Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Ancient Greek and Roman art styles
Ancient Greek and Roman art styles
John berger essay ways of seeing
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Ancient Greek and Roman art styles
To the Greeks, nakedness is considered as an ideal form to express their civilization. In the English language, the naked and the nude carries different meaning. John Berger’s well-known dictum in Ways of Seeing is useful here - “To be nude is to be seen by others and yet not recognized for oneself. And naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become a nude… Nakedness reveals itself… Nudity is on display... To be naked is to be without disguise… Nudity is a form of dress”. In the Greek society, when being clothed is norm, then nakedness is special, and also can be viewed as a “costume” to elevate certain virtues. The Greek nudity is considered to be a marker to distinguish Greek and non-Greek, and also between men and women.
From the portrayals of earlier kouroi to the “canonical” nudes, the meaning underlies the nudity of Greek sculptures from different periods of time has been changed as time gone by.
…show more content…
These male bodies were portrayed in geometric shapes, which divorce from human anatomy and naturalism. For instance, the ribcage of the Kouros of Tenea was simply outlined by a single hoop, and a triangular groin. Most of the archaic kouroi share generic archaic smile and stand in stiff posture; function as a symbol to celebrate aristocracy or athletic practice, or as grave markers to stand for immortality. They aimed to be iconographic symbols rather than conveying any emotions or being narrative by being anatomically
practice amongst the men, which is nudity. The sculptor depicted Dionysos with a slightly S-shaped body
The Statue of a kouros depicts a Greek man in the nude. Although he looks like a man, the large scale, and the miss proportioned features makes it unnaturalistic. The toes are too long, the genetalia is unrealistically small, and the joint lines are exaggerated.
The author, Andrew Stewart, begins with the male figure of Doryphoros. He focuses on the intent of the statue, establishing the knowledge that it was to set a new standard of the perfect male body to guide the future. The proportions of the body of Doryphoros were made according to a specific formula, with meticulous attention to detail. Each muscle and limb was specifically placed next to relaxed ones, creating visual hierarchy of the forms to be more appealing to the eye and mind. The figure is a copy and not originally named, but is most likely said to be of a warrior or athlete, possibly Achilles or Penthesilenia. This statue was to show a culture of people who were expected to take up arms and set a new standard for masculinity. Naked “spearbearers” were uncommon and most often reserved for athletes. The gaze of the sculpture is off in the distance, looking at the competitor, with a solid stance between macho arrogance and meek youth. The unhurried movement, self-contained pose foursquar...
Around the time 530 bce a statue was carved out of marble and given the name Anavyos Kouros. It represents a male figure completely nude. It is a sculpture in the round and stands a height of six foot four inches. Starting from the top we see the man's head. His hair looks odd to that of a normal human, it does not look like it belongs on his head. Looking at his facial structure his eyes are large similar to art of ancient Egypt. His nose, lips, cheeks, and ears are well defined and proportional. His body is muscular and he looks to be in great shape. The sculptor who made this paid close
Ca.630 BCE. Limestone. This is a women freestanding statue in Greek art. Both of these two statues are youth sculpture and freestanding which are the naturalistically and not stocky. They do not have muscles and a strong body, I can only see they are being the lean body types. As the female statue, her feet are standing on the same level, but the male one is not. She is putting her right hand on her chest and wearing clothes to wrap her slim body. Thus, the Greek art only has little bit impact by Egyptians. Portraying nude men can be accepted, but for women it is not.
...o understanding and appreciating Greek art is significant, but as seen through the writings of Gazda, Marvin and Ellen, the practice of appreciating Greek sculpture as presented by the conservative historians is of detriment to the writings and perceptions of historians, as well as the general education of the public. Unfortunately, due to the popularity of the abovementioned historians during their times of writings, methodology including Kopienkritik has remained a valued and prevalent approach to judging and analysing of both Greek and Roman sculpture, despite increased criticism. All of these factors serve to undermine the validity of the construct, and show that while the construct may have suited and served the purposes of those who created it, it does nothing to legitimately further proper and rational history of Greek and more specifically, Roman sculpture.
As time kept passing, more and more magnificent sculptures were made by numerous artists. One of the most memorable sculpture was Aphrodite of Knidos, goddess of love and beauty. Back in the Late Classical Period, the civilians were only used to seeing ideal male nude bodies, but Praxiteles decided to make a different approach and sculpted the first female nude. Because he obviously had never seen a goddess before, he used his imagination and sculpted bathing Aphrodite as humanlike possible. He did not make it look idealistic, but instead made it beautiful with flaws.
