Being publicly identified with ‘beauty’ as I am through this blog, I have received this video about women and art from more people than I can count… clearly pointing to a link between the female face and beauty that goes back a long long way in our collective history.
I was having a conversation with friends the other day and had a
possible insight about this association – what if we as a culture are
so far removed from the generative healing power of the
feminine (and this is often especially true for men) that we have
projected this vital part
of ourselves, our anima, onto an ideal model of perfection in another?
Perhaps, I mused, that’s what’s behind the deep yearning or ache that
often accompanies our gaze…
What do you see? Why do you think a woman’s face is so beautiful to us on a culture-wide level?
I would argue that fewer of those paintings are about the dazzling effect of a lovely countenance on an artistic soul than about the dazzling nature of the pile of coins the artist received for the commission. Hate to sound cynical, but…