The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 23, 1901, Page 10

>~ ELEANoR. KeENT (J1aeeL Lov s) gzmcs.fis SISENE] Bor A CANOvA. SeuLPTs, ORE than one soclety woman prides herself upon her shapely shoulders. That adorable curve of the neck, of which poets have sung, is best revealed in quarter view photograph, but-this also betrays the fact that very few women have really pretty shoulders. They look all right from the front pa decollete bodice, but pose them from the back and they are absolutely ugly. Few women have shoulders that match—that is, nearly all have one shoulder higher than the other. In street suits, owing to clever taflors and dressmakers, this lack of symmetry is scarcely perceptible, but in & Jow gown with shoulder straps omitted the defect is glaring. Look about & ball room some time and see if this assertion is not true, It is the corset that is responsible for this deformity, for it certainly is a de- formity, of square shoulders. Did you ever see a madonna in any of the old Italian pictures with square shoulders? Not a bit of it. The rounded, regular shoulders are in- dispensable to beauty. They should slope symmetrically in graceful curves from the base of the neck to the summit of the chest. Go and study your Burke and see avhat he says. “Of all the beautiful ob- Jects in mature none surpasses the well- molded neck of & woman.” He was not writing about the big-throated, square- ehouldered, golf-playing, athletic modern woman elther. He referrea to the sifma- necked, sloping-shouldered beauty of his time. A too tight corset presses the shoulder blades below and collar bones in front too far upward and thus ruins the harmony of nature. The perfect figure should have shoulders Jacking salient bones and angles. The out- line should sweep in gentle curves from the neck downward. There should be no hollows, nor yet a superflulty of flesh. That defect of the shoulders, where one is higher than the other, is due tb many causes. Golf or tennis in excess, plano- playing, painting on porcelain; any num- ber of similar reasons can be adduced. It can be remedied by proper exercise, but so few women care to take the trouble. Julian R. Brandon, who teaches physical culture to so many of the swim, has the following to say of woman and her shoul- ders: The first thing & woman should do who de- sires to have a perfect neck and fine shoulders and arms is to have some one who under- stands anatomy to point out to her her defl- clencles. Those who have tried by exercise to get perfect figures have generally mot suc- ceeded, as they have mot pald attention to and buflt up the parts lacking development, end it is impossible to have perfect neck, shoulders and arms unless you do so. My ideal woman is one with high bust, ehoulders rather broad, chest well developed, end arms well rounded at the deltoides. The aterno cleido ‘mastoldens muacles of the neck should be round and full. These are the mus- cles that move the bead forward when act- <o [Tiss.FLoreNCE DemMiNgG - HaBEMIcHT PHoTo ing together and turn the head to one aide when acting alone. When these muscles are well developed it gives the neck that round full appearance which is so much admired. One good way to develop these muscles 1s to press on the fore- head With the palms of the hands and try to force the head forward; then press on the side of the chin with the palm of the hand and try to force the chin in the opposite direc- repeat the same number of times on each ; or, stand with ;your side to the pulley weights and pull outward with the head strap on. Another ornament to a woman's -shoulders * are well developed trapezil muscles; these are the muscles that join the deltoldes at the point of the shoulder. The trapezil muscles, acting together, draw the h:ad directly backward; one of them act- ing alone inclines the head to the correspond- ing side. The superior part of the trapezius raises the point of the shoulder. One way to develop these muscles 18 to place the hands on the back of the head and force the head backward againet the resistance of the hands, or stand with your face toward the pulley weights and pull backward with the strap on. h-_;:. platysma myoldes should also be well Adeveloped, as they also give the neck a round ‘and full appearance and take away that flat, hollow look to the front of the neck. These are the muscles that assist in depressing the angles of the Jaw, and can be developed by drawing the corners of the mouth as far up toward the ears as possible or by pulling with the head strap on the pulley welghts with your back to the machine. . It 18 in the power of every woman to have & magnifitnst ne.., shoulders and arms if she will only have the patience to do a little e clsing each day. See what your Aeficlencies are and start In to get rid of them. Be ecarerui not to build up ene muscle at the expense of another, or, in plainer words, do not build up one