Blog Post #9 - Recap of Greek Art

            Throughout this course, I have enjoyed discovering and studying types of art that I had no knowledge of before, as well as relearning or delving deeper into styles that were familiar to me. I can say that I have definitely benefitted from the material covered in lecture, and the art from most eras is appealing to me. However (and I don’t mean to be predictable), Greek Art seems to grab my attention the majority of the time.
            Perhaps for the same reasons as Winckelmann—or not, but Greek sculpture is my weakness. In the summer of 2009, I visited Paris and toured many prestigious museums, including the Louvre. When observing the work from that era, I am baffled by the precision and strength of it all. It has been discussed over, but the white marble pieces seem to capture and portray the human form to accuracy I’ve never witnessed before. As in one of my earlier posts, I find the pristine white marble figures more mesmerizing over the intricately colored reconstructions, or how they might have appeared originally. For example, the “Archer” from the west pediment of the Temple of Aphaia has been worn of its color through the years, but even so, in my opinion it works better than the Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann reconstruction of the Archer from 2004. The colored version is also quite impressive, but somewhat distracting; it takes away from the form of the sculpture.

            Another reason I believe the Greek’s art is so alluring is because the Golden Mean appears in their architecture and the structures of their sculptures many times over, much like the west façade of the Parthenon. When repeated in itself, the Golden Rectangle has relevance to the construction of the building and proportions are shared. This ratio can be seen everywhere in nature, and perhaps for that reason, is so intriguing and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. It also acts as a canon of proportions for some carved figures.

            The Hellenistic Period in particular is a favorite of mine from the Greek Era, partly because it is distinguishable from their creations before with the content of the pieces and the painstaking detail of form, but mainly expression. This period takes on a dynamic style unlike other periods, and it is shown in the Gigantomachy Frieze from the Altar of Pergamon. The section with Athena Attacking the Giants shows much more drama than other Greek art from the past. This dramatic scene is exaggerated by elements such as the diagonals used throughout the composition, extreme detail to form, and the intense emotion on the faces of the figures. The emotions are what are most engaging to me. They are more than appropriate for the scenes and are perfectly depicted, almost enough to make the viewer feel the same in relation. This is demonstrated also in the sculpture of Laocoön and His Sons. With the kinetic energy represented by the diagonals of the bodies and limbs, the powerful subject matter, strength of the forms, and severe flawless emotion, this work unifies to be one intensely dramatic scene.