Saturday, May 31, 2008

On May 31


1594, a great Italian Renaissance painter Tintoretto died. As an apprentice to Titian (see on this blog), Tintoretto had a similar style of portraying women as robust, with 'meat' and a bit overweight by today's standards... Rubens (1577-1640) also had the same style... It is very interesting how over time the image of women has changed. Now the goal is to be skinny, athletic, muscular, with no excess fat... But do we need to become slaves to such (mis)conceptions?.. Women especially become so insecure and completely enslaved by such misperceptions? Does beauty need to be confined to one singular image? I really hope not...

Above is 'Susanna and Elders' by Tintoretto.
Below is Rubens' 'Three Graces'.

1961, South Africa became an independent republic.

1 comment:

Narine Mkrtchyan said...

This is not to suggest that we should stop watching weight. Obesity has become a plague inflicting our country. It is affecting also little kids. It is all because of the hormone-grown, artificial, tasteless food that we are consuming day after day... I would rather walk hungry than eat the disgusting stuff out there. Seriously, if more Americans traveled abroad, they would realize how tasteless and therefore unhealthy our food is here... Last time I had a good meal was in 2005 when I was visiting Russia... They do not use the chemicals/hormones to grow or preserve food. Everything is natural.

But even women with weight issues are still beautiful because of the simple fact of being a WOMAN! Can't say the same about men. Men can be 'cute', 'hot' and sometimes handsome, but never beautiful the way we are!