Ancient Art and its Many Purposes Art has many uses in society beyond the mere aesthetic value. It can serve as a method to disseminate a religious or political idea. Beyond these basic uses, most ancient works of art were used as some form of propaganda, which supported the current beliefs and ideals of its culture’s ruling class. The Greeks used statues to portray their ideal image of the human form and to reinforce their social system. One of the many sculptors from Greek’s late classical period that embraced these ideas of perfection and male dominance was Skopas. The Hope Herakles and Hope Hygieia are two pieces of his, which are good examples of these practices in the art community. The Hope Herakles, a hero worshiped as a god, considered to be second rate statue, however does embrace the ideals that a first rate statue would have had. One of the more obvious aspects of the statue is that it is of the idealized male form. This idealized male was a well muscled, young man, which was what the Greeks considered to be the peak of a person’s life. The muscles are smoother than previous periods like the Spear Bearer from the high classical period, which had almost unrealistically large muscles in the stomach and large, rigid muscles. The Herakles shows the newer ideal man of slightly more realistic man that easier to look at due to new smoothness. When it came to women their idealized form was much different. As seen in the Hope Hygieia, goddess of health, has a much
The ancient Greeks believed in a strong mind and a strong body. Their celebration of the physical beauty and ability of the human body can be seen in their sculpture, writings, and sporting events. The physical beauty of the human body is shown in the marble sculpture “Kraisos” (Benton and DiYanni 64). The sculpture shows a male with a defined muscular mid-section, broad shoulders, and thick legs. There is more detail and a more natural appearance in this sculpture compared to a similar statue from approximately 60 years earlier. The face of the sculpture is realistic and the left foot is forward, as seen in Egyptian sculpture. The art of thought was established by the philosophers of ancient
Throughout the history of art, the human body and figure has captivated both artisans and their audiences. This can be said especially of the Greeks and their sculptures. Even from the earliest periods, Greeks motivation for the search of the ideal human body can be seen through the sculpture Metropolitan Kouros (c 120-50 BCE), created in the Archaic period and said to be found in Attica, Ancient Greece (Richter 1931, p. 220). However, it is not until High Classical period that they truly achieve their goal with Polykleitos’ The Spear Bearer (c. 120-50 BCE) or the Doryphoros (its Greek name). The sculpture, found in a Palestra in Pompeii, Italy is said to be the epitome of perfection during its period. Although there is exquisite rendering and beauty in both sculptures, there are also a vast number of differences that make each work unique.
The figure sculptures of Khafre Enthroned and Kritios Boy exhibit a start and end point in an evolution of artistic technique. Although a single male figure is the subject of both works, canon clearly develops from Khafre Enthroned to Kritios Boy. Both works express a desire for perfection with the use of contrasting ideals. Egyptian artists prized completeness and timeless to achieve a god-like representation. Later, artistic form advances as Greeks sought naturalism and
One example of ancient artists representing men can be seen in the Statue of Standing Youth, or the Kouros. The male gender is being depicted through art because there is a rigid frontal area, rather than the soft frontal area of the female gender statue that the prehistoric artists created. The structure represents the male figure in motion, moving into the distance, rather than standing still. Additionally, all individuals can see the chest muscles and the pelvic arch of the male figure represented in the Statue of Standing Youth. Generally, the large body represents how the ancient civilization looked at the male gender and seemed to portray their
George Orwell famously declared »all art is propaganda.« Great works of art, in other words, have a very particular message for an intended audience. This function of art transcends historical periods, as is evident if one takes a closer look at the art of specific eras, such as Ancient Egyptian art. Ancient Egyptian art possessed a very specific propaganda function: to promote the divine origins and authority of the Pharaoh and thus a hierarchical social system.
