Greek Art History of western art

1. Greek ArtHistory of western art Discobolus (Discuss Thrower) Roman marble copy after a bronze original of C.450 B.C. by Myron. Life size. Museo delle Terme, Rome.

3. Discobolus (Discuss Thrower) • Introduction: • Greek or Hellenic art developed in the Greek peninsula, on the islands of the Aegean Sea, and on the shores of Asia Minor. • The inhabitants of Greece called themselves Hellenes, and their country Hellas. • Gods- The Greek Gods were generally nature personifications, who assumed human forms. Each city chose a patron divinity. • Greek also has produced great philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.

4. Discobolus (Discuss Thrower) • 1. Pre- Hellenic, including chiefly the Cretan and Mycenaean • (about 3000-1100 B.C.) • 2. Hellenic, subdivided into • Archaic(1200-450 B.C.) • Classical(450-300 B.C.) • Hellenistic (3rd C. B.C. to Christian era.)

5. Discobolus (Discuss Thrower) • Sculpture: It was in sculpture that the Greeks excelled. They were first to attain perfection in carving, statues of the human body, both in relief and in the round, at rest and in motion. • Their ideal perfection of physical qualities was achieved by athletic exercises for the full development of bodily beauty.

6. Discobolus (Discuss Thrower) • The result was their magnificent physique and sculptors found splendid models among the competitors for the games. • The themes of Greek sculpture were varied and not limited to any one aspect of local life; they were religious, civil, domestic and sepulchral as the need arose. • Several athletic figures of young men from the archaic period have been preserved. The are often called by the Greek word Kouros( plural kouroi)

7. Discobolus (Discuss Thrower) • Strenuous action had already been investigated in pedimental sculpture of the Late Archaic period. Such figures, however, although technically carved in the round, are not free – standing; they represent, rather a kind of super – relief, since they are designed to be seen against a background and from one direction only

8. Discobolus (Discuss Thrower) • To infuse the same freedom of movement into genuinely free – standing statues was a far greater challenge; not only did it run counter to an age – old tradition that denied mobility of these figures, but the unfreezing had to be done in such a way as to safeguard their all – around balance and self – sufficiency.

9. Discobolus (Discuss Thrower) • The problem could not really be tackled until the concept of “contrapposto” had been established, but once this was done the solution no longer presented serious difficulties. • Large, free – standing statues in motion are the most important achievement of the severe style.

10. Discobolus (Discuss Thrower) • About 450 B.C, Myron created his famous bronze statue of the Discobolus (Discus Thrower), which came to enjoy a reputation comparable to that of the “Doryphorus”. Like the latter, it is known to us only from Roman copies.

11. Discobolus (Discuss Thrower) • Here the problem of how to condense a sequence of movements into a single pose without freezing it is a very much more complex one, involving a violent twist of the torso in order to bring the action of the arms into the same plane as the action of the legs. • We wonder whether the copy does not make the design seem harsher and less poised than it was in the original.