A Progression of Idealistic Perfection in Sculpture: Khafre Enthroned to Kritios Boy Early Egyptian art from the Old Kingdom, ca. 2575-2134 BCE, demonstrates uniform structure. Egyptian artists and sculptors adhered to a system of strict rules known as canon to create this consistency. The Egyptian canon suggested perfection to be a rigid, ageless idealization of reality. Roughly 1,500 years later, a progressive canon emerged in Greek art reflecting new ideals of perfection. Greek art beginning in the Early Classical Period, ca. 480- 450 BCE, digressed from the acceptance of formula (influenced by Egyptian canon) to reflect greater naturalism, an adherence to close observation of reality. Greek perfection was achieved through rational …show more content…
The marble sculpture of Kritios Boy from Greece, ca. 480 BCE marks an influential point of stylistic evolution. In contrast to Khafre Enthroned, The Kritios Boy was created for a public audience. The Kritios Boy’s standing pose represents a freedom in his figure that divorces the solidity of the stiffly seated Khafre. Rather than emanating timelessness, this naturalistic sculpture seems to capture a specific moment in time. Mirroring a normal human stance of balance and weight shift onto one leg, his stature is contrapposto. Furthermore, the Kritios Boy’s physical composition maintains a smooth contour to his natural musculature. His head is slightly turned with hair that seems to fall effortlessly in place. He is completely naked, wearing only a relaxed expression on his face. With no indication of identity, the Kritios Boy exemplifies naturalism in Greek drive to order to analyze form into constituent parts and represent the specific in light of the generic. The figure sculptures of Khafre Enthroned and Kritios Boy exhibit a start and end point in an evolution of artistic technique. Although a single male figure is the subject of both works, canon clearly develops from Khafre Enthroned to Kritios Boy. Both works express a desire for perfection with the use of contrasting ideals. Egyptian artists prized completeness and timeless to achieve a god-like representation. Later, artistic form advances as Greeks sought naturalism and
The ancient Greeks believed in a strong mind and a strong body. Their celebration of the physical beauty and ability of the human body can be seen in their sculpture, writings, and sporting events. The physical beauty of the human body is shown in the marble sculpture “Kraisos” (Benton and DiYanni 64). The sculpture shows a male with a defined muscular mid-section, broad shoulders, and thick legs. There is more detail and a more natural appearance in this sculpture compared to a similar statue from approximately 60 years earlier. The face of the sculpture is realistic and the left foot is forward, as seen in Egyptian sculpture. The art of thought was established by the philosophers of ancient
This paper is a formal analysis of the Marble grave stele with a family group relief sculpture. It is a pentelic marble style relief standing at 171.1cm tall carved by a master. It is from the Late Classical period of Greek, Attic which was completed around ca.360 B.C. . I chose to analyze this piece as apposed to the others because I’m mainly attracted to art and sculptures from the Greek era. The overall color used in this relief is ivory with a few cracks and pieces broken off. There is some discoloration which causes the color to come off as slightly light brown for most of the relief. The sculpture appears larger compared to the other sculptures in the art room. It represents a family which includes a man, his wife, and their
This essay aims to investigate two different time periods in the history of art. It will scrutinize the influence that the respective societal contexts had on the different artists, which in turn, caused them to arrange the formal elements in a specific way. I will be examining an Egyptian sculpture of the god Isis nursing Horus, her son, as well as the Vladimir Virgin icon, which dates from the Byzantine era. Experts vary on the precise ‘lifetime’ of the Ancient Egyptian civilization, but according to Mason (2007:10) it existed from 3100 BCE up to 30 BCE. The Byzantine era, which
The artworks of Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, the Aegean cultures, and Ancient Greece have similarities that not only reflect objects and images, but also the media, style and representation. These countries were not always wealthy, clever, creative and powerful enough to gain supplies, but they all find a way to create art with what they had. They have all influenced on each other’s cultures and belief through their artistic values and ways, ranging from the materials and tools they use, position and representation of their monuments and their religious intent.
The main purpose of this paper is to describe the visual analysis of the artwork. This paper examines an Egyptian half nude portrait art which is taken from Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fig.1). The statue characterized both male and female seated figure with a Braid hair. In this essay, I will present a complete visual description of this artwork (its preservation, costume and iconography), and then I will compare it to another artwork which is chosen from Textbook that is Akhenaten and his Family (Fig. 2).