set of muscles and neglect others. . It you need to he developed at the deltoldes, which is the round portion of the arm at the point of the shoulder, take 1,2 or 3 pound dumb- bells, according to your strength, and raise them slowly outward and upward until you have the bells on a level with your shoulders, then slowly down again to the sides. When making this movement breathe in as dssply as possible In the upward movement =rd exhale ail you ecan in the downward move. this will strengthen and broaden your chest and ncrease your lung capacity. If you have a lack of muscle over and around the collar-bone raise the dumbbells slowly from the sides outward and upward to the front, taking care not to lean backward or to bend the arms in this move. Anofier good move to remedy the deficlency of the pactoral muscle {8 to stand facing the door about two or three feet from it. Now put your hands against the door, about .three feet apart and as high as your ears, and let your body drop in toward the door till your chest nearly touches it your head being held up and back. Then push sharply back unt!l your hody fs again erect and continue the movement. If the bust is too low this can be corrected by tightening up the pectora] muscles. A cor- ket makes many a good shape by pressing a lot of superfluous flesh from one portion of the body to another. To have a good shape ‘without her corsets should be the aim of everv woman, and it 1s certalnly In the power of any who desire to try. A fine neck and fine shoulders are Incompleta unless you have fine shapely arms to go with them. To obtain good biceps, which ls the front part of the upper arm, start with the dumbbells down at the sides, rajse them slowly and stead- fly in front until they nearly touch the shoul- der, technically curl them, holding the head up: now lower the hells slowly to the sides agaln and repeat and so continue. In a few minut you will want to stop. The bicep muscles are getting the work this time. One propinent part of the upper arm re- . mains, or rather one which ought to be promi- nent, though in most people it is not. I refer to the triceps or the bulk of what remains of the upper arm after leaving out the biceps. When well developed this is ong of the hand- somest parts of the arm. No arm will look slim that has this muscle fully ‘developed. To acquire that dévelopment take hold“of the @Gumbbells at the sides, then bring them. up- ward and backward as far as you can, holding them as tightly as possible. Another good way to develop the triceps fs to take the exercise of falling forward against the door which I have already given In this asticle. Now all that remains is the forearm, and there are many ways of developing it. One way 13 by opening and closing the hand as tightly as possible or by twisting the bells when at arm's length. The anclent sculptures of the Greeks and Romans of feminine figures are sup- posed to depict the perfect shoulder, or rather the sculptor’s ideal of the perfect shoulder. As a rule, they are large and strong shoulders, but beautifully rounded. 0Old French miniatures show the narrow, sloping type of shoulder prevalling, and this type was doubtless fashionable in the period of Marie Antoinette. A portrait by Piero della Francesca (1423-1492), a painter of the early Renals- sance period—that is, before Raphael, Michael Angelo, Titlan, etc.—shows very narrow and straight shoulders. The por- trait’s subject 1s not a classic type, but is drawn with the naivete of the early painters, giving full credit to the charm- ing, though irregular, profile. La Forna- rina (Raphael's) {s celebrated for the beautiful shoulders and breast. Asked to give his idea of the perfect woman's shoulders, Amedee Joullin sald: “For delicate gracefulness and beult‘m idea of a woman's perfect neck and_should by Donatello, the beautiful line from the THE SUNDAY CALL ers is that of the ‘Unknown’ .n head co the shoulders being unbroken by angularity, and just enough of the classic showinz to banish all suggestion of heav ness. The nearest approach to the ideal that has been brought to my notice is the neckgmnd shoulders of Miss Mabel Love of operatic fame. The eye of an artist is cery often jarred when attending public furictions Ey notinz the miscellaneous necks exposed. The variety seems to have no limit—short and fat, long and thin, ¥, bony and red—all are repreésent- It has always been a mystery to me as A woman advances in years why, she allows her taste to run riot in the va- rious styles of decollete. Voltalre spoke with much wisdom cn this subject. Very few necks are beautiful from the back, especially where the growth of hair be- gns.” Miss Emelia “lalisher, who studied in Paris and Holland for some years, and drew from the nude model as well as tak. ing up pertrait sty .y, gives as her opinto Tt would be aif -ult to choose any spectal type of neck ny i rhoulders to be admired above all