Influence of Classical Art in Modern Society: Aesthetic Beauty, Balance & Naturalism in Greek Sculptures

1. Classical Art Greece and Rome

2. Greece • Intellectual and creative influences still hold a place in contemporary societies • Attitudes toward life • Humanism • People the focus • Physically and mentally fit • Balance between mind and body • Balance between emotion and intellect • Naturalism • Truth based on observation of nature • Idealism • When nature fell short of perfection the Greeks turned toward an accepted standard of beauty

3. Greece • Birth place of Aesthetics • Aesthetics: a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste and with the creation and appreciation of beauty • Why was Aesthetics born in Greece? • Philosophy was born in Greece • They loved order and feared chaos and they saw order in art • High premium on the physical • Athletics • Advanced understanding of geometric forms • Wealth • Trade related • Communication skills • Trade related

4. Greece • Key figures in discussing aesthetics • Aristotle • Socrates • Plato

5. Greece • Periods • Geometric • Archaic • Classical • Hellenistic

6. Greece • Geometric • Shapes and patterns • Conceptual figures • Dipylon Vase • Terra-cotta • 42 5/8” tall • Grave marker • Figures: • Frontal view • Profile legs and arms • Profile head • Frontal eyes

7. Greece • Archaic • Figure replaced Geometric patterns • Francois Vase • Ceramic • 26” tall • Divided into 6 registers • Attempt at naturalism • Figures not static as in the Dipylon Vase • Handles actually echo design • Black-figure painting

8. Greece • Black-figure painting • Black figures on a reddish background • Figures painted on using a brush and slip • First fired in oxidation • Second fired in reduction • This pulled the red color out of the clay body • Then, finer details incised with sharp tool

9. Greece

10. Greece Doric • Archaic Architecture Ionic Corinthian

13. Greece • Sculpture • In the Archaic period, sculpture emerged as the principle art form • Freestanding, life-sized, and larger-than-life-sized • Influenced by Egyptians • Temples ornamented with sculptures • Frieze and pediment • Dying Warrior & Fallen Warrior • These works require the viewer to piece the drama together by collecting information from scattered realistic elements

15. Greece • Kouros figure • Marble • 6’4” tall • Devotional or funerary • Similar to Egyptian sculptures • Different though: • The stone was carved away from the body, releasing it from the block

16. Greece • Kore figure • Female counterpart of the kouros • Peplos is the heavy woolen wrap she is wearing • Touches of paint • Colors often used: • Red, blue, yellow, green, black and gold • Beauty lies in the lines of this work • Contour and implied

17. Greece • Classical • Early Classical • Classical • Late Classical • Hellenistic Art

18. Greece • Early Classical • Diskobolos • Discus Thrower • Example of implied movement which was newly introduced in the Early Classical period • Idealized • However more realistic • Balance is key

20. Greece • Classical Art • Height of Greek Art • Arcitecture • Typical Greek temple

21. Stereobate or substructure

22. Rear Porch Cella Porch Colonnade Stylobate

23. Greece • The Parthenon • Dedicated to Athena the protector of Athens • Doric order • Stylobate is convex • The columns are tilted inward and swell and the midpoint • Used as Byzantine church, Roman Catholic church and mosque • Used as an ammunition dump by the Turks in their was against the Venetians • The cella was hit by a Venetian rocket

29. Sculpture • The Three Goddesses • Marble • 4’7” tall • From the Parthenon • Phidias • Characteristics • Weighty • Naturalistic poses • Realistic drapery • Folds are articulate • Thinner drapery clings to the body

30. Doryphoros • Spear Bearer • Marble • 6’6” tall • Weight-shift principle • Polykleito’sstlye

31. Noibid Painter • Red-figure • Argonaut Krater • Registers eliminated • Attempted realism • Outlining foreground, middle ground and background • Fails in the end • Placement of figures not correct • Scale • Still waiting on perspective

32. Hermes = messenger god Greece • Late Classical • Sculpture • Hermes and Dionysos • Marble • 7’1” • Praxiteles • Softer flesh • S curve Dionysos = god of wine

33. Apoxyomenos • Original in bronze • 6’6” tall • Lysippos • Introduced new canon of proportions the introduced a more slender and graceful figure • The viewer is forced to walk around the sculpture • Due to arm positions • S curve seems to spiral in this work

35. Hellenistic Art • Excessive and theatrical emotion • Use of illusion to heighten realism • Space around figures is treated as an extension of the viewer’s space • The Dying Gaul • Unlike The Fallen Warrior • It’s all there and relatively seamless • Blood pouring out of wounds • Head hangs • Overall body language

41. The Romans Architecture and sculpture

42. Rome • Art absorbed a great amount of Greek style and content often referred to as Grecco-Roman • Major difference between the Romans and Greeks would be the Roman preference for near trompel’oiel realism in their portrait sculpture • Greeks were about idealism in their sculpture • Recall the Riace Bronzes and why the Greeks were unsatisfied with the Kritian Boy

43. Rome • Head of a Roman • 14 3/8” tall • Marble • Republican Period • No attempt at idealizing this man • A neutral record of this man

46. Rome • Augustus of Primaporta • Marble • 6’8” tall • Early Empire • Pure realism of the Republican Period joined the idealism of the Greeks • Example of individual’s head on idealized body in a Classical pose • Similar to Doryphoros • Head unique and idealized

47. Rome • Marcus Aurelius on Horseback • Larger than life-size • Bronze • Early Empire • Combines the Roman love of realism with a later concern for psychologically penetrating portraits • Horse is muscular • Emperor is calm reflecting a Stoic philosophy • Stoicism: indifference to emotion and things of this world was a key virtue in life • Only survives b/c they Christians thought it was Constantine

48. Rome • Head of Constantine the Great • Enormous sculpture: • Marble head and limbs • Wooden body covered in bronze • Head is 8 feet tall • Realism and idealism replaced by archaic expression • Christianity taking over and the Roman Empire was failing