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The effects of Ancient Greek Art in our day
The effects of Ancient Greek Art in our day
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In today's society, we view art as a piece of history that cannot be touched but seemed as human events that were taken placed. Artist have worked to convey their ideas and creativity into their art still remains alive and well which are now displayed around the world; mostly in museum. Famous art pieces such as the "Marble statue of a youthful Hercules" and the ''Icon of Saint Demetrios" depicts a compelling theme of ''the male body" and the representation and culture behind it. The movements depicted in both art work shows the masculine of both men and their role in society. The Statue of Hercules shows his dramatic movement and natural posture. The way he is leaning shows how confident and strong he is. His body language and …show more content…
Hercules nakedness shows his boldness and how stylize it makes character. Take note of his muscles and the size of his penis. Most artist do not bother emphasizing the size of a man's "package"; this can be shown as a lingering message during their culture that one's size wasn't important and didn't make you more of a man but the size of your muscles and brains do. From tone to detail the sculpture depicts the anatomy of man; the skin looks very realist as the knee area shows how the skin falls into place when standing in an upward position. The artist was very precise in getting the joints to look life like as the calf and muscle area look very definite as well as the arms and chest area. Unlike Hercules; Demetrios appearance is not as dramatic and bold, as he is wearing a full set of armor which depicts his masculinity in another way. His military uniform and stance shows that he is ready for battle. The artist made his armor look detail and can sense some geometrical features carved in his shield, sandals, armor and sword casing. Thought the icon fails to bring out a realist view as it is static as the way in which his drapery in the back is falling making it look
practice amongst the men, which is nudity. The sculptor depicted Dionysos with a slightly S-shaped body
The Statue of a kouros depicts a Greek man in the nude. Although he looks like a man, the large scale, and the miss proportioned features makes it unnaturalistic. The toes are too long, the genetalia is unrealistically small, and the joint lines are exaggerated.
Male artists were the only people who were producing art at that time, with women being their preferred subject matter. Because of this, it was easy to identify that the portrayal of women in these works was actually how men perceived women to be in reality. The art produced reflects the dominant patriarchal values formed in Europe in this era. The binary opposition evident in the artwork was a reflection of the male
Gudea wears a long garment that does not cover one of his shoulders and contains inscriptions written by Gudea himself. In the inscription he dedicates the statue to Geshtinanna, a goddess who interpreted dreams. Because the garment leaves the shoulder bare, viewers are able to see Gudea’s well-defined muscles. His eyes are wide open, symbolic of intense concentration, and he wears a wide brimmed hat. In the work, Gudea is seen as an amicable, strong, and righteous leader.
Looking deeper into the statue a trained (or imaginative) eye can see more than what is just given at a glance. The pose given by Hermes is the classical pose of contraposto. Contraposto is a pose developed where the majority of the weight is placed on one leg and the other leg in a relaxed with relatively no weight on it in a position that can both be relaxed and ready to jump to action in the same resting position. The virtually unnoticed half palm tree that Hermes is resting against gives a divine character an almost mortal because of the necessity of support on an earthly object. In the pose where the presence of strength and anticipation of a move, there is also the presence of a mortal presence. The balance of the counter limb activity is present in the contraposto stance expressing a certain diagonal symmetry. In the Lansdowne Hermes both the right arm and the left leg are in the resting position awaiting the next motion. The right arm is resting on the right buttock anticipating some sort of motion or action to be carried out by the seemingly dormant arm.
Where one is a bronze statue with a singular figure, the other is a painting with a central figure, from which the story is built. However, their contrasts go beyond what they are made of, to their different subjects and their complexity. Donatello’s David shows youthful beauty and strength, which he confidently exudes through his body language. Standing with one foot atop Goliath’s severed head while turning his body to balance his weight to the other leg, this statue is a clear example of Contrapposto, which the Greeks invented and introduced into their sculptures. Donatello’s statue of David stands triumphant and proudly atop his trophy, while telling the audience I am the conqueror of Giants. His expression is stern to match his
...os because he is taller and that 's what caught my attention. Dionysos is also taking up more space than the female figure. The texture of this marble piece had a smooth finish even the intricate detail in the folds on Dionysos cloak and tunic is smoothly sculpted into soft, careful folds.
