The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-22

building, where the California Venus may
be expected TO attract great attention.
When the fair is over the subject will
have the privilege OF buying IL, and II she
or her friends do not want to do so 1t Will
be turned over as a gift to the art gallery to
be established soon by the State University
and the Art Association in the Hopkins
mansion on Mob Hill. which Mr. Searles
has given as a Pacific C0as. home OF art.
There the statue will remain as generations
pass and thousands yet unborn will admire
the California Venus.
This is the outline of the plan decided
on and it Is to be theoretically and fairly
carried out. Tie promoters are In doubt as
to how the proposition will be received by
the women of the State. but believe that IT
will awaken widespread interest and pride
and result in the discovery of model OF
physical beauty that will very nearly APP
proach the ideal and afford type OF beauty
that no part of America can rival as well as
statue that will take its place among the
best achievements of America in plastic art.
Does anybody doubt that California can
produce as beautiful and as divinely pro-
portioned a woman as the New World, or
the OLD, for that matter, can afford? VI
course not. The only problem Is to ind
her, and the whole State will be Interested
in the quest.
The contest will be carried on with all the
mOdesty, dignity and fidelity that is pos
why any modest woman, born under Cali
fornia skies, whom nature has endowed
with pleasing grace need fear entering the
lists.
No names will be given OF any stage OF
the contest or thereafter except by express
permission. and those who are unsuccessful
may remain forever unknown IL they wish
TO. At the exhibition names will be attached
to photographs where permission Is given.
Let California's Venus he the true one.
and If she comes from far off fruitful valleys
or the baIsamic airs of the mountain slopes,
we will be prouder Of our Venus than II she
glides out Of the classic shadows OF acad-
emic groves or a palace on Mob Hill.
Go TO the nearest photographer, falr
daughters of Aphrodite, and taking along
the folds Of crepe you have learned to drape
about you with the aid of classic pictures,
submit yourself largely to his judgment and
send on your photograph.
As before remarked. the Venus OF MILO Is
pretty high standard for the youthful
women of California TO stand up beside, but
they hove got to do 1t il they enter the lists.
Isn't it worthy of any woman's ambition
and NAV not the victor be proud?
The Venus OF Milo. or the AphrodIte of
Melos, is one of the most famous and per-
feet types of female beauty that archaeology
cal researches in Greece have brought TO
light. 1T was found by peasant among
some tombs on the little Grecian island of
htlOS III lou, anu SluCb-lHe iulIu Wlu5 JCnA
1t has stood in the Louvre in Paris
This statue of the Goddess of Love
Aphrodite with the Greeks and Venus with
the Romans-is armless from both Shout
ers, but the face is divine and the form is a
perfect type of beauty.
The figure is the noblest embodiment OF the
early Greek ideal of the goddess who
sprang from the oceans foam. The figure
is uncovered above the graceful drapery
that rests on the hips. Its disputed whether
this statue belongs to the third or fourth
century before Christ. and whether to the
school of Phdias or the school of ScOpas.
There Is also great difference of opinion
as to the way the arms should be restored.
Some authorities argue that both arms held
up the shield of Mars, and others that the
left hand upheld the apple offered by Paris
and won by Venus.
What prince will come to take away with
him California's Venus when her fame Is
noised abroad?