Defining Beauty: Harrison Fisher (1877-1934)

A countless procession of models has posed for (Harrison Fisher). In almost every instance, when he has suggested a certain pose to one of his models, she will say: "Oh, no! Don't draw that side. This side is much better." Much self-examination has taught her at what angle she looks her very prettiest. The reason models have learned so much is this:"'they have been sketched and photographed hundreds of times. They learn from the pictures of themselves. A photograph reveals and exaggerates defects in a way that a mirror does not, for most persons when they look into a mirror unconsciously set their features into an expression they have long before decided they liked best. But a photograph not only catches us as we are much of the time but it brings out strongly all defects and lack of symmetry. If the nose is deflected slightly to one side (and almost all noses are), a photograph which emphasizes one cheek will make the nose look long and strange; if it shows the other cheek, the nose will look flatteringly short and straight.

In fact, it is said that if one had two photographs taken of the right side of the face, and then had one of them reversed, the resulting ensemble would not be perfect--there would be a difference.

Models who have been photographed and sketched hundreds of times know all this.

" Some of my models," Mr. Fisher said, " confide to me that when they go to a restaurant to dine with a man they always arrange that their escort sits at such and such a table and in such and such a chair, so that all during the evening he will be gazing upon the girl from a point of view which is the most complimentary to her prettiness.

" These girls know that one eyebrow is different from the other (and, of course, they like the prettier eyebrow better). Or the ear on one side is better. Or the teeth are not so straight and even on one side as on the other." Of course, I think that these irregularities are often the very things that enhance a girl's looks and make her beautiful. Eyebrows that are different--one higher than the other--can be charming. Even defects are sometimes fascinating. I have seen girls who have had a slight cast in one eye, or who have eyes of a little different color, or who are ever so slightly walleyed, who are more magnetic and attractive because of these things.

" The kind of girl I have admired and drawn a great deal (so much so that it is the kind of girl that is demanded of me, and so I will probably continue to draw her for the rest of my life) is a girl with a straight, short nose, blunt but well-shaped. I think of it as a blonde's nose frank, childish, honest. Among the girls who pose for me, this seems to be the kind of a nose they admire most. Usually if they haven't one, they wish they did."Almost every girl, says Mr. Fisher, unless the bony structure of her face is malformed, has the possibility of good looks.

Alexandra Grey, Has Your Face a Better Side? The Views of Harrison Fisher, magazine article from the 1920s, retrieved January 11, 2010 from {www.olypen.com/ticn/articles.htm}.