_greek art _
By: tap
Over a period of time Greek art of the past has changed and evolved into what
we value in todayís society as true art and services as a blue print of our
tomorrow. As we take a closer look at the Geometric Period and stroll up
through the Hellenistic Period allow me to demonstrate the changes and point
out how these transitions have servide the elements of timeDuring the
geometric period the Greeks style of vase painting was know as Proto-geometric
because it was preceded and anticipated the Geometric style - was
characterized by linear motifs, such as spirals, diamonds, and crosshatching,
rather than the stylized plants, birds, and sea creatures characteristic of
minoan vase painting Artist of the geometric time period created decative
funerary art to be placed at the tombs of there dead. These pieces were made
of ceramic and created in the form of geometric shapes, hence the time period.
One such piece is a vase from the Dipylon Cemetery, (750 BCE) its over-all
shape is like that of a hemisphere supported by a cylinder. We also notice
that the vase is divided into registers and here the humans are depicted as
part of a narrative. The body of the deceased is placed on its side and set on
what would appear to be a pedestal in the center of the top register. The form
used to represent the human figures are somewhat abstract. For example
triangles are used for the torsos, the head is a triangle in profile, round
dots would stand in for the eyes and long thin rectangles would serve as arms.
The figures have tiny waists, and long legs with bulging thigh and calf
muscles. The abstract designs were painted with a clay slip and to still a
page form the Egyptians, all the humans were shown as full-frontal or
full-profile views that emphasize flat patterns and outline shapes. However
unlike the Egyptian funerary art the Greeks focused on the survivors, not the
fate of the dead. During this period it was customary to create vases that did
not contain supernatural beings, nor made reference to the afterlife that
might have provided solace for the bereaved Another early piece that
surfaced back in the late tenth century was the Centaur, half-human,
half-horse. The Centaur was also created using geometric shapes. The human
head was a round modeled out shape with no strong features or definition. The
arms and torsos are rectangular shaped with no muscle tones or anything that
would tell its viewer that this was a creature of strength. The legs and back
animal half are cylinder shaped with small bulges that would seem to represent
perhaps muscles. The Centaur also displayed on the body painted on geometric
shapes. (cubes, pyramids, diamonds, etc.) As time progressed so did the Greek
art, the time is 470 BCE and we find ourselves in the Classical Era. Here were
able to notice a considerable difference in the Greek art. As artist the
Greeks have moved away from geometric shapes and found themselves using such
words as balance, harmony proportion and cemetery. Artist of the Classical
Period took the geometric shapes and reworked them to there own liking Pan
Painter created the vase Artemis Slaying Actaeon, and in this piece he shows
us that there still using ceramics as artist did in the geometric period only
now the figures are red. The vase of Dipylon used decorative registers with
repeating motifs to narrate; here the registers are still used with a
beautiful maze motif but there made smaller in efforts to place more attrition
on the image being displayed. The human images on the Dipylon were flat
geometric shaped people that had very little features. Painters vase offered
movement, realism, and detail in the cloth the people wore Taking a closer
look we can now define some of the techniques used here that were not used
early on. Not only are the figures much larger but now we have balance in our
composition. ( Artemis has all her weight disturbed on her right leg and
Actaeon although on the ground uses his left arm to support himself.) Harmony
( Artemis has her right arm bent as well as her right leg. The left leg is
stiff to go along with the stiff left arm.) Painter shows us cemetery in his
composition ( By dividing the two images in half we see the composition has
the same weight on the left thatís on the right.) And proportion ( both
figures evenly scaled.) Unlike artist of the geometric period Painters art
was inspired by the myths of the gods as opposed to early artist who created
funerary art and focused on the survivors. A good artist can take an image
from the past and transform it into a beloved piece of the future. Notice the
triangle shape in Paintings piece that ties both images together The
Classical period made a big impact on the sculptures of that era. When we look
back at the Centaur of the Geometric Period and compare its human features to
something like the bronze sculpture of Zeus it just doesnít seem fair. No more
full-frontal or full-profile views of images, we now have freestanding
sculptures. No more geometric shapes to represent body parts, we now have
muscle tone and definition. The bronze statue of Zeus was the Classical era at
its best. It displays balance, harmony, cemetery, and proposition as well as
it gives us a sense of realism and naturalism. The artist brings out smooth
facial features and defines the body as having strength and power. Heís
anatomically correct. The use of bronze also allowed artist to twist and turn
their models to create a pose that seemed to capture a nature feeling Just
when it seemed that things couldn't get any better artist found themselves
making a change from the Classical Period to the Hellenistic Period. It was at
this time that artist could standup and say that they had truly arrived. The
Hellenistic period produced a Varity styles, techniques, and material. The
period was marked by two broad and conflicting trends. One call anti-classical
and the other classical where the artist would choose a piece and rework it
into a new style. Such styles were like that of the Gallic Chieftain Killing
his Wife and Himself. This piece offers everything that a classical piece
would offer only now the artist is looking for a specific emotional response
from the viewer, this know as expressionism. Hellenistic artist sought the
individual and the specific, they turned away from heroic to the everyday,
from gods to mortals In the Classical Period we watch Zeus come alive right
before our very eyes, this freestanding statue tough us words like balance,
harmony, and proportion, we learned realism, and naturalism as well as smooth
skin and the Canon of proportion. But the Hellenistic era. has taken all those
things and reworked them for the viewer. The artist takes pieces like the
Gallic Chieftain and shows his wife limit body being supported by her husband
as he plunges the sword into his own breast. As a viewer you fill an emotional
bound with the statue and offer your pity and I think thatís the response that
the artist was looking for In conclusion we have seen art pieces from the
Geometric Period and its simples form reworked into master pieces of the
Classical Period. And in the Hellenistic Period we found out what its like to
take a master piece and make it better by touching the harts of the viewers.
But most importantly we've learned that we live in a forever-changing world
and to truly know great art is to know good art.
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