The Human Body in Ancient Greek Sculptures

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The Human Body in Ancient Greek Sculptures Thomas Fleck Survey of Art History 101 October 4, 2013 The Human Body in Ancient Greek Sculptures 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!)." Not only did the Greeks celebrate the human form in their art but also in everyday life. One of the favorite topics for sculptors was that of the athlete. In Greek culture athletes were described as "hero–athletes". 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. Greek art progressed through four divisible periods from ninth century B.C. to the second century B.C. The primary subject matter for all of these periods was humans. Each period progressed further than the last with developing the human form and making it continually more realistic and natural. The most basic human forms were depicted in the Geometric period where triangles and ovals were used to make a rough human form. The Archaic period came next with artists slowly moving away from set geometric figures and incorporating more human detail into their art. Great change in art came in the Classical period. Sowerby states this by saying: "The classical artist concentrates upon the essence and works through the particular and the individual to express the typical and the

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