Friday, November 21, 2008

Ancient Greek Art

Ancient Greece is not only known for its architecture, military tactics, and intriguing history. It is also known for its art and sculpting. The Greeks had a very distinct style of art, recognized by all.
The first thing about Greek art and sculpture is the look of their bodies. Greeks depicted the people they drew or sculpted as perfect. Six pack abs and perfect proportions. Long and flowing hair for women. They wanted to be pictured as a generation of beautiful, strong, and intellectual individuals and they used their art to do that.
Another distinct feature of Greek art is the colors and stone. Most Greek sculptures or stone carvings were made of marble. On things such as pottery and painting, they used colors such as orange and black. This gave almost an Egyptian feel to paintings and such.
Most time in this kind of art, we see younger people. Also, they were usually naked with a smirk on their face. In many Greek paintings, they also represented some sort of sexuality. The Greeks were a very sexual society obsessed with human perfection. They also had many scenes from glorious battles of men with spears, swords and large metal shields, showing the sheer power of Grecian society.
As you can see, there are many different aspects of Greeks art. All of these different aspects make Greek art recognizable and very powerful.