Passion and Form

The Origins of Sculptural Idealism

After the fall of the beautiful Cleopatra and her rule over Egypt, an era began where sculpture would soar in passion and form. The understanding of sculpture would forever change, and a new time of grandeur would soon blossom. The effects would idealize what we see as figurative sculptural perfection today.

            The first signs of any change began in the sixth century BC, in a time period known as the Archaic. Until then, sculptural deities were simple and motionless. A sculpture made was for monumental or spiritual reasons and lacked much artistic integrity. The Archaic period would begin to nourish what would then become the greatest and most influential sculptures the world would ever see.

            But it wasn’t until the late archaic period that actual visual representations of change began to emerge. The figure began to break itself from the invisible box that sculptures had succumbed to times before. The age of Gods & Heroes hence began, resulting in the most influential movement in sculptural art. It was the time of Greek & Roman rule and a time when humanity searched for perfection.

Greek civilization, in an effort to justify Olympian contenders, caused a movement that contrasted highly to that of late Archaic times. The changes taking place would cause a severity in form becoming the beginning to what is now known as the       “Severe Style” (Tatom, 121). This new approach would pave way to the creative and bold ideas sculptors would capture in years to come. Hence the beginning of the Early Classical age had begun.

   The Early Classical

One of the first true representations of the Severe Style was around 480 BC with the figure of a nude youth from Acropolis, Greece. Believed to have been created by Kritios, the now referred to Kritios Boy would undoubtedly unwrap the Egyptian mummification of sculptures done before. The Archaic qualities of stiff figures would cease, as Kritios Boy would break the silence of conventional frontal poses as he brought his right leg forward in space. Kritios grasped on to the fact that as humans, our bodily structure has a harmonious balance of moving parts in motion.  His beliefs opposed the Egyptian inspired archaic statuary by the stance of the figure. His concern was more than just portraying the human body but also to pay attention to the way it stands (Becatti and Giovanni , 102). Kritios Boy proved to sculptors afar that a stance is natural and not as rigid as figures conveyed before.

During this time the art of hollow casting was being perfected. Hollow casting is the process used for converting life size clay figures to those made of bronze.  Working with bronze alone is quite impractical. The weight, size and cost of effectively creating a figure of bronze seems almost improbable, if not impossible.

There is a method known as cire perdue, also known as “lost-wax”, that enables body parts to be casted individually to created the figure in whole.  The sculptor first creates a life-size clay model; then a master mold is used to capture the form for each individual body part. The master mold is then placed together, as if it were a jigsaw puzzle, allowing the form to remain inside. Wax is then used to cover the interior of the mold. There after, bronze (in liquid form) is poured inside. The interior wax separating the mold from bronze melts away, leaving a figure made of bronze inside. The new figure is now separated from the mold and retouched to ensure its everlasting ornamental quality (Penny, 82-86). This was but a simple example of how hollow casting was performed; however, it gives no justice to the actual deed of performing this ever-so precious act on your own.

The hollow-casting method promised a new age of bronze-based statues in times thereafter.  Sometime between 460-450 BC a pair of bronze statues sank near Riace, Italy.  One in particular, known as the Riace Warrior, is a prime example of hollow-casting perfection. Like the Kritios Boy mentioned earlier, the Riace Warrior began to display a more natural look including accurate posture and stance. The innovations of Kritios Boy were taken further as the Riace Warrior pronounced the human weight shift much more and forcefully turns his head to the right. About a decade or two before, another bronze statue known as the Charioteer displayed archaic qualities, but not entirely due to the change of direction for both head and feet. These subtle changes reminds us that the Severe Style was prominently taken over what was once conventional statuary.

At about 450 BC, a sculptor known as Myron created a sculpture that has become an icon today. Known as Diskobolos, or to others the Discus Thrower, Myron conveyed vigor and tension in this piece unlike anything seen before. Arms are stretched and the body is curved displaying the power of an athlete in action. One thing I particularly find interesting is the fact that the athlete’s face remains expressionless, an attribute typical in this era of art.

Ideas of drastic change began to surface, and none more prominent than those of Polykleitos. In the sixth century BC, a philosopher known as Pythagoras began to explore ideas of numerical equations found in nature. Polykleitos reasoned in such believes that his sculptural aim became that of perfecting a sculpture by keeping all mathematical ingenuity in mind. “Polykleitos was not content with simply rendering a figure that stands naturally. His aim was to impose order on human movement, to make it beautiful, and to perfect it” (Gardner, 126). An Elder known as Pliny in the 1^st Century believed that Polykleitos was the one who rendered art itself, that is, the basis and theory of what art is. Polykleitos’ Doryphoros, a.k.a. Spear Bearer, is a genuine example of what classical statuary design would endow.

