Ancient Greek Sculpture During The Archaic Period

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

Greek culture is the source from which many of the characteristic elements of Western culture derive. Their explorations and innovations in art have both fascinated and inspired other civilizations for centuries. For this assignment I chose two Greek sculptures viewed at the Getty Museum. The first is Kouros circa 530 B.C. made of Dolomitic marble from Thasos and is approximately 200 cm (80 in) in height. The second is Cult Statue of a Goddess, (most likely Aphrodite) South Italy, 425 - 400 B.C. made of Limestone and marble. It stands at a height of 220 cm (86 5/8 in). There is some dispute to the authenticity of the Getty Kouros

They began to paint and sculpt human bodies which needed specific techniques of scaling and math. Historian William J. Connell, La Motta Chair in Seton Hall University, describes the common artistic features between Classical age and Renaissance. He explains, “Freestanding, larger-than-life-size statues of human beings were sculpted for the first time since antiquity” (3). During the Classical age, huge statues of human could be found in the history in which scientific ideas were required to design and to sculpt it appropriately. Artists of Renaissance revived the way of sculpting as well as painting of Greek and Roman culture where they used techniques from math as well as science. The influence of classical culture transformed the art and the way of making it by using scientific knowledge of drawing and sculpting, and provided it a sense human importance on the artistic works.

making sculptors of real people not just gods or animals. And they made it symmetrical

The “human form” has changed through art over long periods of time and how each civilization uses their own style to create these pieces is how art gets its depth. I'm going to be talking about one of each sculpture from every major period and explain how each one has its own flavor and own unique style. I will be talking about the Prehistoric period, Egyptian style, Greek style and Roman styles. I also have a list of vocabulary words i will be pointing out in bold to explain how these are used in sculptures.

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

Greek art, unlike the art of the East, resulted from the intellectual mastery of form and proportion. However, it also resulted from a spiritual ability to recognize beauty in the reality and perfection of the natural world.

Hellenistic art was engaged more on perfection of the human frame, accuracy and detail. Models from Greek times looked more God-like than human. Hellenic art depended on the new thought of authenticity. Hellenic figures were molded into sensible, blamed human structures. Art in the Hellenic world art epitomized richness, cheerful nature, and coarse with. Marble statues and reliefs described human greatness and sensuality. Art in Hellenistic world emphasize extraordinary naturalism and unashamed luxury. Art in Hellenistic and Hellenic showed feelings and other components filled with different

Sculptures came in a variety of shapes and sizes. They were often made of wood, metal, cloth, or clay. These sculptures served as personal protection figures, symbols for supernatural powers, and representation of ancestors. Most sculptures were made to represent the human body, but some cultures never carve human faces so it resembled any individual in fear of accusations of witch craft. A great example of one such sculpture is Cango and Zaire.

Greeks during this time worked on depicting the human body in their sculptures but as time progressed the focus would shift according to that period. “The Classical Moment and Beyond” discusses three different time periods starting at the Archaic, the High Classical, and The late Classical and how the Greeks style progress during the eras. The Archaic period were overdramatic sculptures for example Croesus rather than being portrayed realistically is shown younger, heroic and with smile which is particular to this period. The high classical period first shows the shift in mediums as sculpture were created from bronze which allowed for greater detail. The Doryphoros was created by Polykleitos to show the ideal proportions for the human form,

One last piece of art that shows a significant transformation in the geometric period is the sculpture of Hero and Centaur pictured on the right. It is considered geometric because it is small in scale and the figures have simple stylized shapes. You see again the small torso on the animal-like figure and on the human figure that is shown nude and anatomically correct. The animal figure is actually human in the front and horse in the back with legs on both ends belonging to a different species. This was an animal-human monster the Greek invented called the centaur and the sculpture reveals the scene of a hero battling a centaur depicting an early example of the mythical narrative (Herakles and Nessos). The significance of the earlier mentioned style of painting and this sculpture design is that it marked a turning point from the geometric period into the oriental period because now mythical creatures/monsters are introduced, the natural beauty of the human figure is reintroduced, and the art of storytelling is revived.

Throughout history art has consistently reflected the cultural values and social structures of individual civilizations. Ancient art serves as a useful tool to help historians decipher some important aspects of ancient culture. From art we can determine the basic moral and philosophical beliefs of many ancient societies. The differences in arts purpose in Greece and Rome, for example, show us the fundamental differences in each culture's political and moral system. The primary objective of Greek art was to explore the order of nature and to convey philosophical thought, while Roman art was used primarily as a medium to project the authority and importance of the current ruler and the greatness of

The Archaic period dates from 800 B.C. to 480 B.C. The Greeks were inspired by monumental stone sculpture of Egypt and Mesopotamia, sculpting in stone began in Greece. However, although this was inspired by Egypt, there were significant differences between how they were sculpted. For instance, take the Greek sculpture Kouros (c 580 B.C. made of marble, standing at 6’4” tall) the standing male nude. While this resembled characteristics of Egypt sculptures such as pose and proportion, his form becomes more dynamic as the sculpture is nude. Kouros also appears to wear jewelry around his neck and the exquisite detail in the braids of his hair suggest he is groomed and dressed properly. Another difference in Egypt and Greek sculptures, is that Egypt’s sculptures depict rulers and people of higher stature, where Greek sculptures would depict

There were a few people that could make sculpture. They were an inspiring piece that showed everyone how they represented each others during their time. Greek architecture were during the Archaic Period, roughly 600 to 480 BC. This is one of the periods where practice of fine art in ancient Greece. This was the first time that Greek architects learned to make massive temples out of stone, generally using soft white stones like marble or limestone. During the Archaic Period, two orders of Greek architects emerged. First was the Doric Order, with smooth capitals on the tops of each column and decorations in the superstructure that resembled the ends of wooden beams, a nod to earlier temples. After that came the Ionic Order, with capitals that looked like scrolls and thinner columns. During the sculture time there was architect's that learned how to make massive temples out of stone, generally using soft white stones like marble or limestone. These sculptures were impressive and carried an elegant look during their