Reply To: Perfect Proportion

[Aubri Stogsdill]

An idealistic view and glorification of the body is something that has always been apart of Greek art, but is was in the classical period that some of the expectations for bodies began to shift– literally. During this period we see artist beginning to adapt contrapposto which is a more relaxed representation of the human form. Contrapposto allowed for artist to express the human form in far more detail, and therefore they were able to create perfectly ideal nude bodies. Sculptures were no longer disconnected from the viewers, but they were beautifully lifelike and relatable. It is clear that being built and fit was the ‘ideal’ for this time period.
This is something that I see in our modern culture as well. All around us in the media we have certain narrow standard of beauty being glorified. During the classical period, artist made the ideal body shape through sculpture, but these days we see ‘normal’ bodies being altered in order to fit into the ideal standard. While the ideal body does make slight shifts over the years, it seems like (at least for male bodies) the Greek ideal body is very similar to our cultures expectation on men.