Greek Sculpture

1. Greek Sculpture • Periods of Greek Sculpture: • Archaic period (8th - early 5th century BC) • Classical period (5th - 4th century BC) • Hellenistic period (late 4th - 1st century BC)

2. Greek Sculpture • Periods of Greek Sculpture: • Archaic period (8th - early 5th century BC) • Classical period (5th - 4th century BC) • Hellenistic period (late 4th - 1st century BC)

3. Greek Sculpture • Archaic period (8th - 5th c BC): • Kouros: • male youth • always nude • similarities with Egyptian: • block conscious • cubic character • slim

4. Greek Sculpture • Archaic period (8th - 5th c BC): • Kouros: • Similarites with Egyptian: • broad shoulders • position of the arms • clinched fists • standing with left leg forward • wig-like treatment of the hair

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6. Greek Sculpture

7. Greek Sculpture

8. Greek Sculpture • Archaic period (8th - 5th c BC): • Kore (maiden): • always clothed • rigid • oversimplified • awkward

9. Greek Sculpture • Archaic period (8th - 5th c BC): • Kore (maiden): • less close to nature • a solid, undifferentiated mass from which only the toes protruded

10. Greek Sculpture

11. Greek Sculpture

12. Greek Sculpture • Periods of Greek Sculpture: • Archaic period (8th - early 5th century BC) • Classical period (5th - 4th century BC) • Hellenistic period (late 4th - 1st century BC)

13. Greek Sculpture • Classical period (5th - 4th c BC): • sculpture and statues were put to wide uses: • friezes • pediments • funeral statues became personalized to families • idealistic • technical skill in depicting the human form in a variety of poses greatly increased • poses became more natural • statues began to depict real people

14. Greek Sculpture • Delphic Charioteer (478-474): • one of the first bronzes in Greek art • garment is simple reflecting the behavior of real cloth

15. Greek Sculpture Delphic Charioteer (478-474)

16. Greek Sculpture • Kritios Boy: • twists his body • his head turns slightly • his weight rests on one leg • shift in stance tilts his hips and brings one shoulder forward and the other back • expression is natural

17. Greek Sculpture • Kritios Boy: • calculated nonsymmetry: • the knee of the forward leg is lower than the other • the right hip is thrust down and inward • the left hip up and outward

18. Greek Sculpture • Kritios Boy: • body axis is not a straight vertical line but a faint, reversed S-curve • weight of the body rests mainly on the left leg • the right leg is a prop to make sure that the body keeps its balance

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20. Greek Sculpture Contrapposto: when a figure stands: one leg holding its full weight the other leg is relaxed classic pose causes: the figure’s hips and shoulders to rest at opposite angles gives a slight s-curve to the entire torso

21. Greek Sculpture • Zeus ca. 460-450 B.C.E.: • sense of balanced movement • force held in check, • simple but powerful anatomy • realistic only in spirit - lack of proportions • vigorous, yet static in its perfect balance

22. Greek Sculpture Zeus ca. 460-450 B.C.E.

23. Greek Sculpture • Riace Warriors: • more advanced treatment of anatomy • expression of the whole body - goes far beyond contemporaneous marbles

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26. Greek Sculpture • Discobolos of Myron: • “threshold of realism” • primitive but respected for his honesty, vigor, and novel poses

27. Greek Sculpture Aphrodite • Aphrodite by Praxiteles: • pupil of Phidias • first to portray the nude female • body synonym for absolute perfection

28. Greek Sculpture • Periods of Greek Sculpture: • Archaic period (8th - early 5th century BC) • Classical period (5th - 4th century BC) • Hellenistic period (late 4th - 1st century BC)

29. Greek Sculpture • Hellenistic period (late 4th - 1st century BC): • Lost some of its balance and simplicity • Reflects more clearly the emotions of the individual artists • Contains more realism • Less of an expression of civic pride

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31. Greek Sculpture • Laocoon Group: • animated realism • melodrama: • very active • muscles flex to the breaking point • figures twist uncontrollably • faces distorted in terror

32. Greek Sculpture The Dying Gaul: realism: chest wound bleeds heavily slowly loses strength right arm is failing cannot move his legs

33. Greek Sculpture • The Dying Gaul: • death has become a concrete physical process • human being who seeks sympathy

34. Greek Sculpture • Winged Victory of Samothrace: • 8 feet tall • prow of a trireme • greatest masterpiece of Hellenistic sculpture • study of motion- • wind against fabric • seaspray wets the fabric

35. Greek Sculpture • Phidias: • Greatest of all classical period sculptors • Idealized representations of gods and mythological creatures • Qualities: • Proportion, patriotism, dignity • Works: • Athena in Parthenon • Zeus in Temple of Olympian Zeus • Parthenon reliefs

36. Greek Sculpture • Discobolos of Myron: • “threshold of realism” • primitive but respected for his honesty, vigor, and novel poses

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39. Greek Sculpture