Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1896 — The Ideal Female Arm. [ARTICLE]

The Ideal Female Arm.

“I find great difficulty in getting a model with good arms,” said a wellknown sculptor recently. “It is astonishing how very few women have arms that conform to the standard. A perfect arm measured from the armpit to the wrist joint should be twice the length of the head. The upper part of the arjn should be large, full and well rounded. The forearm must not lie too flat, not nearly so flat as a man's, for example. A dimple at the elbow adds beauty to a well-proportioned arm. “From a well-molded shoulder the whole arm should taper in a long, graceful curves to a symmetrical and rounded wrist. It is better to have an arm that harmonizes even if the parts do not follow the generally accepted lines. For Instance, a full, round upper arm which is joined to a flat or thin forearm has a very bad effect. It is only a degree worse,' however, than a graceful, wellmolded forearm tacked on to a thin, scrawny upper arm. “Correctness of form is not the only thing necessary for a good arm. The owner must possess the power of expression in her arms. As a general thing American women are deficient in this. Those nationalities which show khe most expression in their arms are the Spanish, French and Italians. The warmest admirer of Sarah Bernhardt would not claim that she had beautiful arms, yet no one can say that the divine Sarah ever appears ungainly in consequence. Much more lies in the faculty of arm expression than is generally supposed.”