Hullow,
I’ve been looking at a lot of Renoir masterpiece’s lately. He’s my favorite of the all-star Artists. I’m no art genius or anything. I don’t know the terms or the expressions or what technique has been used here or there. I just know what I love, appreciate, don’t like and feel nothing for. Here’s my favourite… I feel l relate to this girl.

So that’s what I use when enjoying and viewing art. Some of it makes me feel happy and warm inside. Some of it is too good. I actually start to begin feeling jealous after realizing that I cannot- now or ever do art like that. It’s like when I listen to Gladys Knight or Mariah Carey… sometimes I just have to turn them off and listen to something mediocre. It’s a horrible thing jealousy. I do wish I’d get over it and just enjoy things always. Anyway back to Renoir. When I wind down my love for his work- I realise that it’s truly ridiculous.
You see- I always relate to his captures. His Impressionism? perhaps. Being the appearance-conscious woman I am, I take relief and joy from the appearance of the women from his era. Pale, Shapely and cellulitey. They actually make me feel good about myself. Horrible right? It’s strange to realise it’s only in the last century that being thin is attractive.
Even lately with all of the ad campaigns out about how curvy is attractive blah blah blah… they are still yet to use a women that looks ‘average’. Wow- I can’t believe how bitter I sound about this. I’m surprising myself- because I was/am? a big fan of the Dove Campaign for true beauty. I guess it’s just frustrating to see that these curvy women are still airbrushed. They are either perfectly curvy with big breasts and big hips or they have perfect skin lacking of any type of mole, cellulite or stretch mark. I’d love to see them show some ‘real’ model that had cellulite, small breasts, big thighs, spider veins… the works.
But hold on, would I really? Probably not. That’s the thing. We like fake beauty. It’s like an escape. After all, why would we want to see what we do see every day in the mirror?
I’m getting way off track- as I always do. My point was supposed to reference Renoir’s women. Their realness. The interesting thing is- people will argue:
“If they had the technology to airbrush in those days- then they would’ve done so as well… everyone wants perfection.”
Um, well- didn’t they have the technology? Couldn’t Renoir of just not captured the cellulite? Couldn’t he have made her hips like 5 sizes smaller? Of course. But time was different. I’m not a historian. I don’t know the mentality of those who lived then. I’ve heard people say that weight represented being well fed. Being well fed meant you were well off… as in- $$$. So perhaps they are more selfish then I’m making out. Perhaps the men didn’t see true beauty… but true money. I’d like to think not. I’d like to think that the woman’s body was appreciated. Large or small. Just appreciated for what it was.
I wonder what a man from the 19th century would think of a fit slender women (abs, calve muscles and all) if she appeared to him. I can’t help but think (besides the initial fear of having a woman from the future appear to him) he would be appalled. Would she not look like a man to him? I just cannot imagine any women before 1920 having visible abdominal muscles. Don’t get me wrong- I don’t think these women look like men. If anything it’s something I’ve quietly wanted- a nice toned stomach. But when I try and put my mind into the mind of Renoir or the like… I can’t help but think they’d be disappointed in the women of today. Not just the physical- but the mental. We are so wrapped up in how we look… that we’re literally killing ourselves.
I could go on and on and deeper and deeper… but I’m not in the mood for a tragic entry about the depressing mind frame of today’s women and the raising rate of eating disorders. It really boils down to all of us being healthy to ourselves and happy with ourselves. So if that makes you large, small, pudgy, fit, cellulitey, tanned… so be it. Just live while you can- and realise there are so many more important things out there, besides what jeans you can squeeze into. Besides, everyone’s so worried about how they look, they’ve no time to look at you.
All I wanted to do was talk about my love for Renoir. Whoops.
So on that note… I’ll leave you with images that tell 1000 tales each. Oh- and a link to a new blog I stumbled upon when looking for blogs about Nigella Lawson. It’s from a mans point of view, so- very refreshing! No Skinny Women.
- love charlie.
quote: “For women… bras, panties, bathing suits, and other stereotypical gear are visual reminders of a commercial, idealized feminine image that our real and diverse female bodies can’t possibly fit. Without these visual references, each individual woman’s body demands to be accepted on its own terms. We stop being comparatives. We begin to be unique.”
- Gloria Steinem