The primary focus of ancient Greek sculptures was that of the human body. Almost all Greek sculptures are of nude subjects. As the first society to focus on nude subjects, Greek sculptors attempted to "depict man in what they believed was the image of the gods and so would come to celebrate the body by striving for verisimilitude or true – likeness (realism and naturalism!)."(Riffert) Not only did the Greeks celebrate the human form in their art but also in everyday life. (Riffert) One of the favorite topics for sculptors was that of the athlete. In Greek culture athletes were described as "hero–athletes". (Riffert) This shows that athletes were revered and looked upon as heroes. The influence of athleticism is evident in many famous sculptures. I will attempt to show how the human form influenced Greek art. It is important to note that many of the Greek sculptures discussed do not exist in their original form but rather in Roman copies of the original bronze sculptures. (Riffert)
The masculine and idealized form of the human body is an ever-present characteristic of Michelangelo’s sculpture. Many people over the years have speculated why this may be, but there has never been a definitive answer, and probably never will be. Through all of his sculpture there is a distinct classical influence, with both his subject matter and his inclination to artistically create something beautiful. In most cases, for Michelangelo, this means the idealized human figure, seeping with contraposto. This revival of classical influences is common for a Renaissance artisan, but the new, exaggerated form of the human body is new and unique to Michelangelo’s artistic style.
Although my museum paper was based on the “Marble Lion” from the Late Classical period in the 4th Century, which was created to guard tombs with a ready to pounce-like appearance, it was difficult in researching more history to its existence so my topic has been changed to “Marble Statue of a Kouros (Youth).” The kouros was created to express the concerns of the human form. It recorded the sculptors’ progress of mastering the art of the human body. The kouros was created in the Archaic period that lasted from 800BC to 480BC. Athens became established by the 8th century, thus leading to its people being able to invest in time and re to create art which was limited in the Dark Ages.
Aphrodite leg is creating a V shape. Hera seems to be modeled after Aphrodite of Knidos, with her hand somewhat modestly place to cover the female part and her body shape is also quite similar too Aphrodite of Knidos. Athena on the other hand, is giving the audience her full back. Her body creates “s” shape with gives a sense of motion. All four females depicted in the painting have that ideal female body congruent with Greek ideal at that time, 0.7 waists to hip ratio, unfit, non-muscular body. Same can be said with all the males depicted in the painting, they all adhere to the male ideal body; they are all extremely muscular and ripped, ready to protect their town and women, even Eros, a child has an extremely muscular body. Paris is seen horizontally extending his arm towards to Aphrodite granting her the apple, show casing every arm muscle just like in Discus Thrower, as if the artist just capture the exact moment of motion. There is an implied line, directing the viewer’s eyes towards the focal point, Aphrodite and Paris. All the character’s eye direction in the painting is going towards Paris choice of giving the apple to Aphrodite instead of choosing to give it to Hera or Athena. Furthermore, a dog, next to Paris, is seen horizontally lying down on the floor, which according to Greek culture, dogs were the protectors, they are calm, loyal and devoted to their masters. The viewer based on location and proximity of the dog to Paris can conclude that he will protect Paris from harm, foreshadowing the Trojan War, which Paris escapes alive. There is also iconography in the painting such as Eros, to identify Aphrodite, a peacock to identify Hera, and armor for
During the ancient times in Greece, Plato was the first human to document and criticize the existence of art and artists. He mentioned that human art was always in a form of a representation of something else. In one of Plato’s famous works, he demonstrates the idea of art is like an “imitation of nature” (Blocker 3). In other words, the purpose of art was to represent nature and nothing else. Art was not created for the sake of its own self nor was it created to appreciate its own beauty by any means. Instead, art, usually in forms of writings, paintings, or sculptures, was created to only to represent nature, Gods, emperors, families, or other important individuals. Furthermore, Plato had a very critical view towards the existence art in our society because art makes us more emotional, and our emotions lead to many errors about life. He believed it is our rational thinking, not our emotions or senses, which helps us und...
Sculpture is the art of carving or modeling different kind of materials. Those materials include metal, marble, wood, clay, etc. However, marble is the most common material. This material has been chosen by most sculptors for its durability and because it is a material that looks good in sculptures. Marble sculptures are everywhere, since many people usually have marble structures at home for decoration or we can see them in churches, parks, museums, etc. Sculptures are considered three-dimensional art. This type of art requires practice, time, and dedication because it is handmade work and it requires the help of a mallet and chisels of different sizes. Although the sculptures are made of different materials, I am marble and I am about to explain some of my characteristics and some of my history.
In my hometown, there is a statue of the lady whose name correlates with the name of the town. Being a seaport town, the statue’s location of near the docks of the community port and the seaside park is perfect. The statue doesn’t seem to be made of expensive materials, but it still looks fantastic and a great way to honor this woman. For creating and placing a monument, there must be the cost, location, and meaning taken into consideration. Monuments can quite easlily become an expensive project for any city, state, or country.
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