others. A woman of good carrlags and harmonious lines may be beautiful whether her neck % long or short, her should- ers square or sloping. Though there seems to be a fashion in shoulders as In clothes, & tradition among ertists gives a high blace for all time to the column-llke neck of tha un- known. Modern English painters, led by Burne Jones and Rossettl, have. reverted to this early Renalssance type, exaggerating, however, the length of all lincs and narrowing the should- ers. The modern tendency, altogether, seems to be toward the slender woman with the “swan-like” * throat of the yoets—a contrast to the fully-developed, rounded forms of the Venetfans., Titian's favorite model, who posed for many of his most famous pictures, may bo considered as representing this type. If our American girls who go in so vigorously for athletics continue as they have commenced we may soon have a muscular type to vary the Indolent grace of former beautles. Theodore Wores, whose portraits. have been attracting so much attention of late, considers that the manner of dress- ing of to-day affects the shoulders the least of all the body, and does not ar- rest the development. The athletic girl has good, sensible shoulders that look well in tailor made garments, but in evening dress, when the neck and shoul- ders must be seen, they are altogether to6 muscular. The muscles cause al- together too many shadows for beauty. Muscles too well developed are not pret- ty. Compare Japanese and American shoulders, for instance. Japanese women's shoulders are never perfection, because the Japanese do not go in for athletic sports. Their necks, shoulders, ~arms and heads are beautiful, but the rest of their anatomy is deficient. The athletic American girl has a fine figure, but not a pretty neck and shoul- ders. Mr. Wores considers Miss Marie Wells’ shoulders are as perfect as could possibly be. Robert I. Aitken thinks the modern shoulder fully as fine in contour as the antique. The antique, he sald, was made to please the gods, and was consequently idealized. Mr. Altken considers the mod- ern mode of dressing—low shoes, short skirts, or tailor gowns—athletic exercises, golf, etc., do not ‘affect the body at all. That is, he thinks, that in spite of them the beauty of the shoulders is retained. In his famous “Art Lured to Bohemia he shows one form of his idea of the per- fect feminine figure. San Francisco's soclety women nearly. all possess square shoulders. The square shoulder is, of course, the fashionable shoulder up to date. Nearly all of Lon- don’s famous beauties are square shoul- dered, and this is also true of the “pro- \fessional beauties” of New York and Chi- cago. Our grandmothers had sloping shoul- ders: our mothers as seen by the styles of 1860-65 were also slope shouldered. But they were not so healthy as the strap- ping square shouldered young women of to-day. Mrs. Charles Fox Fay is rated as being the possessor of the prettiest shoulders of dny iocal soclety woman—in spite of the artists to the contrary. Her shcul- ders are plump, white and dimpled. Mrs. Joseph Sadoc Tobin's shoulders are well shaped, massive shoulders that ‘would be the delight of a sculptor. Mrs. John 1. Merrill Jr. has perfect shoulders, either too square nor too slopfg. Mrs. James Follis (Mary Bell Gwin) has charmingly sloped shoulders. Miss Lucle King has as pretty a pair of shoulders as ever graced the anatomy of a bud. Mrs. Thomas Magee (Helen Curtis) has large and statuesque shoulders. Mrs, Will Jackson and Mrs. Bertha Stri Lee of the Sketch Club are both rom'lfif able as the possessors of Shapely slop- ing shoulders. 'Mrs. Bertha Henicke Tausig, also a Sketch Club member (she is now in Paris) has lovely sloping shoul- ders. Miss Maude Smith, Chaminade Club, is another owner of sloping shoulders. But all these are ex- ceptions to the rule of square shoulders, Mrs. W. F. Whittier, Miss Jennie Blair, Mrs. S. G. Buckbee, Mrs. Walter Dean, Miss Elena Robinson, Mrs. Martin Crummins (Margaret Cole), Miss Kath- ryn_Dillon, Mrs. Augustus Gaylor—in- deed, nearly all of the beauties of the local swim—have the stylish square shoulders more or less pronounced. Mrs. James L. Flood's shoulders are large, but rathe sioping; her whole ap- pearance Is Madonna-like. Miss Beatrice Sachs has small, slim, but square shoul- ders. Mrs. Emanuel Heller's shoulderd are somewhat sloping and girlish in out- line. Mrs. Will Crocker and her sister, Princess Poniatowski, have fine shoul- ders, plump and gracefully curved. Miss Alice Rutherford (Mrs. George Crocker's president of the I'Trs. Josern MARCEAL CO}Z)’E\LL PHoTo -+ daughter) ha? wiendew whanely, sfightly sloping shoulders, as has her cousin, Mrs, Francis Burton Harrison of New York. Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt Jr. and her sister, Mrs. Herman Oelrichs, are quite ualike in build. the former being more slender; but both have square shoulders,