Reply To: Humanism

[tmbergan]

Cambridge Dictionary describes humanism as “a belief system based on the principle that people’s spiritual and emotional needs can be satisfied without following a god or religion.’ While some Greek art still shows their dedication to their deities, their focus began to shift more towards the ideal human body and much more realistic depictions when they did refer to their gods. Rather than having gods and goddesses with animal heads as we previously saw with the Egyptians, the Greeks seemed to show animal-human hybrids as lesser beings, as we see in the Man and Centaur piece where they mention that the centaur is seen as uncivilized. Greek art also shifts from the supernatural to be much more realistic as they placed an emphasis on the human body’s details and more natural positions, as seen in the Dying Warrior and both the Metropolitan and Anavysos Kouros. These sculptures all show the men’s strength and vitality, transitioning from awkwardly proportioned muscular bodies to more natural looking ones, and showing their preference and appreciation for the human body that could achieve greatness.