, is “plump and pearly,” while to Richard Klein, author of “Eat Fat,” she is a “luscious fat girl” who stands for “the whole weight and wealth of human nature.”

Ruben’s Venus is Full Figured
Ruben’s The Three Graces

This image of beauty is still very much alive and kicking all the way up to the early 20th century.   Exhibit Three is the work of Renoir.   Georges Riviere contends that Renoir was very particular about his women and that he liked them fat with small noses, wide mouths, thick lips, and small teeth.

This art critic Squirrel contends that it is only in these last few generations that the image of beauty has changed to what we see today as demonstrated below….

The Image of Beauty Today

Now why is it that for most of human history, fat was beautiful?  Well, the Squirrel has a theory.  For most of history, man was never sure when the next meal was coming.  Paleolithic man was only just learning to farm and hunt.  They were also trying to collect nut and berries but let’s face it ….they were out-competed by better evolved mammals like squirrels.  Hence, their view of beauty, their ultimate Venus was a well-fed and rounded woman.

Life remains tough for artists as history progressed.  The grand masters of the Baroque period were very dependent on patrons and their whims and fancies to survive.  Sometimes they ate well and sometimes they didn’t.  Again their image of beauty were modeled on the rich and well-fed aristocratic women that they met.

Early 20th Century was still a tough time for artists as evidenced that most artists were poor, starving and living in poverty, suffering for their art’s sake.  Their pieces of work tended to be worth money only after they died (isn’t that ironic?).  Once again, fat is beautiful in the eyes of a starving painter.

It is only in recent history that we have entered a period of relative abundance.  Today, fast food is even more readily available than fast women and after conning the public into buying into modern art, most artists are fat themselves.  Finally, fat is becoming the norm and conversely thin is finally being considered beautiful.

And what is the moral behind this rambling post?  Well, the Squirrel has conclusively shown that “the way into a man’s art is through his stomach”!

Ba Da Boom!