The Role of Humanism in Greek Art by Anjali Vakil
In
early history, mankind relied on functional art, rather than art for art’s
sake. However, this functionality was entirely reinvented with the rise of the
Greek civilization. These gifted people were self aware of the works they were
creating and questioned their reason for creating it. Duality was an existing part of the Greek
philosophy on life, and the idea of rationality versus idealism permeated
throughout the civilization. Where reason and logic were unable to answer,
intricate mythology clarified. Reason influenced the Greeks heavily, and they held
themselves responsible for their society politically, religiously, and
socially. Due to this, there was an uphill struggle to better oneself; man was
obligated to constantly outdo himself and his community was expected to do the
same. Man placed himself at the center of the universe, and held his gods in
the same respect. This delicate balance of reason and theology was called upon
by philosophers such as Plato, who not only desired to answer the weighted
question of human existence, but also tried to use these ideals when defining
the role of art within the Greek world. With the introduction of the philosophy
that beauty mimics nature, Greeks began their strife of recreating reality and
naturalism within their art. At the same time, the political and social reality
of Greece was constantly changing.
Due to the fact that humanism and mimicry were the goals of Greek art,
their works evolved alongside their society, and paralleled all aspects of
Greek life.
During the Orientalizing period of
Greek artwork, there was a large influx of colonies being established in Greece
due to political stability. In turn, this prosperity also allowed for travel as
well. Soon enough, outside influence began to permeate throughout early Greece.
Before this intermingling however, the era known as the Geometric period held
very little naturalism and relied mostly on basic patterns and shapes to
assemble the form of figures and animals alike. However, because of the the
influence of Egyptian and Mesopotamian art due to this stable period within
Greece and the rise of colonies, the artwork also began to evolve, showing
signs of an attempt at naturalism. This reflects the idea that a time of economic
stability was when art flourished and improved, perhaps due to the new ideas of
art as well as culture that was being adopted within Greece. The evolution of
Greek art from the Geometric period into the Orientalizing period is very
apparent when comparing the Griffin Head, created around 650 BCE, to the various
wine and ceremonial jars that were created before this date. A popular example
is the Dipylon Vase, created in 750 BCE, a large, belly-handled vase used for
burial purposes. The styles of the characters on the vase are extremely angular
and have little attempt towards reality. On the other hand, while the Griffin
Head is a very obvious recreation of the Mesopotamian hybrid figures, it still has
a much more obvious attempt at a natural and believable look. The piece
inherently reflects a period of rapid urbanization and expansion, leading to
the stability that allowed the Greeks to find a new direction with their works,
having been influenced from foreign sources. This proved to be one of the very
first steps towards the realms of naturalism, as Greece begins to work towards
a more realistic interpretation of the world through their artwork following
this period of discovery. This later evolves further towards humanism as well,
as later Greek artists within the classical era rely on naturalism to make an
attempt at recreating man as accurately as possible. The Orientalizing period
proves to be the foundations for the works that the Greeks later become famous
for, and was a period where the Greeks first began to toy with the concept of
naturalism, the roots of humanism in art, in a time of prosperity.
Once again at a time of rapid expansion was a period of philosophical
enlightenment within Greece. While naturalism was now an idea that was a solid
foundation of Greek artwork, the Archaid and Early Classical eras marked the
point where the Greeks now wished to interpret themselves in the most
artistically satisfactory way. To them, this now marked the beginnings of the
journey towards obtaining the most lifelike figures possible. When the Greeks
were thriving socially after a recent battle won against the invading Persians,
a new sense of pride once again pushed the idea that man must achieve his
ultimate potential, they saw within their art this same potential for
greatness. Although Egyptian Kourus statues and the ideas of youth and beauty
still heavily influenced Greeks, they also sought to experiment with more
realism. This attempt towards humanism paralleled economic and cultural expansion
once again, and in turn, Greek artwork would evolve even more. Figures were now
rudimentarily accurate in their representation of the form, and Greek artists
would eventually drive this idea of the perfect form even further. Within sixty
years, the Greeks managed to create an even more realistic human figure and
this idea of humanism was not only an ideal that was sought after by Greeks
socially and politically, but they worked to create artwork that represented
this idea that the Greeks were truly at the center of the universe. The sense
of pride that came with the strength that Greeks had, Athenians especially, only
further reinforced the confidence that the people had with their republic form
of government and their ideas of individual strength and achievement. The Kourus statue, created around
540-525 BCE, in the Archaic period is a piece that visually represents the
change in ideals from early Greeks. Not only did they strive for naturalism,
but the Greeks now also strived to capture man as best as they saw possible.
Later versions of this statue evolved rapidly, such as the famous piece known
as the Charioteer made in 450 BCE in the early classical era. These pieces
showed a true attempt at capturing the stories, works, basic facial features, and
actions of the subject in an attempt at centering the piece around the idea
that humans were the center of action. Compared to the pieces from the
Geometric and Orientalizing period, there is a very obvious and more refined
understanding of human anatomy, as well as a heavier importance of the idea of
capturing the form, weight, and balance of the human figure. Once again, the
development of the human figure pertains to the development of Greek
civilization.
Running into the High Classical
era, the Greeks at this point had completely solved the enigma of the human
figure. Relying on their concepts of duality, Greek artists managed to combine both their vision and
measurements of proportion to create a canon for the human figure. This
travelled beyond the human form as well: Greeks also created an order for
architectural design and pottery flourished as well. Once again, the high
classical era was a period of extreme economic prosperity and the Greek society
flourished. Following the Kritios
boy, which was deemed to be the epitome of naturalism, the Greeks now had
another goal altogether: achieving humanism through the idealization of the
form. Sculptures were now exaggerated yet conservative at the same time,
maintaining the duality of Greek culture, yet still under the influence of the
human ideal. It was only after the Late Classical Era, when the Peloponnesian
War created a rift within Athens and pushed the once-flourishing city
backwards, that the styles of Greek art began to grow more modest. This was due
to the fact that the Athenians were humbled and chastened back into their
place. The pride of the High Classical Era no longer existed among the Greeks,
and although the civilization was not in a bad position, they were humbled
nonetheless. This newfound humility was once again pushed back into the artwork
of the era, because the nature of humanism was to reflect the ongoings of man,
the Greek statues were no longer displaying athletes winning a fight or gods
with immense power, both equally strong. Instead, the statues of the High
Classical Era were engaging in everyday activities with modesty and ease. The piece of Alexander the Great from
the Late Classical Era, although maintaining an expert understanding of human
form, is portrayed modestly, as were many of the gods as this point in time,
quietly reinforcing the philosophy that man and god were on the same scale.
This contrasts the earlier piece from
the High Classical era of
Heracles, who is over exaggerated and has a heroic posture.
The idea of humanism led the Greeks to reflect through their
artwork the political and economic, as well as the social structure of the time
in which the work was created.
Through naturalism and duality, humanism truly reached its greatest
heights, and gave the world some of the greatest works of art and architecture.
Today, western civilization strives for the ideas that the Greeks maintained
about politics, and the individual, as well as his role within society.
No comments:
Post a Comment