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In the Hellenistic art, we did start to see a lot more women in pieces and they were no longer just youthful women, they had aged women as well. In the Etruscan wing, we see even more depictions of women than we had previously, and they’re shown in ways that were seen as “offensive’ by Greeks. In the Cerveteri Sarcophagus, we saw a man and woman socializing with each other in a relaxed manner. We also see a huge difference between previous cultures and the Etruscan in the Sarcophagus of Larth Tetnies and Thanchvil Tarnai. This funerary piece seems to show a husband and wife in a much more intimate way that we haven’t been able to see previously. Generally, in the other cultures we’ve studied, women are always at least a step behind the men and they’re always shown as pretty rigid around each other. Rather than continuing to place men above or before women, we now see them as equal to one another where they can freely interact with each other.
Tamara, I like that you use two examples to show the change that takes place between the two periods. This is definitely similar to today’s world and how we’ve gotten to our current ideal ratios of the human body. It’s sad that the ’40s and ’50s would be considered obese though; even women’s pants sizes have shifted to reflect that mindset.
Jessi, genuine is a great way to describe the Hellenistic artwork. They definitely showed their admiration and appreciation for a larger number of aspects of life in each piece than artists did in the Classical era.
Mbsimington, I love your appreciation for the details of the fabric and Nike’s wings! The huge amount of attention they put on the little details of each person really makes each piece stand out more than previous eras.
Hellenistic Greek art is a lot more diverse than Classical Greek art. The Classical art started taking steps towards humanizing their deities, as seen in Nike Adjusting Her Sandal, but the Hellenistic artwork takes it a step further and really shows them with more humanistic traits, as seen in Sleeping Eros. Not only does Hellenistic art show gods and goddesses as more human than they previously had, they also show more emotion in each piece and have larger sculptures telling more stories. The Laocoön is a great example for this as it shows both agony on all three men’s’ faces, as well as telling their story of their deaths by the serpent. We also see a range of ages, from the infant Eros to the old market woman in the Hellenistic art versus the Classic artwork that only showed young adults.
Laura, the obsession with ideal proportions versus what human bodies actually look like is one of the biggest issues today. Too many people struggle with feeling unlovable because they don’t look like the photoshopped people plastered everywhere. Do you think there may have been similar issues during this time period? Maybe a guy in ancient Greece feeling like he could be ugly because he doesn’t have the ideal fit body?
Aubri, I like the idea of the sculptures being ‘relatable’ with how relaxed and natural they came to be. It definitely does seem like the ideal male body hasn’t changed much at all. Maybe now there’s a lot more focus on males being a little more fit than they were previously.
In the Classical period, they shifted even more away from tight and formal sculptures to more relaxed and human ones. As they began making these more laid back pieces, they were able to show more detail in the curves and proportions. They were able to make things even rather than awkward, turning the previously disproportioned bodies into much more balanced ones. The ideal men continued to be portrayed as young and fit as well as nude, while the women continued to be covered up and depicted with softer features and bodies. All women sculptures seem to have been clothed until those of Aphrodite showed a nude woman, although even in those pieces she tried to cover herself up. We still see some of these today — the ideal male body is still seen as fit, as muscular celebrities such as Chris Hemsworth, for example, are plastered on magazines and the like. The ideal female body, on the other hand, no longer has as much of a softer look (unless you count the softening of their facial features with makeup and photoshop) and instead are heavily altered to have almost inhuman proportions sometimes akin to a Barbie doll. Being clothed still mimics the Classical period as well, as women today are still generally seen as needing to be covered up whereas a man doesn’t have to be.
Maggie, the shift from the constrained and “formal’ stances of previous cultures’ statues to the more relaxed and carefree ones was really nice to see — they were making them a lot more realistic in how people would hold themselves as well as making the human body more realistic. It was also interesting seeing that the males were depicted naked quite a few times, but the females were still covered up; today’s world seems to be similar to this in some ways.
Ckocsis, the Ajax and Achilles playing chess is a great catch. Most other depictions of gods do show them as doing some heroic deed, but here they show that the gods are just as normal and similar to the rest of us — they still partake in “human’ games with one another. Putting the gods on the same level as humans definitely show the importance of human matters rather than divine ones.
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.
Jessi, I can see how that would be a long and tough battle for any sacred artifacts. In cases like these, I feel like the artifacts should be returned to their homes, and if the people choose to, they can display it in their own ways so the world can still have access to viewing them and learning about it. The newer culture would likely have a better idea of the meaning behind the artifacts anyways, so they would be able to present it in a way that might have more information than it would in a museum.
Bob, I like the idea of art becoming digital or holographic in the future, but I feel like that could make some pieces really start to lose their touch. With all the technology being developed, I’m sure we’ll find better ways to be able to preserve them or recreate pieces so we can have them accessible in more places around the world. Maybe one day we’ll be able to develop something that’ll tell us the colors that were originally painted on some of the statues and structures found, to digitally recreate everything. Or, maybe we can learn to put some of these structures in virtual reality and offer that at some museums to take a virtual tour around the lands.
I don’t necessarily think anyone can “own’ the past, or should be entitled to owning the artifacts found from the past. While I do understand the mindset of “I found it first, therefore I should be the one to keep it or have a say in where it goes,’ I don’t entirely agree with it. What if the person that found it gets greedy and wants to make a huge profit from it? It would make more sense to leave it to the nation/person that’s now living on the lands on which it was found, but it is nice to have the pieces on display to help us learn about the past cultures. If the culture that made it no longer exists, the artifacts should be passed off to the culture that is currently there or the closest relative to the older civilization. From there, they should be the ones that are to determine where it’ll go. If it were like this, maybe there would be more museums in these countries that would increase the number of tourists to the bigger towns, though that could have some downsides as well if it’s overflowing and makes the town a lot more expensive than it already was for the people already living there. It’s a tricky topic because it is a grey area. Everyone would have different opinions on this topic and there’s really no right or wrong answer.
