Man As the Measure of All Things: Art of Ancient Greece

Chapter 15  

Pgs. 226-232

Discuss  some  of  the  Greek  Ideals  that  were  noted  in  your  textbook    

GREEK IDEALS:

•  “BEAUTIFUL” classical Greece believed that beautiful was something ideal or perfect.

•  Belief that humankind is the highest creation of nature AND

the closest thing to perfection in physical form, coupled with the power to reason.

•  The Greek focus on human potential and achievement led to the development of democracy and the perfection of naturalistic images of the human figure in art.

•  Greek Artists had the goal of creating the “ideal individual” (the supreme work of nature)

Greek Art: Historical Context and Content §  Greek culture: ca. 900 BCE - 31 BCE.

§  Archaic period, Classical period, and the Hellenistic period  

§  “Man as the Measure of All Things” ~ Protagoras

 §  Artists strive towards depicting the

ideal male figure.          

The Discus Thrower by Myron, copy of Greek bronze ca. 460-450 BCE

Euphronios Krater, ca. 515 BCE. Figure 15.1 Height 18", diameter 21 3/4”. Terracotta

§  At the time Greek Painters were better know than Greek Sculptors. However, very few painting survive making us more familiar with their sculptures. What we know of Greek painting is mainly from their pottery.

§  “Red –Figure” style §  Krater refers to the vessel’s

handled shape, traditionally used for mixing ceremonial beverages.

§  Depicts a scene from Homer’s Odyssey

Archaic Art (660-480 BCE) n  Large scale sculpture

emerges, both in the round and relief.

n  The Greeks honored individual achievement by creating nude male and clothed female statues.

n  Used for grave markers,

votives, and images of the gods.

n  First attempts at mimesis in Greek art. Statues become more mimetic and ideal as the archaic period continues.

n  Kouros-(Gk. Boy) youthful male figures      

Kouros.  Statue  of  a  Youth.  c.  610–600  B.C.E.  Height  76".  

Compare  /  Contrast  Mycerinus  and  Kouros    

Compare  /  Contrast  Mycerinus  and  Kouros    •  Kouros  has  a  rigid  

frontal  posiDon  that  is  an  adaptaDon  from  EgypDan  sculpture.  

•  Both  stand  with  arms  held  straight  at  the  sides,  fingers  drawn  up,  and  leI  leg  forward  with  the  weight  evenly  distributed  on  both  feet  as  they  stare  off  into  space.  

•  Kouros  is  freestanding  and  honors  an  individual  (Greek  Cultural  Value)  who  was  not  a  supernatural  ruler.  

Classical Art (480-323 BCE) n  Greek Golden Age.

n  Rigidity of Archaic period gave way to greater interest in anatomy and relaxed poses.

n  Sculpture became naturalistic and began to show the body as alive and capable of movement, all within an overall program of idealism. A vision of the ideal.

 n  Rational Simplicity, order, and

restrained emotions.  

n  Introduction of implied movement & contropposto.  

n  Contropposto: a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs. Gives life-like qualities to figures at rest.

     Polykleitos of Argos, Spear Bearer, marble copy. Figure 15.3  

What  did  you  think  about  the  video  on  the  Parthenon?  

Ic8nus  and  Callicrates.  Parthenon,  view  from  northwest.  448–432  B.C.E.    

•  LOCATION:  Acropolis  •  Designed  and  built  as  a  giI  to  to  Athena  Parthenos  (Goddess  of  wisdom,  

prudent  warefare,  and  protector  of  the  Athenian  navy.)  •  Followed  EgypDan  tradiDon  of  temple  design  based  on  the  post-­‐and-­‐beam  

system  of  construcDon.  •  Man  in  the  Measure  of  all  Things  •  The  proporDons  are  based  on  harmonious  raDons.    The  raDo  of  height  to  the  

width  is  4  to  9  and  the  raDo  of  the  length  is  also  4  to  9.    The  diameter  of  the  columns  relates  to  the  space  between  the  columns  at  a  raDo  of  4  to  9.    

•  Golden  RaDo:    h]p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmaVqkR0ZXg  

•  None  of  the  major  lines  are  straight.    The  columns  have  an  almost  impercepDble  bulge  (called  ESTASIS)  above  the  center  which  causes  them  to  appear  straight  giving  the  building  a  sense  of  grace.  

•  Outside  the  building  just  above  the  colonnade,  the  designers  installed  square  panels  called  metopes  to  promote  greek  culture.  

Temple Architecture: The Greek Orders

n  Doric n  Came first n  It is simple, geometric,

and sturdy.

n  Iconic n  It is taller and more

decorative than Doric.

n  Corinthian n  Complex and Organic

 

Parthenon  is  in  the  Doric  order.  

Hellenistic Art (323-31 BCE) n  Art produced from the

death of Alexander the Great (323 B.C.E.) to the Roman conquest of Egypt (30 B.C.E.).

n  Style marked by excessive emotion, drama, more movement, EXCESS.

n  Artists turned from the idealized restraint of the classical period to the subjective and imperfect aspects of humanity.

n  Hellenistic art bridges the artistic cultures of Greece and Rome. Many pieces made by Greek artists for a Roman audience.        

  Nike of Samothrace, ca. 2nd century BCE.  

Laocoön and his sons, Hellenistic Era, marble, 1st century BCE.

With a double grip round his waist and his neck, the scaly creatures

Embrace him, their heads and throats powerfully poised above him.

All the while his hands are struggling to break their knots,

His priestly headband is spattered with blood and pitchy venom;

All the while, his appalling cries go up to heaven -

A bellowing, such as you hear when a wounded bull escapes from

The altar, after it's shrugged off an ill- aimed blow at its neck.

   

~The Aeneid

After this lecture you should be able to…. n  Describe the formal and iconographical differences

between the Greek Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods.

n  Compare and contrast the Egyptian prototype to the Greek kouros.

n  Identify the ways in which the Parthenon expresses Greek ideals.

n  Define humanism and describe how Greek statues illustrate humanism.