Man’s Claim to Beauty

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 430, 11 August 1928, Page 26

Man’s Claim to Beauty

They have what the French call chien—but that quality is not beauty. ago I remember hearing the painter, Sargent, discuss woman’s beauty with a lady celebrated for her profile (writes Austin Harrison for the “Sunday Pictorial"), and he astonished her by saying that man was far more handsome physically than woman, as a rule; he had better features, he was actually more beautiful. I was astonished, too. But since then I have often heard painters say the same thing, and on the whole I suspect that Sargent was right. Travellers unquestionably support this contention. Take the North American Indians. The men were, and are, very handsome; the squaw is (to us) usually disappointing. Among the Arabs one finds a similar discrepancy. Often fine-looking men, generally rather plain women. That is true of Turkey, and of India and China. Even in Europe it is true. In Russia certainly the men excel the women

m physical beauty, except in Caucasia, where the women are remarkably good looking. Personally, I should say the same applied to Italy, Spain, Germany, but not Austria, Hungary, the Balkan people, even France. Everywhere in those countries one sees handsome men; it is far rarer to see a beautiful woman. Often the Italian, the Spaniard, is a very good looking type, and may be met in every village. In Greece very handsome men are common, but somehow one looks in vain for the handsome woman. When she is handsome she is a real “good-looker.” One can almost generalise about the point and say that it is only in America, Britain, Austria and Georgia that girls are generally good looking, or quite as good looking as the men. Probably most travellers would agree that while European countries show a large number of good-featured men, it cannot be said that the women are equally good-featured. They are not. As women they are no doubt no less attractive on that count, but such is not the question. If line, features, proportion, poise, presence are taken as standards of physical beauty, the

men seem to have those qualities in overwhelming preponderance, and that quite regardless of the abstract point in aesthetics as to whether the male is physically more or less beautiful than the female. The French, who excel in opposite phrases, speak of a “jolie laicle” or a “pretty ugly woman,” and the term aptly describes the sex charm of woman so often found in Europe. Their attraction is colour, bloom, vivacity and sex. Youth is their magnet. They have what again the French style chien —a word difficult to translate; we might call it feline. But that quality is not beauty. The European woman is, as a rule, lacking in regularity of features. The male eye is generally finer. He is more symmetrical; he has a better carriage, he is, as man, usually a more paintable type than is the female. Curiously enough, there seem to be places where beautiful women abound. The Basque girls are often singularly handsome. They are in the Caucasus. They certainly are in Austria, in Scandinavia. But the great beauty one hears about is not so easily found. In Spain one may see magnificent types of women, in Italy and, of course, in Hungary. But go to a theatre and look round. One sees good-looking men. but where are the women beauties? In the ballroom it is the same. Now pretty women cannot hide themselves, they are spotted at once. It is not often that one sees more than one or two really good-looking women in a ballroom, but there are frequently quite half a dozen good-looking men. We get our standard from the Greeks. It is still unrivalled. We must judge beauty by that. By that standard women does not hold her own. If we take the Greek statue as standard, we shall find far more examples among men than among women. Numbers of women, of course, are pretty, attractive, charming, seductive, but this is due to their sex appeal, not strictly to beauty. Real beauty in woman is rare, but many men are really goodlooking, their features are regular, their proportions are good, they could stand the test of measurement. Beauty in woman is geographical, since it does not seem to be what men seek, and woman herself can dispense with it. Three chosen beauties of three different countries would be amazed at the choice. (Continued on Page 27)