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 arms are held beside the body, and the fists are clenched with the thumbs forward.” (Pg. 112) Around 530 BCE,
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The Greek sculptors technical skills were increased. They depicted the human body in a relaxed figure. Sculptors introduced contrapposto (a weight shift) to their figures. For example, figure 5-40 on page 132, Polykleito’s Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) stands naturally with a slight shift in his hips. Polykleito’s aim was to “impose order on human movement, to make it “beautiful,” to “perfect” it.” He did this through a system called cross balance. (pg. 133) Also, bronze became the main method for monumental free-standing statues, which enabled the creation of less rigid poses. Classicist male sculptures were connected with religion, and included Greek divinities and mythological figures. In addition to religious works, Classical artists also produced three-dimensional sporting figures, such as athletes. For example, chariot-racers, such as figure 5-37 on page 130, “Charioteer of Delphi” which is a bronze statue that includes a chariot, a team of horses, and a groom. He stands with a slight turn of the head as well as slight twist of his waist, which depicts the Severe Style. The Hellenistic Age (323-30 BCE) traditionally begins with the death of Alexander and
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...
Ridgway, Brunilde S. Hellenistic Sculpture II: The Styles of ca. 200-100 B.C. Madison, Wisc.: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2000.
Artistically, Apoxyomenos deviates from the standard Classical representation of male athletes. The majority of Classical sculptors portrayed athletes actively engaged in competition. However, this figure is gazing into the distance while removing oil and dirt from his body using a strigil (Stokstad, 165). This practice was commonly associated with athletes in ancient Greece and, thereby, communicated to the viewer that this was a piece pertaining to athletics.
Moving through art we start to see more and more human figures being represented. At first they appear on paintings, then small figurines, and finally in full body realistic rock sculptures. Two examples of this are Anavysos Kouros and Doryphoros the Spear Bearer.
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.
Onians, John. Art and Thought in the Hellenistic Age: The Greek World View 350-50 B.C. London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd., 1979.
The Terme Boxer or Boxer at Rest is a bronze statue with copper inlays that is cast in a manner representative of early Hellenistic statues. The exact location that this piece was used in is currently uncertain as the bronze statue was located in a form of storage within the foundations of an ancient unidentified building. Estimates regarding the date on this statue are mixed and generally fall loosely between 100 to 400c.e.. Following past examples of this type of statuary indicates that most likely this statue would have been located in a sanctuary or public commons like a bath to celebrate the athlete in question.
The Greek believed the human body was the measure of all things, therefore the artists created sculptures in a very detailed fashion which made them very life-like although the size of
The human form transcends throughout time persistently present in art. Dating all the way back to Paleolithic human beings our renderings of idealized forms have served many purposes. Though the Neolithic and Paleolithic purpose of these renderings is widely speculative the range of reason for these depictions ranges from idolization and worship to assertion of aristocratic and economic status even to simply serving as statements of self-expression. Amongst ruins and artifacts, sculptures of ancient cultures demonstrate the ways in which humans perceptions of what is aesthetically desirable have progressed. Two idealized sculptures the Woman from Willendorf and the Khafre statue with approximately 21,500 years separating their individual gestations this demonstrate the stylistic progression of idealized imagery through time.
Sculpture is one of the most important parts of Greek art since it is almost the only art form that has survived in some quantity. The ancient Greeks were especially known for their sculpture because their sculptures were extremely life like and beautiful. It was important to the ancient Greeks to combine passion and reason in their sculpture. Greek sculptures were mostly of the human form since they looked at their gods as having a human form. All of the sculptures were nudes of males because society looked down upon female nudity until latter on in time when you started to see sculptures such as the Venus di Milo, which was modeled after Aphrodite (Wikpedia the free encyclopedia. Wikpedia.11 Nov 2004. 12 Nov 2004 http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Greek_art ). One of the most amazing sculptures is the colossus sculpture of Zeus in Olympia it was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Ancient writers said that it stood 12.40 meters high, 6.65 meters long and 9.76 meters deep the body of Zeus was made of ivory followed by a robe made of gold topped with a silver olive wreath and his throne was decorated with mythological scenes painted by Panainos and Kolotis the statue itself was created by Phidos. Michael Lahanas. 25 Dec 2002. 11 Nov 2004 (http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/ZeusStatue.htm). Another great sculpture is the colossus Athena Parthenos. This sculpture just like the colossus statue of Zeus was made of gold and ivory and had various mythological engravings in her shield, helmet and pedestal.
It is thought by art historians that the Greeks took the idea of building these monumental stone sculptures, such as the kouros, from Egyptian art. Lysippus, the court sculptor to Alexander the Great, challenged the Classical canon of proportions previously used and began creating sculptures with smaller heads and more slender figures just as the Egyptians did. These proportions mimic the canon of ideal proportions the Egyptian artists used when creating their sculptures. The Egyptians employed the use of a standardized grid of twenty-one squares which lent a geometric and stiff appearance.
Many people would blatantly state that the importance of the gods in Greek society derives from the fact that Gods in any society are usually used to explain phenomenon that people cannot logically comprehend, but in ancient Greece gods were actually entities that took part in the workings of society itself. Even simple aspects of day-to-day life such as sex and disputes between mortals were supposedly influenced by godly workings. Unlike modern religions such as Catholicism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, where an omnipotent force supposedly controls the workings of the world, a hierarchy of Gods characterized religion in ancient Greece. Working as one big family, which they actually were, each one of the Greek gods governed a certain aspect of the world in a way that usually reflected their own humanlike personalities. These unique personalities also contained many human flaws such as envy and greed, and were where the Greek God’s importance lay. Greek religion was more concentrated on the way an individual dealt with situations that popped up in the world around him than on understanding the world itself. In other words the Greeks were more interested in the workings of the mind than in the workings of the environment around them.
The early Aegeans were the predecessors of the Greeks. Their art and pottery were the framework for the Greek art famous today. Aspects of war crop up in both cultures’ art pieces. The two cultures are not without their differences, however. From a stylistic point of view, the Aegeans were more primitive in their understanding of anatomy, while the Greeks slowly progressed to showcase the human form realistically.
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)
Even the few sculptor’s names known to us, usually by chance, from the imperial period are Greek names and seem to confirm the assumption that these artists’ work should be regarded simply as a late phase of Greek art” (Hanfmann, 12). The Greeks were the first western culture to figure out how to accurately depict the human form which they did through the use of geometric ratios. It is also widely accepted that it was even Greek artists who first made marble portraits for the Romans as the Romans originally had no skill with the stone. “It was certainly at first Greek artists who were entrusted by eminent Romans with the execution of portraits of themselves and of important personalities in the Roman state, just as it was Greeks who depicted Aemilius Paulus victory at Pydna and later were largely responsible for the portraits of the emperors” (Kahler 16). The Romans mainly used terracotta for their sculptures and it was only when Augustus reigned that the marble quarries at Carrara were opened and marble was used on a large scale. The Romans inherited the use of realistic proportions, the sense of movement (contrapposto), and the overall beauty of Greek sculptures. A great example of Roman sculpture that was clearly carved by a Greek artist who was familiar with the Hellenistic styles of Greece, is the Relief of the Wedding of Amphitrite and Neptune. It “shows a mythological