This article is of use to the contextualization of Ancient Greek Art as it presents the sultriness of the times, including the possibly more liberal perspective men and women during those times had about the human body. Through the article, there are images and memories relating to the myths of those times which have been repressed. This article provides a more playful and romantic perspective of Ancient Greek Art, one which very much views the human body as a
Case Study: The use of assemblage and the found object in historical and contemporary art practice.
Throughout different time periods and civilizations come many different types of art that would never be comparable to those of another time or place. There are also the pieces that come from a completely different time and place, but yet they can still be compared to one another. The Torso of a God (Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, last decade of the reign of Amenhotep III, Granodiorite, 1359-1349 B.C.) and the Statue of Asklepios (Greek, Hellenistic period, Pentelic Marble, 2nd century B.C.) are two sculptures made hundreds of years apart, yet they both display many similarities and show how art is constantly changing whilst keeping the same core ideas.
Bright colors jumping at you asking for attention, images so real viewers can not tell the difference. These are the thoughts that came to my head as I gazed at two works of art by two Mexican artists at MoLAA museum of art . I visited two museums, Bowers Museum of cultural Art in the heart of Southern California and the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach for my report unfortunately I only liked the works in MoLAA and will talk about it through out my paper. I will talk about two Mexican artists Rafael Cauduro and David Alfaro Siqueros that caught my eye, and made me want to learn more of them and their approach to art. Siqueiros caught my eye and interest because according to his biography “no
In Ancient Greece, the culture and values have been developed over time through tales and artwork. A considerable amount of such works have been marble sculptures of various people and gods. Many of the most famous and valuable sculptures depict a common attribute in ancient poetry, youth or the importance of the body. A vast majority of characters in ancient stories have been that of a youthful and intensely patriotic hero. Strength in youth and form are quite common in the characteristics of these ancient heroes. People in the ancient world have been represented through the power and youth within their story and appearance and reflected upon in the sculptures of this time.
Art during the Italian Renaissance differed from art during the Middle Ages. The two have contrasting characteristics and concepts. To the people in the medieval world, religion was their life. Everything in daily life focused around the church and God (Modern World 164). Medieval culture influenced the arts; this was evident in the religious themes. During the Italian Renaissance, painters and other artists focused on the portrayal of a more humanistic way of life. Renaissance artists’ work portrayed realism with “lifelike human figures in their paintings” (Modern World 164). Renaissance artists wanted to express ancient Greek and Roman cultures in their work (Modern World 162). Italian Renaissance
Just from looking at a few pieces of the art of the ancient Egyptians, you begin to notice many defining characteristics about it that make it unique and different from other styles of art. There are an ample amount of recurring features in the art, so this must mean that these traits and aspects are noteworthy. This next section of the essay will go into detail about a few of the many types of art and the stylistic elements that define ancient Egyptian art and make it special and distinguishable from other types of art, and why some particular aspects of the art are important.
Everyone has been created unique and there is no other that is the like anyone else. People think different, dress different and like and dislike certain things. This is similar to the artists of the nineteenth century including Pierre Etienne Theodore Rousseau and Joseph Mallord William Turner. They are both artists during the nineteenth century and were painted at the same time; however, there is a difference between their styles, their point of view, and the scenery. However there are similarities between the two paintings. The paintings that will be compared and contrasted are “Under the Birches, Evening” and “The Campo Santo, Venice.”
In the art world, the medieval periods were traditionally though to be the unproductive phase of Europe between the decline of Rome and the Renaissance. Our modern feelings toward medieval art are far more appreciative. The main intent of Medieval art was to express Christianity which was also a common bond between a wide spread and diverse Europe. For this reason most of the art found from medieval times originated in monasteries and churches. European art during the Middle Ages can be divided into four periods. These four periods include Celto-Germanic art which ranged from 400 to 800 A.D. and was important in metal work. Carolingian art ranged from 750 to 987 A.D. overlapping 50 years of the Celto-Germanic period. The
When the new upper class movement, Renaissance, occurred in Italy around the 14th century, a revival of the classical forms originally developed by the ancient Greeks and Romans, an intensified concern with secular life, and interest in humanism and assertion of the importance of the individual began. Thus, artists such as Mosaccio and Giotto depicted art that unlike the Middle Ages, showed emotions, feelings, and bright colors, thus demonstrating the deep concern for naturalism in the society. Other artists during the Italian Renaissance period such as Giovanni Bellini began to express their art through secular and religious themes and ideas that were exhibited through landscapes and portraits. As new styles of