Art Being Coy

When a contemporary artist is ordered to fill his airbrush or twiddle his pixels to mask certain rude details (next post down) he would do well to examine the work of that French master of the conveniently trailing ribbon Adolphe-William Bouguereau. This detail from his L'Admiration (1897) is a perfect example. Not that Bouguereau shied away from full frontal cherubs, but in this scene he wanted to be sure that the group of semi-clothed young ladies were seen as unambiguously admiring Cupid's beauty, rather than ogling his willie. The coy ribbon is vital to make this clear. Smug little brat. Oh, those were the days....