Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
Lauren Wade, the Senior Photo Editor at TakePart, gave classic paintings, from the Renaissance up to early Twentieth Century modernism, from Botticelli to Modigliani, a slim down so the women featured resemble models of today.
Paul Gauguin, Two Tahitian Women, 1899
Wade has worked as photographer and editor for The Style Network, NBC, Daily Candy and more, and knows a thing or two about photoshop. She writes, "Over the last five years, having done many of the quick, subtle fixes that are the industry standard myself, I know that even an image considered to look 'natural' is anything but."
Edgar Degas, La Toilette, 1884–86
"We've taken a digital liquefy brush to the painstakingly layered oils of some of the most celebrated paintings of the female form, nipping and tucking at will," explains Wade. "There may be something sacrilegious in that, but the same could be said for our contemporary ideas of beauty."
Titian, Danaë With Eros, 1544
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Grande Odalisque, 1814
Amedeo Modigliani, Nude Sitting on a Divan, 1917
Raphael, Three Graces, 1504–1505M
Francisco Goya, Nude Maya, 1797–1800
· What If Famous Paintings Were Photoshopped to Look Like Fashion Models? [TakePart]