Monday, March 7, 2011

What is beauty?

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

We've heard this quote too often, but what is its implication on the meaning of beauty? What is considered beautiful by a person, might not be for some other people. Beauty is a matter of perception, subjective to each person; it is not decided by judging based on established norms. Or is it?

Symmetry is beautiful. Everyone agrees on this. The leaning tower of Pisa has attracted a lot of visitors not because it is beautiful, but rather because it is simply interesting. Not everything that is interesting is beautiful. Well proportioned body and regular features are considered beautiful. Therefore, symmetry is one norm.
The supermodel Claudia Schiffer is considered beautiful by many

More on the physical beauty, a person with "average" look in considered to be most attractive. Wait a minute, what do I mean by average? The average is analogous to the average of numbers: When two male faces are put on top each other and merged, they form some other face which is "the average" of these two faces. The most proper average would be to process all the male faces in planet earth. So this is apparently another norm.
Mona Lisa painting is also popularly beautiful

Does it mean that beauty is strictly subjectively perceivable? Apparently not. There are common unconscious agreed standard which actually defines what is beautiful. It's simply safe to be said that some objects are unanimously considered beautiful by everyone, while some is strictly subjective. How do we apply this to creating artwork then? Leave your view.

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