Reply To: Humanism

[Miranda Johansson]

According to Robert Grudin, a contributor to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, humanism focuses on an objective analyses of the human experience. Over time, humanism has evolved and shifted, but in early humanism there was much focus on understanding human reality and emotions. There was a lot of focus on humility, kindness, compassion, and virtues such as judgement, prudence, and eloquence (Grudin).
I think that we can see this focus on the human experience and emotions very well in the Kritios Boy, as there is much emphasis on his human side rather than making him a seemingly perfect model. Same thing with Lysoppos’ Man Scraping Himself, Lysippos chose to show an athlete not in practice doing some action that impresses the most, instead he is standing in a somewhat awkward, natural pose, without perfect posture. I also think it is interesting how his face seems childish, and his chin is not a perfectly chiseled square jaw. I think all these details hint towards the reality of a human, not being perfect, being humble, and full of emotion. Exekia’s ceramic painting of Ajax and Achilles Playing a Game is also a piece of art that shows humanist ideals, where we have two war demigods and warriors that have many stories about their strength and courage, but Exekia chose to paint them as they are playing a game together. This seemingly unconventional scene points out the humans in both of the demigods, as they are enjoying a leisurely pass-time activity together.
Honestly, maybe the ideas of humanism have been around since before Ancient Greece. Just looking at the Colossal Figure of Akhenaten, this sculpture was such a contrast to other pharaohs images. Although perfect posture, this pharaoh chose to display his out of shape body and probably was true to his actual image. Something that seems to be very humanist of him.
References
Grudin, R. “Humanism.” Encyclopedia Brittanica, Jan. 18, 2019, http://www.britannica.com/topic/humanism