Grecian Sculpture in Context
What is Beauty? What about the
portrayal of beauty and the human
form in Grecian art is a reflection of
Grecian culture and thinking?
Harvest Vase
The subject matter of this relief sculpture and its style differs greatly from Egyptian relief
sculptures, such as the one below.
How would you describe each style? What does the subject matter and style of the Harvest
Vase tell us about how Minoan Culture differed from other ancient cultures?
Ancient Greece
• Cultural Value of the Greeks is humanistic: “MAN IS THE MEASURE OF ALL
THINGS”
• This worldview lead to groundbreaking contributions in the arts, literature,
science, philosophy and politics
• Made up of various regional peoples of the Aegeans, and Indio-European
– United by the Olympian Games in 776 BCE
• The Greeks regarded themselves as citizens of Hellas and everyone else as
barbarians
• Greek Gods differed from only in that they were immortal – they made
their Gods into humans and their humans into Gods
• The perfect individual became the Greek ideal, and lead to the portrayal of
“beauty” in Greek art
• For the Greeks the mind and body were linked -A SOUND MIND A
SOUND BODY
• Slavery
• Women were restricted to the home
• The Symposium – a dinner party for only men and
prostitutes
• Every heart sings a song, incomplete until another
heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing
always find a song. At the touch of a lover,
everyone becomes a poet. – Plato
• The first recorded appearance of a deep emotional
bond between adult men in ancient Greek culture
was in the Illiad
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE 600 BCE - The perfect individual became
the Greek ideal – The seeking of a perfect being lead to a focus
on the portrayal of “beauty” in Greek art
DESCRIBE
THE STYLISTIC
QUALITIES OF
EACH ARTWORK
What are the facts? (F)
Artist: Unknown, Tradespeople
Patron: Family of the Deceased
Title: Kouros, from Attica
Date: 600 BCE
Period/Style: Archaic
Size: life size
Location / findspot: Attica
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
Carved Marbel
SUBJECT MATTER / CONTENT
Young Boy – not a portrait but a type
How is the subject matter
visually represented /
presented? (FA)
Appropriated Egyptian style
Rigid, frontal and nude
Stiff arms and clenched fists
Taking a stiff foot forward – lacks movement
Liberated from the rock signifies their interest in
finding a a way to convey movement – not preoccupied
A eternal afterlife like in Egypt
Patterned hair and pattern-like lines of the body
WHY WAS IT CREATED (CA)
Location – Grave marker / funerary object.
Patron – family
Also served as votive offerings
What are the facts? (F)
Artist: Unknown, Tradespeople
Patron: Family of the Deceased
Title: Kroisos (Kouros Statue)
Date: 600 BCE
Period/Style: Archaic
Size: life size
Location / findspot: Anavysos
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
Carved Marbel
SUBJECT MATTER / CONTENT
Young Boy – not a portrait but a type
Inscribed – STAY AND MOURN AT THE TOMB OF DEAD
KROISOS, WHOM ARES DESTROYED ONE DAY AS HE
FOUGHT IN THE FORMEOST RANKS
WHY WAS IT CREATED (CA)
Location – Grave marker / funerary object.
Patron – family
BIG IDEA – “STAY AND MOURN AT THE TOMB OF DEAD
KROISOS, WHOM ARES DESTROYED ONE DAY AS HE
FOUGHT IN THE FORMEOST RANKS”
WHAT MEANING DOES THE INSCRIPTION
LEND THE STATUE THAT IS MISSING
FROM THE OTHER?
CAN YOU THINK OF ANY OTHER ARTWORKS
THAT ARE HEROICALLY INSCRIBED?
How is the subject matter
visually represented / presented? (FA)
Rigid, frontal and nude
Stiff arms and clenched fists
Taking a stiff foot forward – lacks movement
Liberated from the rock signifies their interest in
finding a a way to convey movement – not preoccupied
With an eternal afterlife like in Egypt
Patterned hair and pattern-like lines of the body are replaced
With a sense of roundness or flesh, naturalistic, youthful
MEANING / FUNCTION
• COMMEMORATION – Why is an
idealized figure favored over a heroic
portrait
• Idealizes the dead hero through the
portrayal of the body
• - The perfect individual became the
Greek ideal = The portrayal of “beauty”
in Greek art
Classical Period
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rational
Idealized
“Perfect”
Detached
Self Contained
Unemotional
Balanced
Unified, Ordered and Calm
What are the facts? (F)
Artist: Polykleitos
Patron: NA
Title: Spear Bearer
Date: 450 BCE
Period/Style: Classical
Size: l6’ 11”
Location / findspot: Pompeii, Italy (reproduction)
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
Carved Marbel
SUBJECT MATTER
Warrior
LOOK AT AND DESCRIBE THE
STYLE OF THIS ARTWORK
IN WHAT WAYS IS IT
Rational
Idealized
“Perfect”
Detached
Self Contained
Unemotional
Balanced
Unified, Ordered and Calm
WHY AND HOW WAS HE CREATED
• NUDE – not about warfare
• About the perfection of human form
• Reflects the idea that humans are not perfect but the body
is
• Canon of proportion is used to determine the perfect
proportions of the body – mathematical proportion
(Pythagoras geometry)
• Stands in calm, balanced and harmonious contrapposto
• S-curve of the stance makes him feel fully alive in our world
– he exists in our world as an ideal mirror of rational
detachment
• He is the result of the power and rationality of the human
mind – not a result of religious belief or practice
Homework
• Read the spark notes on Plato’s The
Symposium
• What are the types of love presented in The
Symposium
• What link(s) can you make between the types
of love that are discussed in The Symposium,
the Greeks’` idea of beauty, and the subject
matter, visual qualities and ideas behind
Classical Greek Sculpture?