Aegean Figurines

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For many cultures, especially in Western civilization, the human body has been in the center of creative expression. The human figure in Western Art has always been evolving and as its depiction changes, the audience is given a deeper look on the society’s values and beliefs. The depiction of the human body clearly changes from the three different art stylizations of the Aegean, Greek, and Roman cultures. From these three important civilizations, the human frame has changed from being a stylized figure, which is when an art piece does not resemble something that is in the natural world, in the case of many Aegean figurines; to a mix of both stylizations and realism in early Greek statues, to a much more realistic and natural embodiment of …show more content…

The Aegean period, referred to the art that was produced by three distinctive civilizations of the Minoan, the Cycladic, and the Mycenean, which doted the Aegean Sea. The significance of the art produced by cultures in the Aegean Sea was that it laid the early foundations of early Greek Art. The marble female figurine is from the Cyclades islands near the Aegean Sea, and figures like these, often had an unknown creator and were made around 2600-2400 BC. Hundreds of these marble female figurines were often found in tombs and varied in sizes, but most were as big as an idol. These figurines were very stylized compared to the later sculptures of the Greek and Romans, as the shape of the figurines at face value seem two-dimensional and flat. These female idols’ form is very rigid and compact with no spaces between there folded arms and their torso, and no space between their legs. The rigidness and geometric shape of the figurines also conveys a lack of movement. The overall design of the hundreds of marble female idols depicts an abstraction from natural world and leans toward a stylization of the human …show more content…

The Greek art period lasted around 1000 BC and ended in 1 AD when the Romans started to rule over the Greek mainland. The main culture that is at the forefront of Greek Art is the Athenians. After the victory over Persia, Pericles and the Athenians spear headed the use of public money and with the support of neighboring city-states ushered in a new era in which Greek art and innovation flourished. The Greek art movement can be divided into four styles which were Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic. Not much is known about the Geometric period, but the influence of the Aegean and Egyptian art is clearly seen in the Archaic movement. Out of all the art periods of ancient Greece, the most famous is the Classical and Hellenistic periods which also largely influenced Roman art. The marble statue of kourus, was a very popular statue in ancient Greece and was usually used as grave markers or offerings in sanctuaries and in very rare circumstances depicted a god, mainly Apollo. The early marble statue of kourus were around 590 BC and were largely influenced by Egyptian Art. The transition from stylization comes with the shape of these statues as lifelike and three dimensional, but if looked at in the front still looks very much flat. The form is also an example of the change from

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