Greek Male Sculptures and Today's Advertising Essay

The Greeks see the human body as an example of supreme physical beauty; therefore, each generation of Greek artists endeavored to produce a more natural representation of the human body. With no standing army, every Greek citizen had the

The marble sculpture of Kritios Boy from Greece, ca. 480 BCE marks an influential point of stylistic evolution. In contrast to Khafre Enthroned, The Kritios Boy was created for a public audience. The Kritios Boy’s standing pose represents a freedom in his figure that divorces the solidity of the stiffly seated Khafre. Rather than emanating timelessness, this naturalistic sculpture seems to capture a specific moment in time. Mirroring a normal human stance of balance and weight shift onto one leg, his stature is contrapposto. Furthermore, the Kritios Boy’s physical composition maintains a smooth contour to his natural musculature. His head is slightly turned with hair that seems to fall effortlessly in place. He is completely naked, wearing only a relaxed expression on his face. With no indication of identity, the Kritios Boy exemplifies naturalism in Greek drive to order to analyze form into constituent parts and represent the specific in light of the generic.

Nude figures have been featured in art works since around 30 to 25,000 B.C. And throughout the history of art, we can see a lot of artists being inspired and influenced by great talents before them, in one way or another they would carry the style or ideas of those previous artists into their own art and create new masterpieces. One particular example is Édouard Manet’s Olympia from the Realism period, and Yasumasa Morimura’s Futago. The two paintings share great similarities in their composition, but the content and purpose of the paintings, and style wise the two pieces are very different.

Greeks were constantly in search of the "Ideal"(Riffert). Their "Ideal" was "a body capable of enduring all efforts, either of the racecourse or of bodily strength…this is why the athletes in the pentathlon are the most beautiful." (Tufts) This description of the "Ideal" person given by Aristotle reflects the attitude of the majority of ancient Greeks. People were not judged solely on their minds but rather strong emphasis was given to the body. This emphasis given to the body was given to the nude body. It is understandable that we question why nude art was so accepted by the Greeks, as they were the pioneers in this field. The answer lies in the everyday life of the people. It was commonplace for Greek men to exercise, go to war, and generally go about their daily business in the nude or scantly clothed (Boardman 276).

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

Out of four advertisements chosen, two are distinctly for women and two are distinctly for men. It is easy to identify which is which, as everyone has experienced these social expectations that the ads are founded on. For example, the male ad, titled Nivea for Men, is most easily identified as such due to the man used as the model. However, this is not the average male in American society- this is the idealized version that men have become accustomed to viewing, and is therefore

Nudity has been an essential aspect in Western art. After the Renaissance, this is when the nudity was exploited as humans in their natural state. The nude form first was conquered by the ancient Greeks from approximately two thousand five hundred years ago. The Greeks celebrated the human body and cultivated the mastery of the human body through these sculptures of David. Rubens captures the nudity of Venus and makes her seen pure and compelling. When taking a glance at this masterpiece, one is immediately fixated and dragged in, it is a piece that cannot be missed. Ruben’s expression in this piece can be defined as timeless. Historians conclude that besides the magnificent Michelangelo, no other painter had a greater knowledge of the human body and visual power as Rubens. This is how he is able to cultivate these mythological pieces, and incorporate much detail. There is much life in Rubens’ painting, through the vibrant hues and how he depicts Venus and Adonis as these massive creatures. Figures depicted in art are more often nude then one would think. It is seen the human body is at its ideal state when artist depict the figure as nude. It is seemed as heroic because humans are compelled to see how artist illustrate the human body. Hence why the male and female body is the central theme of western art. When thinking about the human form, there is nothing more compelling, which is why the theme is still prominent in modern and contemporary

The reading claims that nudes throughout artistic history have been an important source of beauty and controversy. Nudes began to spike during the Baroque period as they were used for the more expressive and emotional arts of the time. In the nineteenth century, nudes became more common, yet became more sensitive. Artists would train by drawing nudes of ancient Greek statues and figures from myth. However, many artists would then move on to create works depicting prostitutes or peasant naked women. This would not please patrons as they were extremely societally taboo. However, this did not start artists from making them, as they moved into the twentieth and twenty-first century. This shows the importance of artistic nudes and their impact

Both of these civilizations enjoyed using white marble and bronze to sculpt nude human or human-like figures. For example, Figure 4.15 on page 92 and figure 5.56 on page 143 show a similar naturalistic style, yet drastic difference in how they display it. Aegean art used simplistic, yet distinct small statues made of bronze to represent their goddesses. The snake goddess is half nude with thin arms holding two snakes. These nudist figures most likely held miscellanies items to symbolism what goddess she is. However, there is very few of these and probably means that they didn’t focus on sculpting their goddesses in their art. While Ancient Greek art fancied it and even took it to a whole new level. The naked Aphrodite marble sculpture is human-like in height and

