A common misconception, and one perpetuated by many industries, is that “beautiful” and “sexy” are synonyms. An even more common confusion is between the “sensual” and the “sexual.” When considering cosmetic surgery procedures, however, it is important to make the distinction between these terms. If you want to look beautiful, you don’t necessarily want to look sexy. And if you want to look sensual, it doesn’t necessarily mean emphasizing your sexuality.
Maxfield Parrish is an ideal artist for making the distinction between the two concepts. His figures are beautiful without being sexy, sensual without being sexual. Although Vettriano’s paintings often portray a narrative with sex as its obvious end and goal, filled with figures characterized by lust, Parrish’s figures are free of lust, although they are not free of desire. The figure in Ecstasy, for example, is full of passion as she holds back her hair in the wind and raises her young face to the sky. Although Parrish is sometimes referred to as a neo-classical painter or illustrator, this is based on his use of classical (really Romantic) backdrops for his figures. The proportions of his figures are more slender than the classical norm, with thinner arms, legs, and torsos consistent with his themes of timeless youth.
More than sexual desire, his paintings with multiple figures usually evoke feelings of friendship, and the desire is not for fiery consumption, but for airy continuation. In Contentment, for example, these young friends are where they wish to be. The rosy complexion of their smooth, youthful skin reflects the soft light of morning, and their figures are positioned languidly in poses they might maintain for hours.
In The Lute Players, you can see the eagerness with which the women attend to one another’s conversation as they pause from play. Note the well-proportioned profile of the woman on her stomach, the well-shaped nose, feminine but not weak. Or the definition of the chin of the woman on the left. Their faces have much more curvature than their bodies. The casual bunching of their garments conceals their figures, obviating the need for intense body contouring or liposuction, although these figures are unlikely to need it, of course.
Maxfield Parrish gives us a world without sex, but one that is as laden with desire and with sensuality as any ever painted.
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