DETOUR: "BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER"

WHEN SURPLUS IS RARE RODUNDITY SUGGEST WEALTH, SO BEAUTY

A voluptueuse African and a statue that gives a hero a paunch... 

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...though he was svelte:

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        Samory Turé, implacable opponent to French conquests in West Africa 

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His statue in Conakry

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In early 19th-century Africa...

• A Mauritanian queen is so huge that two servants hold her up when she walks.  

--  Journal of a voyage to Temboktoo by René Caillié, 1828 (in French)

• In Bornu (Northern Nigeria) "Large bellies [...] are indispensable attributes for whoever serves the court. Those whom nature has not favored compensate with a quantity of stuffing that when they are on horseback, give their bellies the singular appearance of hanging over the saddle."

A king is so heavy that his horse collapses outside the city gates. His enemies kill him. 

-- Narrative of travels and discoveries in northern and central Africa

                      by Captain Hugh Clapperton, 1826

Elsewhere

• Mesopotamia

Venus of  Willendorf / zoom

The headdress replaces the face: Primal art eliminates details that distract from the essential, here high social status. 

• Asia

Shop window in Paris's Asian district

• Japan

Scene from The Tale of the Genji, 1850, from exhibit at Scripps College (California), 2024 / zoom

• Seventeenth-century Russia:

Alexis I of Russia (1670-1680) / zoom

Boyards at the accession of Peter the Great wear "narrow caftans, brocaded with gold or silver, on which the beard spread out, Persian sashes knotted under the abdomen, to emphasize the curve of the paunch, rightful object of masculine pride [...] "

-- Peter the Great by Henri Troyat, 1979 (French version), p. 18 (bold added)

• Seventeenth-century Flanders: The flamboyantly large nudes suggest prosperity at a time of shortages and famines. 

Queen Marie de Medici arrives in Marseilles by Peter-Paul Rubens, 1626/ zoom

 

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When cheap, unhealthy food makes the poor fat... 

• "One can't be too rich or too thin," said the Duchess of Windsor

    The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, 1937 / zoom   

•  The skeletal model suggests that shopping at the mall on Sunday is behaving as does the elite. 

 

Ad promoting Sunday shopping at a mall renovation site (at place d'Italie, 13th)

The sticker pasted over her face says "Liberty" and backs migrants: There were no comments on the dozen other ads posted along the barrier.

 

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Views of beauty stem from the economy.

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Next,

The street vendors vanish when cops arrive