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CLASSICAL ART
480-323 BC
CLASSICAL ART
• Background:
– After Persian Wars (480 BC), Greece experienced a Golden
Age.
– Athens held special position. Became very powerful.
– Golden Age was centered in Athens.
– A Golden Age is an explosion of creativity in art, science, etc.
– This is the period when Classical Art and Architecture was born.
CLASSICAL ART
• 480 - 323 BC. In this period, the ancient Greeks
in general, and the Athenians in particular,
brought the fine arts of sculpture, vase painting,
and architecture to a point of near perfection.
• the city of Athens was the center of this artistic
revolution
• Definition: Principles based on the culture, art
and literature of ancient Greece and Rome,
and characterized by emphasis on form,
simplicity, proportion, and restrained
emotion.
CLASSICAL ART
Zeus of Artemesium (460-450 BC)
• The Classical period of Ancient
Greece produced some of the
most exquisite sculptures the
world has ever seen.
• Characterized by a joyous
freedom of movement,
freedom of expression.
• The human figure was
expressed in a more
naturalistic manner
6’10.5” high. Rescued from 140 ft
depth in water.
CLASSICAL ART
• Naturalistic
• Fluid
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• For the “first time” in human history, human anatomy
was deemed worthy of being immortalized in stone or
bronze.
• During this period, the artist replaced the stiff figures of
previous art with 3-dimensional snap shots of figures in
action.
• The sculptures seem to be filled with potential motion.
– They look as though they can spring to life.
• It was the first time in human history that the human
body was studied for its aesthetic value.
– It was a shift from the supernatural to earthly matters.
• Even when the sculpture is of a god, it is the human
body that predominates.
Classical Art
• Compare:
CLASSICAL ART
• The gods became human through marble and bronze
Identified as Perseus holding Medusa’s head (340 BC). 6’4” tall. Found in fragments by
sponge divers off Island of Antikythera in 1900.
CLASSICAL ART
• In classical Greece the visible
universe became explainable,
and thus the subject of intense
study
– Hence, the focus on the
human body.
• In the art of Classical Greece,
the smile of past ages was
replaced by a solemn facial
expression.
– Even in art that depicts violent
or passionate scenes.
– True only for Greeks, enemies
in same scenes have dramatic
expressions.
CLASSICAL ART
• Why show people with muted expressions or emotions?
– The reason for this is that ancient Greeks believed that
suppression of the emotions was a noble characteristic of all
civilized men, while the public display of human emotion was a
sign of barbarism.
– Logic and reason was to dominate human expression
even during the most dramatic situations.
– The world became understood as a series of
opposing forces that created balance. So, the human
body was used to express these opposing forces in
balance. (Look at how body of sculpture is positioned, one leg
tense, one relaxed)
CLASSICAL ART
• Balance:
Youth at Marathon 340 BC
4’3” high
It was clear to Greek
artists that the
beauty of the whole
depended on the
harmony of its parts
CLASSICAL ART
Athena of Varvakeion (2nd BC)
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Proportion became the main
preoccupation of artists and
architects.
Classical art expressed a
freedom: This was a freedom from
barbarism and tyranny and a
transition towards selfdetermination.
The art of Classical Greece is a
pure expression of freedom.
• These were the values that
motivated the inhabitants of
Ancient Greece to defeat
mighty Persia, and led them to
the development of a model of
society that ensured the dignity
of every man within it.
CLASSICAL ART
• Greeks were chiefly interested in portraying the gods in
their art.
• The Greeks had plenty of marble, which they used for
their sculptures and temples.
• The Greeks painted their sculptures.
– Most have lost their paint through weathering.
• The works of the great Greek painters has disappeared
forever.
– But there still exists the painted Greek vases.
CLASSICAL ART
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The greatest name in Greek sculpture was Phidias.
Built the Parthenon and statues of gods.
He initiated the Classical style of art.
He was born in Athens in 490 BC.
After the Persian Wars, Athens was destroyed.
Pericles. Leader of Athens, got the city to undertake a
massive building program.
– He appointed Phidias artistic director.
• Phidias made the statue of Athena that was in the
Parthenon.
– He also designed the reliefs that decorated the outside.
Classical Art
• Images:
Parthenon, East Pediment: 438-432 BC
CLASSICAL ART
• Images:
Parthenon: Centaur and Lapith (447-438 BC)
Caryatid: From the
Erechtheum (421-406 BC)
Winged Victory (Nike) of
Samothrace:
Attributed to Pythokritos, marble, 8'
h. 200-190 B.C.
Parthenon Frieze
Illissos from the west pediment of the Parthenon, Phidias
overseer, marble, over life-size,
c. 447-432 B.C. (British Museum, London)
Apollo
Apollo from west pediment of The Temple of
Zeus, Olympia, marble, over-life-size, c. 471456. (Olympia Museum)
Discus Thrower
The Discus Thrower, by Myron, Roman
copy in marble, c. 5' h, c. 450 B.C. (Terme
Museum, Rome):
Aphrodite of Knidos
Aphrodite of Knidos (Cnidus), copy from original
by Praxiteles, marble, 6.7' h, mid-to-late 4th c.
B.C. (Vatican Museums, Rome):
West frieze slab VIII, Horseman
Plaster cast from marble original, c. 40" h, 447-432 B.C. (cast: Oxford,
original: British Museum, London):
South Metope 27
Phidias overseer, marble, c. 47" h, c. 447-432 B.C. (British Museum,
London)
CLASSICAL ART
• Images:
Wounded Amazon (400’s BC)
CLASSICAL ART
The Spear Carrier (450 BC)
• Images:
CLASSICAL ART
• Images:
Head of Athlete
Venus de Milo
Aphrodite of Milos, better known as the Venus de Milo, ancient Greek statue
and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. some time
between 130 and 100 BC, the Hellenistic period (323–31 BC) , it is believed to
depict Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans) the Greek goddess of love and beauty.