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
The Archaic period lasted from 700 to 500 BCE and the sculptures haven’t yet mastered in sculpting showing realism. Their style of sculpting was similar to the Egyptians in the way that they made the bodies of the sculptures rigid with both arms on their sides and with a foot stepped forward (Greek Archaic Art). By the end of the Archaic period in ca 500 BCE, the sculpture’s features started to look more realistic rather than rigid bodies. “The ancient Greeks also had the young, nude male called a kouros and the young, clothed female called a kore. Of course, later on in the Classical period of Greek art, females would become nude subjects as well” (Greek Archaic Art). There are some possibilities mentioned by people in why they started to change by showing more musculature and one of those could be that they started to create a new warfare in the Archaic period. They started to build hoplite armies and the battles where hoplites were used were really physical which created more muscle on the army. Being a hoplite meant power and also their ranking in ancient Greek society. The hoplite fighters were idolized and artisans liked it and attributed it into their works. “This idealization also springs from the Homeric poems being composed at his time, also mentioned in Ancient Greece and the artists, or perhaps the
Art by its nature is a subject of the philosophical, social, economic, political or religious context surrounding its creator. More often than not, a work of art addresses a specific topic or somewhat revolves around a particular person. Therefore, it is impossible to separate the context of a piece of painting, either historical or cultural, to its intrinsic value or the artwork's meaning. On the other hand, different cultures and time utilized specific conventions that govern the representation of objects of creativity. This essay highlights various pieces of art and their relationship to particular cultural, political, economic, or social settings. Moreover, it pinpoints how different times influence art presentation.
Greek art, especially sculpture, was a common way to explore and reach past the confines of mankind’s natural appearance be it through penises, huge muscles, or generalized unrealistic body standards. Hercules and the Hydra, a sculpture by Mathias Gasteiger, presents an image of masculinity through the expressive posture and form of Hercules once you look past those gleaming bronze pectorals, and into the intricate details of the piece.
The figure, who once held a spear in his left hand, strides forward in a manner that unites motion and response, energy and poise, male confidence and grace, which were the qualities of the ideal warrior-athlete. Greek Classical style in sculpture focused on the accuracy of human anatomy and stance.
The Egyptian city of Amarna was a capital built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten which was abandoned shortly after his death in 1332 BCE. The city of Amarna was where Akhenaten pursued his vision of a society dedicated to the devotion of the power of the sun god, the Aten. It remains the largest accessible living site of Ancient Egypt. It is a key to the history of the religious experiences of Egypt and to a fuller extent the life of an egyptian. There is no other site like it. The website mentions that the site is in danger of encroachment. This sounds very interesting to me and I’d like to see how the life of an Egyptian was at the time. I don’t know much about the Egyptians, but I’d like to learn more
The ancient Egyptians are known for many of the incredible aspects of their culture and everything they have produced. Some of the well known ancient Egyptian relics are the ones like the ancient pyramids, the Great Sphinx of Giza, mummies, and their many forms of art. Ancient Egyptian art is one of the most recognized styles of art. The most commonly known types of ancient Egyptian art are types like paintings, ceramics, and sculptures. Not only is Egyptian art beautiful, but it carries a huge deal of value and significance with it. A great portion of the time, the art has some kind of religious meaning to it. Consequently it is very difficult to discuss the art itself without delving into the various gods and goddesses presented in it.
As literary critics, Plato and Aristotle disagree profoundly about the value of art in human society. Plato attempts to strip artists of the power and prominence they enjoy in his society, while Aristotle tries to develop a method of inquiry to determine the merits of an individual work of art. It is interesting to note that these two disparate notions of art are based upon the same fundamental assumption: that art is a form of mimesis, imitation. Both philosophers are concerned with the artist's ability to have significant impact on others. It is the imitative function of art which promotes disdain in Plato and curiosity in Aristotle. Examining the reality that art
The form of art has been around for thousands of years. There has been many different types of art form found from the ancient greece times. These time are the earliest times that are recorded and are placed in museums. These early art forms teaches us a little bit about the human race and how they were back in the roman times. There are some painting and sculptures that represents different people from their time lines. These art form can explain how they were back in their times and with the statues you can see how far they were allowed to do.
For over two thousand years, various philosophers have questioned the influence of art in our society. They have used abstract reasoning, human emotions, and logic to go beyond this world in the search for answers about arts' existence. For philosophers, art was not viewed for its own beauty, but rather for the question of how art and artists can help make our society more stable for the next generation. Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived during 420-348 B.C. in Athens, and Aristotle, Plato’s student who argued against his beliefs, have no exceptions to the steps they had to take in order to understand the purpose of art and artists. Though these two philosophers made marvelous discoveries about the existence of art, artists, and