Reply To: Humanism

[Aubri Stogsdill]

According to google, humanism is “..a rationalist outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters.’ In cultures prior to Greek culture, there is a significant amount of emphasis and inclusion of the gods in every bit of the art work. In Egyptian art for example, the gods were depicted in animal or half human half animal forms, but in Greek art, the gods, if depicted, are generally expressed in idealistic human form. The gods and goddesses are also far more ‘human’ in that they tend to be moody and easily impacted by the actions of men. All through the Greek sculpture and in the progression to more realistic representation of the human body through the classical period, we see a deep appreciation and valuing of accurate representation of the human body. To the Greeks, beauty would have been nearly the same thing has divinity. Hand in hand with this is a deep valuing of sensuality and that aspect of human nature, which is why many of the sculptures of this time are nude. After all, if the pinnacle of life is found in the beauty of a human, why wouldn’t the sculptures depict idealistic nude humans?