Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-09-22
MAN AS 4 WORK OF ART.
Great Artists Discuss the Male
and Female Form.
". II. Chase says the Female Has Lost
Its Noble Outlines and Blames the
Corset-Others Favor Women for
Beauty and Man for Proportion.
IcoPYnIGHr. 1922


Does woman deserve the credit she
has had for such long time Of monop
olizing the greater part Of the beauty
in the world? Does the masculine or
the feminine figure approach nearer the
ideal type Of beauty? And among men
and women as they are to-day, in which
sex IS the finer type Of beauty more fire.
quently f0und2 In short, which de-
serves 10 be called the beautiful sex?
These questions We're laid before the
leading figure artists Of New York
artists who have spent years IN the
study and portrayal Of the human fig
ure-and these are the answers which
they made:
II am inclined 10 think" said Mr.
William NJ. Chase, that the wonan's
figure. in its best development, is rather
the more beautiful But the question
is very difficult one 10 answer for
how can anything be more beautiful
than the form of a well-developed man
Of fine proportions? After all, it must
be answered differently for different
epochs Of the race.
IF we consider the Greek ideals Of
beauty as they found expression in
Greek sculpture, undoubtedly the fe-
male form is the most beautiful Of all
things The Venus of Milo is certainly
the finest and noblest embodiment Of
beauty Of which we have any knowl-
edge.
but among the moderns, the people
Of the present time il must be conceded
that the masculine figure has kept
nearer 10 the ideal type Of beauty.
Probably the reason is partly because
men live i more healthful and more
athletic life than women. but mainly
because they have dressed more health
fully. Tho influence 9f tac corset upon
feminine beauty has been uinous It.
Is almost impossible e. find female
figure tbat Is not distorted Even when
wofacu themselves haze not laced. their
figures shnW tie hereditary distortion
that has come 10 them from the genera
tons Of women who did lace
~ do not want "a Do eaptous about
the modern style Of dressing. ] do not
think women have dressed as pictur-
esquely and as artstically in "a long
time as they do now But. notwith-
standing that fact, this other fact still
remains, that the corset has 50 distorted
the fine proportions OF the feminine
form that one is seldom seen nowadays
that approaches the possibilities Of
feminine beauty. When YOU do lind a
beautiful woman, one whose figure does
not show the interference of clothing
with her artistic proportions her figure
is more beautiful than the best mans
figure, But it is far more difficult to
find
II haze often said TO my classes, Mr.
}. Carroll Beckwith replied that the
proportions Of mans figure approach
the ideal type Of beauty more nearly
than do those of woman If we carry
the question back to the Greek scup-
lures we find that the strongly mascu-
line types such as the Iarnesc Her
cules, are not pleasing The excessive
muscular development iuterfcres with
the harmony u proportion The same
thing il true of the feminine types.
Those tlnt are markedly feminine are
not entirely pleasing The Nenus dc
Meiiri, for instance, IL not an pleasing
as The Venus 81 Milo. Thc former ne
cents too much the peculiar feminine
characteristics.
The most beautiful feminine types
are those that approach tbs masculine
in their proportions, such as the figures
81 the Fatys And in the masculine
types those that possess somewhat Of
feminine characteristics, ike the Her
mes, approach the nearest to ideal