Relief is an idea known in the world of sculpture. Imagine this if you will; a figure floating in water. In sculpture, the part of the figure exposed to air is visible, leaving the water and its waves intact. Anything underneath the water (or behind the surface) is left to the imagination. There exist low relief or high relief. Its variance depends on the degree by which it expels from the surface. A painting and sculpture unite.

Until now, most relief was of low proportions. People had just begun to really understand the fullness of human form. During the creation of one of Greece’s most prized architectural masterpieces, Parthenon 447- 438 BC not only displayed the innovational qualities of symmetrical design, but also harvested some of the highest relieves the world had ever seen. Take Lapith versus Centaur, for example. The relief was so high, that parts were broken off, that is, due to the frailty of being completely in the round (Tatom, 131).

            A master of relief and master to others, Phidias, was among the first to understand concepts of clothed forms.  He and his students not only knew  of the human anatomy but also the way draperies resided in the eyes of Mother Nature. His work, therefore, became exclusive in fashion aswell as form.

            Two other famous buildings carried spectacles of relief and clothed form. Found in the southside porch of the Erechtheion, this 421 BC Athenian  temple, had some of the most impressive looking pillars ( ionic columns ) known to man or child.  These Caryatids were fully rendered to look as a woman in the whole. They were clothed figures whose natural stance only aided in their fulfillment as columns in this Erechtheion home. Attractive and precise, these Caryatids served their duties and served them well.

            A relief that fills me with emotion, known as Nike adjusting her sandal, is as true to form and precision as any other master sculpture was at the time. However, the awkward position Nike performs is quite graceful. The folds in her drapery form an abstract design contradictory to how the actual pattern may be. And lastly, the suppleness of her youthful body is modestly portrayed within and below the garment by this anonymous sculptor .

            Shortly before his death in the fourth century, Alexander I I I, commonly referred as Alexander the great, led an army of Greek soldiers to an attack over the Persian Empire (Wilkins, 213).  The vengeance in their eyes was the key to their new reign. The vengeance, that is, of their unforgotten defeat about a century before. After this extraordinary victory, Greece and its people, began to once again pride themselves and their worth. However, unlike before, egotism over the empire faded… The result, a movement when sculptural art began to focus more on the individual and less in the idea of a perfect community. Thus, the Late Classical age began.

The Late Classical Age

            The new approach of humanizing the sculptural form was soon revealed in the work of Praxiteles. For example, his Aphrodite of Knidos, made sometime between

350 – 340BC, caused quite a stir for those who were honored to view it. For Praxiteles took the initiatory step of showing the goddess of love, Aphrodite, in her bare, nude form. Female nudity in Greek art was rare at this time, so rare infact, that the only other traces were primarily painted in vases and other ceramics. These women, symbolized as slaves or peasant girls, never dared touch the nobility of such a goddess.  Not only was Aphrodite nude, but she was also engaging in the most ordinary and trivial act of bathing. Hence the humanizing of the gods had begun.

            The fourth century was becoming a sculptor’s dream. Human experience was showing its face among the people, and the world of art was becoming that much more personal.  Praxiteles continued to wave the flag of exploration as he embraced horizons never before seen before in sculpture. His Hermes and the infant Dionysos shows a very contemporary display of the S-curve. In art and human form, the S-curve is an imaginary curve found within the contours of the body. It is often used today, not only in sculpture, but also in life drawing (Wittkower, 84). Hermes and the infant Dionysos also did a magnificent job showing human interaction as Hermes, one handedly holds some grapes at the infant Dionysos, who is to one day become the Greek god of the vine. Praxiteles also revealed, for the first time, the infant in its most natural form. Although his toddler may look far from normal, he still retains the size and tenderness found to be true in such a child. The time of beauty and human order was upon us.

            To only compliment the progress of humanization, a sculptor known as Skopas of Paros, went much further by adding intensive emotion. Skopas was an architect aswell as a sculptor. Fragments have been discovered from his Temple of Athena Alea that carry interesting representations of Skopas alleged path (Avery, 76). The Head of Herakles or Telephos found from the Temple’s ruins displays great tension and a turn of head even more extreme than those found in earlier works.  Skopas intuition is also apparent in a relief fragmentation found by the Ilissos River, Athens, Greece.

In the Grave Stele of a young hunter the spectator is invited to share in the moment as the young hunter sobs openly towards the viewer. The gap between the individual and the sculpture is lessened in degree because both participants show acknowledgement towards one another.

            By 330 BC,  Lysippos’ Apoxyomenos introduced new proportions, unlike what Polykleitos had done before.  Lysippos’ figure is much more slender and that much more realistic to human form.  Another groundbreaking element of the Apoxyomenos and Lysippos’ philosophy was the elimination of the frontal pose. Lysippos accomplished this by  extending the sculpture’s arm completely forward. The result forced the spectator to view the figure in multiple angles; giving the sculpture a more universal tone (Tatom 143). The humanization of the Gods continued as Lysippos protested against the strength of the immortals and concentrated more on their frailty. Weary Herakles shows exaggerated muscular strength, yet has the hero feeling so weak, that he leans on his club for support.  Lysippos sculptures were so rich in emotion and precise in form that King Alexander would have no other do his official portrait (Wilkins, 247).

