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What is ugliness? Is ugliness merely the opposite of beauty? Between Eastern and Western aesthetics, there are many commonalities. For example, something with harmonious proportions would be considered beautiful by both. Both are also somewhat narcissistic. What do we mean by that? Well, for instance, a god, a being whose image is regarded as supreme and perfect, is typically depicted in the form of a human being, in both Eastern and Western cultures. And when imagining an alien, many of us picture it as having eyes and hands similar to us humans, the most intelligent creatures on earth.
It would be an over-simplification if we saw ugliness only as the opposite of beauty when we examine the history of ugliness. Though Eastern and Western gods are more-or-less human-like, Eastern gods look more like Easterners, and Western gods look more like Westerners. In the eyes of the Easterners, the curly hair and high noses of Western Gods don’t seem inviting. While for Westerners, Eastern gods may seem lazy, with their loose robes and big bellies.
Obviously, the concepts of beauty and ugliness not only differ between cultures, but also change over time. In the past, an African ritual mask might have seemed scary and ugly for a Westerner, but for artists like Picasso, it could be deconstructed into another kind of beauty. A medieval philosopher would think of the dimensions and the form of a Gothic cathedral as unparalleled in beauty. Yet in the Renaissance, when compared to a 16th-century temple built to the “golden ratio”, its proportions might have seemed barbarous.
What are the categories of ugliness? The author of the book, Eco, argues that one should differentiate between three types of ugliness. First, ugliness in itself, such as waste and decomposing corpses. Second, formal ugliness, which refers to the lack of equilibrium in the organic relationship between the parts of a whole. And third, the artistic portrayal of ugliness, which means any form of ugliness can be redeemed by a faithful, effective rendering by an artist.
