Comparing Aphrodite Of Knidos And The Greek Slave

Art has always been used to reflect the social realities. In ancient Greek, arties used the naked figure to show the perfection of human. Primarily most of them were men. Praxiteles’s statue Aphrodite of Knidos, a female figure in nakedness, was obviously an innovation in Late Classical Greek, when women played more important role in societies than before. Ancient Greek had significant effect throughout history. Many of the subsequent art styles are original from ancient Greek, especially the Neoclassicism. Hiram Powers’s statue, The Greek Slave, which was created in 1869, shows its relation to Aphrodite of Knidos. Compared Aphrodite of Knidos and The Greek Slave, both of them are nakedness, and use very similar pose and line. Nevertheless,

they represent different mood and social context from different historical period.
Aphrodite of Knidos and The Greek Slave both depict women in nakedness with a similar pose.

Both of them stand in contrapposto stance twisted along their axis with their weight tilted and their limbs bent, and their heads turn to left side downward. Aphrodite put her right hand over genitalia and left hand draping her garment over a large water pitcher. In contrast, the woman in The Greek Slave has her left hand over genitalia and right hand leaning on post draped with patterned cloth (Brooklyn Museum wall label). The significant different from Aphrodite is the Greek slave’s hands were bound together with chains, which indicates her social identity. Aphrodite, the goddess in Greek Mythology, engages in a trivial act out of everyday life. She has removed her clothing, draped it over a large water pitcher, and is stepping into the bath. The Greek slave has very similar pose but with her hands bound. She is not doing daily work like Aphrodite, but is leaning on post draped and probably waiting for sell. The Greek Slave is more details and smooth than Aphrodite of Knidos. Powers makes a return to ancient Greek by using the same pose with Aphrodite of Knidos, but expresses different social

realities.
Aphrodite of Knidos is a statue and during late classical Greek statue shifts towards greater realism and humanity than before, but female nude in art was clearly a change from male nude figure or fully dressed female figure.

People was shocking in its day not only by Aphrodite’s beauty and realism, but also by Praxiteles’s highly ability to transform marble into soft and radiant flesh. An American artist Powers carved The Greek Slave over 2,000 years ago reminiscent of this classical statue Aphrodite of Knidos. Contrasting to Aphrodite, who is free and going to bath, the Greek slave is bound. Artworks from Neoclassicism always associate with morality and morally elevated subject matters. Although Hiram Powers conceived the first version of this sculpture (completed 1841–47) out of sympathy for the Greek women enslaved during their war of independence with the Turks (1821–30), his subsequent versions (including this last of six) took on new meaning in the climate of the Civil War era. Viewers who saw the sculpture on public exhibition associated the figure with the violation of enslaved mulatto and black women in

America.
Although Aphrodite of Knidos and The Greek Slave are both female nude sculpture with very similar pose, they express huge different mood to the viewer. Again, Aphrodite has a very pretty body and beautiful eyes with a slight smile. Her head is a little downward to the left implied that she is just doing daily work. Her beauty and quietness transfers friendly and peace to the viewer. Comparing to Aphrodite, the Greek slave is more realistic and details due to the modern carve skills. This life-size figure of idealized nude female has beautiful body and smooth skin, and all parts of her body are coordination. Nevertheless, she is leaning on the post with her head looked downward to the left which implied that she is tired and dispirited. Her beautiful naked figure and chains on her hands creates a huge visual impact to the viewer. Although they have the similar pose, their figures depict contrasting moods.
Aphrodite of Knidos and The Greek Slave share many similar features, like highly similar pose, line, nudeness. But they are expressing contrasting social realities. Aphrodite of Knidos is a statue of a humanized deity from the Late Classical Greek, when there was a shift towards greater realism and humanity. Praxiteles took the extraordinary step of showing the female figure completely nude. Aphrodite’s realism, humanity and beauty are used to indicate the important role of women in society. The Greek Slave uses the same figure and features to represent a pretty slave without freedom. In particular, The Greek Slave was craved in the climate of the Civil War era. Her gloomy face and the chains on her hands are associated with the violation of enslaved mulatto and black women in America to the viewers. When viewed together, except the chains, the works do not seem different at all. They both represent the virtuosity of youth nude female. Nevertheless, when taken into historical context both works take on vast meanings as the contrasting political and social values of 19th century America and ancient Greek.