        The Age of the Hellenistic

Just as the world believed they had seen it all, the most dynamic of the sculptural ages had begun: the age of the Hellenistic. The Hellenistic period showed impressive creations of sculptural beauty that with words alone I can’t describe. In this age, sculpture shed its skin of tradition and endowed in some very drastic changes, limited by only the imagination of the artist. Modern day sculpture would forever learn the way in perfecting the human sculptural form.

Although many are uncertain about the truth behind some of the earliest Hellenistic statuary, it is believed Epigonos finessed into creation what would then become a major moment in sculpture’s lifeline (Becatti and Giovanni, 269). These first sculptures portrayed untimely completeness. . . integrity behold. Qualities such as the inclusion of the environment would soon emerge. Eroticism would fascinate the viewer. Children and man become as true to form as you or me.  A sleeping Satyr would bring to life strange elements of abstruseness. And finally, portraiture would begin as we know it today.

For instance, in 190 BC Nike of Samothrace explored notions that still in words I can only mutter. It has dynamic qualities never seen before. At just over eight feet, Nike stands proudly on what appears to be a ship. This ship is so abstract, that it very easily resembles the ever-present idea known as “modern art” (Osborne, 142). This goddess of victory tears through the wind and her dress so dramatically employs it.  You can almost feel and hear the wind, just by the sight of the fabric that covers her spellbound body. The majesty and glory found in this sculpture is so intense . . . in her presence you feel something never felt before.

Eroticism too, began making its way in the world of sculpture,. The renowned Venus de Milo shows our goddess Aphrodite overtly revealing herself as she holds her drapery by left hand shortly above her vaginal area.  Such an action was never before seen in Praxiteles’ work. The erotic lure was quite a motion for a god. Going even further, a different piece has Aphrodite revealing her naked body in full. She is found defending herself with a sandal and her son Eros, against the creature god of the woods, Pan. The most interesting thing however, is that she and her son seem to be smiling. Resulting in undertones that are just that more immoral and sexual. The infant Eros also shows more accuracy in the softness of the delicate form . The spirit of a young child was magically revealed unlike ever before.

            The Sleeping Styr was yet another sexually oriented sculpture. However, unlike before, this figure is male. He seems almost induced in sleep. . . or perhaps even intoxication ? This was all new in the world of sculpture. Sleeping Styr opens his legs, causing the viewer to focus at his genitals. Homosexuality was not uncommon during

these Greek and Roman times.  Therefore, it is not surprising that both male and female would be found bare and in the nude (Tatom, 156).

The final expression stressed is the climax of  humanizing the gods. That is, it went as far as actual human representations. Most worthy sculptures were of the gods. But  now, the people began to represent one another in sculptural form. Take Seated Boxer for example, he is not an extravagant youth, but a frail aged man whose need for rest has spanned.  Common folk, as those mentioned earlier in ceramic pots and such, were never worthy of monumental grandeur, that is until the age of the Hellenistic saw otherwise.

By 100 BC,  any profession or representation thereof could be found in sculpture.  So often even, that portraiture begun to rise.  Instead of the overly flirtations of  previous portraits, by the early first century, the portraiture form was as precise and true as its natural human clone. Hence…

The sculptures thus became the ideal vision of many years of trial and error.

From the earliest anti-archaic poses of the severe style, to the absolute humanization of the gods, sculptural entities became as real as any marble stone can be. In some ways,

the sculptures were so perfected, the emotions captivated would eternally stand alone. The changes that took place during this time left a mark on the world; the story of ideal figurative sculpture unfolds.

So it is settled, sculpture acquired the significant changes that would forever change the way figure sculpture is perceived. The Classical periods leading up to the Hellenistic proved that these ways of passion and form would undoubtedly be the epiphany of statuary and grace. In conclusion, the artist hence on, would have the same perfection to strive for.  The world’s idea of sculpture would then forever be set in stone.

Works Cited

Avery, Catherine ed. Greek Art and Architecture. New York: Meredith Corporation, 1972.

Becatti and Giovanni, The Art of ancient Greece and Rome. New York: Prentice Hall, 1968.

Gardner, E.A. The Art of Greece. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1975.

Osborne, Harold, ed. The Oxford companion to 20^th century art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.

Penny, Nicholas. The Materials of Sculpture, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.

Tatom, David ed. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages. New York: Harcourt College

Publishers, 2001.

Wilkens, David G, Art Past, Art Present. New York: Abrams, 1994.

Wittkower, Rudolph. Sculpture Processes and Principles. New York: Harper and Row, 1977.