Men and Cars: Why do they love them?

The Venus of Urbino is one of the first images portraying beauty as a nude female. The male obsession of their desired woman body soon showed up in many portraits and images, turning the image of the nude female into a symbol of beauty and love. The female body is found in many forms of art throughout history with a similar shape: full breasts, slim waist, wide hips, and an elongated form. I noticed that this desired form is also revealed in men’s design of cars when I came across a photo of a 2009 Camaro in my room.

No historian has deciphered the true meaning of Titian’s Venus of Urbino, but theories have been produced and altered with time. Some of them believe that the theme of the painting portrays disapproved love, but others believe it symbolizes marital love and fidelity. Modern theorists believe that the Venus of Urbino reveals sexual intercourse in marriage. Unlike Giorgione’s closed eye, dreaming Venus, Titian’s Venus is awake and observing her observer, almost purposefully seducing him. The dog represents faithfulness, and the pot of myrtle in the background symbolises constancy (Adams 303). To me, it looks as though it is playful, raw and beautiful love that comes with marriage. The nude Venus portrayed in Titian’s portrait is a beautiful living organism, with gentle curves, flawless and delicate flesh, and an elongated form with a face and silky hair that only a true goddess could have. In Titian’s Rape of Europa, he portrays erotic excitement through the pose of the woman through her gesture. The curves of her body make her the ideal women figure and aid in exaggerating her emotion. Titian’s uses similar figures of the women in both portraits are forms of what he believes a goddess would look like which is the figure of the ideal woman (Adams 304). Giorgione, Botticelli, and Titian all used similar, attractive women who have elegant, elongated, and curvy forms instead of obese or thin women. They are perfect and portray what a goddess is- that is, from a man’s perception. These women are defined as beautiful, and this beauty is what makes men obsess over the female form.

I question, what is beauty? What is it that men find aesthetically appealing? The dictionary claims that beauty is “the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).” Beauty is the process of one willingly looses their mental control to an exterior form or object. For someone viewing something beautiful, the experience is intense in the sense that it leaves an impression on his or her mind and makes them soulfully feel for the form. The deep emotion leaves an imprint on the viewers mind and remains there as a memory. Beauty fascinates the viewer by enhancing their flow of feelings (Schjeldahl, Beckley 53). Beauty is the erotic sensation and pleasure of the mind. Beauty co-exists with other words to describe one’s personal taste or sex appeal. Beauty, however, is unique for everyone, but the majority of men and many women do classify delicate, curvy women (such as Venus’ and the Virgin Mary) as ultimate beauty. Beauty is a quality that may point to an aesthetic content, but is only occasionally related or used with the theory of art (Schjeldahl, Beckley 62). Theories of art differentiate from aesthetic notions of beauty where formal and material contents are concerned. In our modern era, we put form over content thus the meaning of art depends on knowing which cultural contents inform the form (Welish, Beckley 64). Beauty is recognised through form and repetition. Men are aroused by certain images. With the Venus of Urbino, one could say that it is a product of male conditioning, male determining, and male possession. If that were its true meaning, the painting would not have lived, so the Venus is an image of sexuality, and is not just a painting about arousal (Freedberg, Beckley 114). In western society, we look through male eyes in the sense that we visually accept before we accept the content and the overall piece. We look at the aesthetics before personality and heart.

Designing cars is a difficult art because cars arouse passion and emotion far more than any other product. Car design is primarily based on emotion. However, cars are a machine, thus they must work, and keep their owner’s safe. This proves a difficult task when designing a car to look aesthetically appealing because it must be functional as well. The car designer’s task is to create a car that will set off emotion. Cars do not only take you to an incredible speed and transport you faster than a horse; they take you to impossible dreams and fantasies (Lewin 12). Cars influence us physically and psychically. They are an outstanding example of form and function. A good car design succeeds in aesthetics and visual presentation; the designer must give the car a soul. If designing for a company, such as Nissan, the designer must create a unique car, but also must maintain certain traits relevant to the family of Nissan cars (Lewin 25). A car’s form should follow content, and a great car design exceeds in both of these, and it is what makes a car timeless (Lewin 28). The Elise is a car of extreme aesthetic view and is a great example of elegant, elongated curves (Lewin 36). Some “bodies” of cars produced by people like Ferdinand Porsche and Enzo Ferrari have become a fine art. The basic shape and body is what attracts our attention first (Kimes and Goodfellow VIII).

