How do we determine beauty in our culture? Is it a necessary component in Art, in humans?
Standards for beauty change. They change based upon the types of images we are bombarded with in media and our views. The majority of opinios about something will come together to form beauty in culture, but it is each person’s own standards of beauty that matter. Different types of art forms exist so that each person can find some art that is beautiful to them. Some might think that modern art is beautiful, some might think that Michelangelo’s sculptures are. Of course if many people’s opinions match up, something can become classical beauty, or even a standard. During the Renaissance, curvaceous plump women were the standard of beauty. Some of our reasons for attraction to certain things are biological. The curvaceous woman was thought to be a good child bearer and a healthy woman. Thus this became the standard of beauty. In our present time, when working out and being skinnier is thought to be more healthy, thus slimmer women now seem to be the ones featured in magazines. Yet our standards of beauty can also be influenced by popular media icons like celebrities. Certain hairstyles, or body types, that look beautiful on them might seem attractive just because it is in the media.
I think beauty is not always necessary in art. Sometimes beauty might detract from the message of the piece or simply not belong. If an artwork is trying to depict dirt, grunge, dark moods or simply the ugly, then beauty would have no place. Personally, I prefer art that has beauty in it, whether it has a message or not, because artistic beauty can be an escape from the everyday scenes. Beauty will always be an important component in humans because from the beginning of time man has been attracted to some things, and repelled by others. We like shiny things, we like beautiful landscapes, and we will always consider the face of the person we love as ‘beautiful’.
