You know of her, even if you haven’t seen her: The Venus de Milo, Aphrodite of Milos. She’s sculpted from marble, and her name alone speaks of a divine beauty unparalleled by anything mortal. And yet this most famous Venus is broken beyond repair: Both her arms are missing. As with many celebrated classical statues, our appreciation of the Venus de Milo is shaped by loss. The American writer Charles Fort explained, “To a child she is ugly. When a mind adjusts to thinking of her as a completeness, even though, by physiologic standards, incomplete, she is beautiful.” For archaeologists and historians, these incomplete masterpieces are a puzzle to be solved: Reconstructions of the Venus de Milo suggest her arms were in motion, holding a spinner with a This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty-Two Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 28 Falling Short Forget CSI. Hair is a notoriously tricky witness. Arts & Culture Issue 27 Day in The Life: Ramdane Touhami Once homeless on the streets of Paris, entrepreneur Ramdane Touhami now presides over some of the city’s finest addresses with his beauty empire. Arts & Culture City Guide The Standard, High Line Setting a high standard in the Lower West Side. Arts & Culture Food Issue 46 At Work With: Deb Perelman The little blog that could: An interview with Smitten Kitchen’s unflappable founder. Arts & Culture Issue 46 Word: Wintering When to withdraw from the world. Arts & Culture Issue 46 Brock Colyar An interview with a professional partygoer.
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Arts & Culture Food Issue 46 At Work With: Deb Perelman The little blog that could: An interview with Smitten Kitchen’s unflappable founder.