A well-known bust of this sort is the Head of a Roman patrician from Otricoli (ca. 75-50 BCE). While the Romans favored naturalism for the heads, a touch of the optimism that administered Classical Greek craftsmanship slipped into the representation of figures' bodies. For the Portrait of a Roman general from the Sanctuary of Hercules (ca. 75-50 BCE), an old man's head is propped on the admired more youthful body, finish with washboard abs. Proceeding with safeguarding one's romanticized picture is the Portrait of Augustus as a general (mid first century CE). In spite of the fact that idea to have been physically frail, in actuality, Augustus is delineated with executioner biceps and stunning Pecs in romanticized naturalism. His drapery reacts to gravity and his breastplate is detailed, finished with imagery and in addition a motivation. The reason for the figure is to exhibit the military force of Augustus (all things considered, he is shown as a general), show his ancestry, present a brilliant age in Rome and come back to the Greek Classical period in

This sculpture focuses on the life of a child and the problems associated with child-like behavior, an aspect of life not commonly explored in Classical Greek sculpture. Curiosity is often associated with children, and in both adults and children, curiosity is likely to get you into trouble. However, as this statue shows, when your curiosity gets you a ‘thorn’ in your foot, the best thing to do is pluck it out without fear as the boy’s face does not express concern or distress demonstrating that the ‘thorn’ is not a grave danger. The lack of seriousness in the problems the Greeks of the Hellenistic period faced is captured in this sculpture. During Classical Greece, when the average citizen participated in matters of state, therefore had to face serious issues, this sculpture would have never been created. The average citizen would not be able to relate to the plight of a child, as their problems were far graver, but again with the loss of political power, the Greeks gained levity to their lives. Further exploring other avenues of the human experience, men’s relationship with women is personified. The statue of Aphrodite, Pan, and Eros is of a subject matter uncommon during the Classical period. The Goddess is much more exposed, with only one hand being used to cover herself. Aphrodite appears to be holding a sandal to smack away the Satyr, however, she does not show negative emotions on her face. Eros appears between the two, grabbing the Satyr by the horns, just as lust grips the mind. The expression of male lust towards women becomes a more important part of Greek life as that portion of life becomes more significant. The Satyr type of man, as opposed to the Olympic athlete, became a better representation of the average Greek as these ‘men’ chased after women who were able to swat them away without much thought due to the fact that

In the Ancient Greek historical Art, nude male figures were used to depict the beauty of the human body as well as the new focusing in the evolution of art. "The nude first became significant in the art of ancient Greece, where athletic competitions at religious festivals celebrated the human body, particularly the male, in an unparalleled way." (Jean) Thus, the social standard of the time in aesthetic, modesty and morality was reflected in every nudity art work .Nude male figures, in sculptures and paintings, of warriors, charioteers and musicians had become more and more popular as the symbol of energy and power of life or were used as the symbol of God, Goddess and Heroes. But nude figures of Gods and Goddess were no longer allowed by the Christianity in the Renaissance because of emphasizing “on chastity and celibacy further discounted depictions of nakedness” (Jean) , nude figures of athletic were used as an expression of virility as well as the beauty of the human body. Nudity in the Middle Ages became sinful, therefore, nude figures were rare in the medieval art and the artists were focusing on creating art about God and Goddess and their power rather than depicting the beauty of the human body. And by the end of the medieval period, nude female figures intended to be attractive and slowly brought back into art and became popular again. In the Baroque to Modern art, nudity still played an important role in art. In the Baroque period, nude art had changed and became

The Naked Truth Throughout the history of art the human form has intrigued artisans and their audiences. While the human form has always been an acceptable muse, the nude female form still today stirs up controversy. When Praxiteles sculpted Aphrodite of Knidos (350-340 B.C.), of the Greek late classical period, a risqué nude goddess had never been rendered. Approximately 1,100 years after Aphrodite of Knidos, Sandro Botticelli depicted the goddess Venus nude in his painting Birth of Venus (ca. 1482) during the Early Italian Renaissance, a time when the frantic Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola preached strict boundaries and improvement in society.

In modern society, merchants will try all the ways to persuade people to purchase their products. They may use the traditional medias, like newspaper, magazines, or radio. They also use the new media, such as television, internet, or phone application. Actually, all this kinds of persuasion are advertisements, which are demonstrated in different ways. As we all know, as an advertisement, if designers just put their products, it is too monotonous. They need to hire some models to help them show the products. It also can more attract people?s eyes. Consequently, this paper

During the Greek period, ca. 900-30 BCE, Greek artists slowly progressed from symbolism to naturalism by using the ideals of human beauty and the concept of ideal heroic male nudes. Through the discussion of these works, the Kouros (Anavysos), Kritios Boy, and the Spear Bearer (Doryphoros) made by Polykleitos, I will explain how Greek artists developed these ideals and moved from symbolism to naturalism.