The idea of perfection has been pondered and riffed on for millennia by artists, writers and philosophers. These theories and analogies, within the cultural contexts that envelope them, have grown to become the very idea of perfection that one may search for within oneself or a significant other. It does bring me to wonder whether it is life imitating art or art imitating life.
The idea of the perfect man, for example, is brilliantly explored in the character of Atticus Finch, the male protagonist in Harper Lee’s classic novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. However, the author does always leave room to explore the flawed trait and quality of the protagonist. To humanise the subject, in order to make the character relatable.
In the Indian context, Lord Ram in the Ramayan is seen with all the virtues of the perfect man— an ideal son, the doting brother and the loyal husband till the very end when he abandons Sita. The great Indian poet Valmiki, asks one question: what is perfection and its very existence?
These characters ,with their idealised nature, make themselves aspirational and almost heroic in stature. Artists have produced such fine works of art, which have left the viewer idealising the subject in the quest for perfection. The most legendary example of this would be Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Vitruvian Man’, which has fascinated and enthralled visitors flocking to the Louvre for decades now. In the historical lineage of nudes and sketches of the human anatomy, the Vitruvian Man has been considered to have the perfectly proportionate male body. Despite shifting trends, men for centuries have aspired to have the body of the Vitruvian Man, with those very ideal proportions. Before this, Michelangelo’s David was sculpted with a similar intention. The statue of David till date is believed to be the ultimate paragon of male beauty. Despite the idea of perfection changing and evolving over the years the Vitruvian Man and David stand the test of time.
The idea of the perfect woman is far more complex for it has only been presented by the male gaze. The multifaceted nature of femininity comes to life in an ongoing exhibition, ‘Drawing the Italian Renaissance’ at The Kings Gallery in Buckingham Palace. The exhibition, the biggest of its kind, brings to the UK, drawings from the 1450 to the 1600. Raphael in his works of art chases the ideal female as he expresses the struggle to bring to life perfection in reality. The idea of perfection for artists such as Raphael during the Renaissance meant perfect harmony and ideal beauty. This however, was contested with artists such as Rosso Fiorentino where he brought to life exaggerated elegance as perfection giving his subjects long limbs and languid fingers.
In Indian art, the quest for perfection by artists has led to the birth of paintings such as Bani Thani, which is perhaps one of the most idealised paintings of a woman. Painted by the artist Nihal Chand in the Kishangarh School of Art the painting depicts Bani Thani. The singer and poet exudes sprezzatura, with her perfectly arched eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes. She is poised and demure, perhaps denoting what the societal norms of the time demanded from the perfect woman.
The artists’ quest for perfection continues in cinema as well with actors and actresses going through drastic measures to achieve perfection. The influence of art, be it the Vitruvian Man or the Bani Thani or even the six-pack abs seen in a film, is evident in our day to day lives.
Perhaps perfection is the ultimate Ikigai, the Japanese secret to a long life.