flimp; RA3, 2018 November 22nd. [Greek Statues and Idealism]
Nov 23, 2018 3:22:22 GMT
Napoleoff (INTP) and Ainsworth like this
Post by flimp (INTJ) on Nov 23, 2018 3:22:22 GMT
The craftsmanship that the Greeks bestowed upon their statues has dazzled the west for thousands of years. However, the Greeks did not always have the ability to make masterpieces such as the bronze statue of The Puglist and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. This post is a quick overview of the forces behind the transformation of Greek statues from primitive stonework to cultured works of art.
Both of the statues above were made around the Classical Greek era. During that period, artists were concerned with the accuracy of the anatomy and the realism of the stances because they wanted to “[apply] a Platonic canon of proportions to their figures. The human body was portrayed in an "ideal" form (1).” Hence why the Greeks made such an effort to make their statues realistic. If you look back to earlier Greek statues such as Kleobis and Biton.
You can see that the statues are formal, lacking clothes and are primitive. The formality and religious look of earlier Greek statues stems from Egypt where the Egyptians depicted their statues as religious figures. So, the statues often had religious attire with lots of religious symbolism about them. The Greeks emulated the Egyptians but they diverged in two ways. First, Greek gods looked human so often there was no distinction between the religious and secular and this gave rise to statues without a religious undertone. Secondly, the Greeks believe that the human form was the most important subject for any artist so many Greek statues were nude. The Greek tried to the best of their abilities to emulate the perfect form of man and woman. You can say that the Greeks were trying to personify masculinity and femininity into their statues. Some other examples of Greek statues include
You can contrast the ideal male and female figures of the Greeks with modern societies ideal of what the human figure should look like. The differences are quite large and are the result of both the loss of Greek Culture and the growing power of capitalism. Modern art divorces itself from traditional European art and thus from Greek art and idealism. Capitalism convinces females that larger is better and so females buy implant. Males are indoctrinated with the idea that larger is better and so men betray themselves and take too many steroids. If we are to prevent further degeneration of the ideal human form we should look to the Greeks.
Appendences
1) www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art.htm#greek
2) www.visual-arts-cork.com/antiquity/greek-sculpture.htm#religious
3) www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/classicism
Both of the statues above were made around the Classical Greek era. During that period, artists were concerned with the accuracy of the anatomy and the realism of the stances because they wanted to “[apply] a Platonic canon of proportions to their figures. The human body was portrayed in an "ideal" form (1).” Hence why the Greeks made such an effort to make their statues realistic. If you look back to earlier Greek statues such as Kleobis and Biton.
You can see that the statues are formal, lacking clothes and are primitive. The formality and religious look of earlier Greek statues stems from Egypt where the Egyptians depicted their statues as religious figures. So, the statues often had religious attire with lots of religious symbolism about them. The Greeks emulated the Egyptians but they diverged in two ways. First, Greek gods looked human so often there was no distinction between the religious and secular and this gave rise to statues without a religious undertone. Secondly, the Greeks believe that the human form was the most important subject for any artist so many Greek statues were nude. The Greek tried to the best of their abilities to emulate the perfect form of man and woman. You can say that the Greeks were trying to personify masculinity and femininity into their statues. Some other examples of Greek statues include
You can contrast the ideal male and female figures of the Greeks with modern societies ideal of what the human figure should look like. The differences are quite large and are the result of both the loss of Greek Culture and the growing power of capitalism. Modern art divorces itself from traditional European art and thus from Greek art and idealism. Capitalism convinces females that larger is better and so females buy implant. Males are indoctrinated with the idea that larger is better and so men betray themselves and take too many steroids. If we are to prevent further degeneration of the ideal human form we should look to the Greeks.
Appendences
1) www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art.htm#greek
2) www.visual-arts-cork.com/antiquity/greek-sculpture.htm#religious
3) www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/classicism
