Greek Art Summary

In Reflections on the imitation of Greek works in painting and sculpture, Johann Joachim Winckelmann discusses the superiority of Greek art over modern art. The Greek adopted methods that focused on the natural beauty of the body. He wrote about the Greek culture taking an art form through old traditions and standards, learned by the artist since their adolescence. These standards overtime helped Greek artist begin to see natural beauty as a way of creating art and perfected works of nature.The simplicity of Greek art helps give meaning to their art and it is something Winkelmann saids modern art does not have.It seems as though Winckelmann is suggesting in the passage that if modern artist adopt the ways of the Greeks, they will become better artist.

The artist created a different version of the existing natural form, but in their minds. The art would resemble the natural form and also show divine-like qualities.Winkelmann discusses the use of a gymnasia for Greek artists. The games held at the gymnasia accustomed young males to take an interest in physical exercises.The social standards for a person's human physique became important in Greek culture and later for its art. A gymnasia allowed artist to observe the natural beauty of nudity. The muscle and body movements allowed artist to see the art in human physique. These observations would be used to create works of art of natural beauty.Greek and modern art do not share the same time period, so not all social customs were shared. The Greeks were accustomed to nudity and were given the opportunity to use