Few men can say they are proud to drive a Van, but the majority would love to say they are proud to be driving one beautiful car, such as a 1937 Bugatti type 57SC Gangloff Drop Head Coupe. What makes a beautiful car? What is aesthetically pleasing to the primary customer of exquisite cars? A light, elegant, elongated, curvy frame is the answer. The base of this frame is the same of that of the ideal women, and it is this frame that causes men to feel that deep emotion, to always remember, and to obsess over. The highly expensive and respected cars have the curvy frame of the Venus of Urbino. If men had the means to purchase a car of that form, they would without question spend up to one hundred thousand dollars or more on a single car. Car designers have transformed their obsession of the fragile, elegant curves of a beautiful woman into the seemingly delicate, polished, and symmetrical curves of a machine. This causes other men who have the same desires as the designers to idolise such machine and obsess over their creation. The Venus of Urbino is a symbol of eroticism, and this symbol has been incorporated into their cars, so that the same passion can continue. Men love the female body, and it is built in their mind to love it. It is natural for them to create according to their obsessions, which are the desirable parts of a female body. These desirable parts create an erotic reality, and this is aesthetically pleasing to a man. Because the car has the same curves and elongated, desirable form of that of the woman, it makes the car female, and makes them obsess over the machine. The obsession of the ideal woman figure has been kept the same in both the Venus of Urbino and desirable cars like the 2009 Camaro. In reality, the male mind has not really changed much through history. In my research, I found a hint that my claims of the body of the automobile being similar to that of female curves. It was an interview question to Ralph Lauren. “People speak of the womanly curves found in certain cars, and of course these same vehicles are often collected and driven primarily by men. Any thoughts on this?” Ralph Lauren replied that he never connected that design to sexuality before, but he did agree that cars are a ‘sexy machine’ (Kimes and Goodfellow XVI).

Men’s interpretation of beauty has passed through history since the arrival of art, and more so, The Venus of Urbino. Men un-intentionally create according to their obsession of the divine goddess, and produce vehicles such as the 2009 Camaro. The elongated, delicate, curvy body of high-end cars are adapted from this original, historical form of the ideal woman. Ultimately, cars like the 2009 Camaro are the beautiful, mechanical form of the Venus of Urbino




Works Cited:
Adams, Laurie Schneider. “The High Renaissance in Italy.” A History of Western Art. New York, U.S.A.: McGraw-Hill. Page 94.

Adams, Laurie Schneider. World Views: Topics in Non-Western Art. New York, U.S.A.: McGraw-Hill.

Beckley, Bill. “Beauty and contemporary Sublime”, “On Perfection, Coherence, and Unity of Form and Content”, “Venus Unveiled: De Kooning’s Melodrama of Vulgarity”. Uncontrollable Beauty. New York, U.S.A. Allworth Press. Page 3

Kimes, Beverly Rae & Goodfellow, Winston S. Speed, Style, and Beauty. Boston, U.S.A.: MFA Publications, a division of the Museum of Fine Arts. Page VII

Lewin, Tony. How to: Design Cars like a Pro. St. Paul, U.S.A.; MBI Publishing 2003. Company. Page 10

Sim, Stuart & Van Loon, Borin. “The Psychoanalytic and the Unconscious”. Introducing Critical Theory. United Kingdom.: Icon Books Ltd. Page 60

Love you lOts!!

Miss Kathleen <3

"beauty." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 10 Nov. 2007. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/beauty>.