Wabi Sabi: The Beauty of Imperfection
In her essay, “An argument about beauty”, Susan Sontag implies we look past blemishes and imperfections. Sontag references “…scratches… in the surface of an Old Master painting…”(Sontag, 1), something she says we “…reflexively screen out or see past” (Sontag, 1). It seems obvious that Sontag finds these imperfections distasteful and unworthy of attention. However, this idea of ignoring an interruption of the expected landscape for the sake of enjoying the compiled beauty lacks the recognition of one hard-hitting truth: a well placed scratch can make a handsome addition to the face of an otherwise ordinary object.
Sontag declares her favor for fleeting beauty, claiming “evanescent” beauty as the “most stirring” (Sontag, 1). What Sontag fails to recognize is the lasting beauty which makes one recall days long past, beauty with the ability to invoke a melancholy sweetness of nostalgia. It is the gnawing imperfections, bitter flavors in the otherwise luscious nectar that can claim a lasting domain in the human mind. Often, we remember the bad things, sweating over those items of distaste. In the case of a single bitter spot surrounded by perfection, the beauty is remembered through the ugliness. The most adamantly enduring beauty is the flawed one. …show more content…
According to the great American astronomer Maria Mitchell, “There’s no cosmetic for beauty like happiness.” A misguided society has been lead to believe that beauty can be found in the bottom of a make-up bag. They were told, by years of misinformation, to cover up their imperfections, to wear a mask, when the real necessity was a
In her essay, “An argument about beauty”, Susan Sontag implies we look past blemishes and imperfections. Sontag references “…scratches… in the surface of an Old Master painting…”(Sontag, 1), something she says we “…reflexively screen out or see past” (Sontag, 1). It seems obvious that Sontag finds these imperfections distasteful and unworthy of attention. However, this idea of ignoring an interruption of the expected landscape for the sake of enjoying the compiled beauty lacks the recognition of one hard-hitting truth: a well placed scratch can make a handsome addition to the face of an otherwise ordinary object.
Sontag declares her favor for fleeting beauty, claiming “evanescent” beauty as the “most stirring” (Sontag, 1). What Sontag fails to recognize is the lasting beauty which makes one recall days long past, beauty with the ability to invoke a melancholy sweetness of nostalgia. It is the gnawing imperfections, bitter flavors in the otherwise luscious nectar that can claim a lasting domain in the human mind. Often, we remember the bad things, sweating over those items of distaste. In the case of a single bitter spot surrounded by perfection, the beauty is remembered through the ugliness. The most adamantly enduring beauty is the flawed one. …show more content…
According to the great American astronomer Maria Mitchell, “There’s no cosmetic for beauty like happiness.” A misguided society has been lead to believe that beauty can be found in the bottom of a make-up bag. They were told, by years of misinformation, to cover up their imperfections, to wear a mask, when the real necessity was a