There are many similarities between the sculpture of the kouros and King Menkaure and His Queen. Since the Greeks used the same technique as the Egyptians, the statue of the kouros is posed stiffly with his arms straight down at his sides in the same manner that Egyptian pharaohs were often depicted. His left foot is slightly in front of the right, just as King Menkaure’s left foot is. Both figures are looking straight ahead, have their feet planted on the ground, and have long hair. The kouros represented the ideal form of a young male to the Greeks, just as the figures of King Menkaure and his queen depict the ideal notion of beauty to the Egyptians. The kouros emulates the stiff pose
This paper explains the history and development of the nude art in the Renaissance and Medieval period. In the Renaissance age the patrons and artist readopted the antiquity of the classical Greek into representation of nude. This is an epoch when drastic changes occurred in which Christian authorities no longer viewed the nude art as something conflicting or shameful. In contrary they believed that nude being reformed in ancient in classical antiquity portrays divine characteristics and emancipates the light that is pure and heroic (Long, 2008; Bonfante, 1989; Tinagli, 1997). To establish a further understanding why during the Renaissance age nude art brilliantly portrayed human anatomy, the work of some most remarkable artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, Masaccio and Durer are described (Long, 2008) These minds welcomed the classical antiquity into their paintings and sculpturing and often the Greek athletic figures and mythological Venus figure were used as ideal models in depicting nude art (Bonfante, 1989). The classical renewal of nude art had specific roles attached to both male and female nude, in the world of art. The religious figures were depicted in antique forms as to convey their theological status and importance. In contrast to the Renaissance period, the Medieval representation of nude art was rare and Religious authorities oppose its development as they believed it may lead to sin and degradation (Long, 2008; Steinberg, 1983). In short this paper will present a historical overview of the nude art and how the diverse cultural attitude towards depiction of nude existed in each period.
The small, crudely carved statuette of an obese woman contrasts heavily with the graceful classical forms of sculpture such as Aphrodite of Cnidos, Praxiteles, 350 BCE. Although it would be difficult to associate the word beautiful with this statuette, there can be no doubt that it reflects the female form. The statuette has also been known as “la poire” or “the pear” due to its size and shape and more recently was donned the Woman from Willendorf. The removal of the title Venus served to take away the figurine’s status as a goddess and lower it to the human level, therefore allowing more consideration of the figurine’s purpose (Witcombe, sec. 3. The adage of the adage.
Development of the Male Figure Starting with the Orientalizing period (about 700-600 BCE), the male human figure was depicted in the form of bronze statuettes. Greek artists were interested in the details of human anatomy, such as the long hair and unnaturally long neck and the depiction of pectoral and abdominal muscles, (figure 5-4 Mantiklos Apollo). The ideas of the male figure grew as we move on to the Archaic period (600-480 BCE). During the Archaic period, Greek sculptors started to develop monumental marble sculptures. The Greek male sculptures resembled Egyptian statues in both shape and posture, standing “rigidly frontal with the left food advanced slightly.
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 of athleticism is evident in many famous sculptures. I will attempt to show how the human form influenced Greek art. It is important to note that many of the Greek sculptures discussed do not exist in their original form but rather in Roman copies of the original bronze sculptures. (Riffert)
Perhaps one of the most defining and easily identifiable aspects of the ancient Greek culture was the immortalization of humans and gods in sculpture. Sculpture had existed in the world for thousands of years before the ancient Greeks made their stake in the art, but the Greeks added an entirely new set of aspects to their sculptures. Unlike the Egyptian and Mesopotamian sculpture centuries earlier, the Greeks set forth not just to capture the image of a man but to capture that which made him a man. The Greeks set in place three base tenants to display the tone of a sculpture. Through the use of Humanism, Realism, and Idealism the ancient Greeks were able to capture humans and gods forever in marble.
In ancient Greek society, nudity was revered as a natural state of being. In exercise, art, and daily life, nudity was closely associated with the Greeks’ concept of youthfulness and beauty. The era was and continues to be famous for the depictions of precise, idealized anatomy that proliferated sculpture, pottery, and paintings produced by artists from the time. But this obsession with and celebration of the au naturel wasn’t afforded to all members of society. The lugubriously low social standing held by women at the time forced them to assume a more conservative way of dressing, as they continued to be disenfranchised and devalued.
There is an inherit freedom associated with being naked. That is why small children often strip off their clothes, much to the parent’s dismay. However a large portion of the population rejects the idea of nudism because thye see it as immodest, deviant, or sexual. The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader about the origins and history of social nudism, naturist philosophy and ideology, its impact on body image, and the common etiquette and practices people subscribe to in Nudist clubs. From an outside perspective, using the terms "Nudist" and "dress behavior" in the same sentence may seem contradictory, but there is actually a lot of thought that goes into Nudists clothing, or lack there of.