Greek statues from many materials like stone, bronze,

Greek Sculpture was amazing art that was combined with various other countries art and evolved into its own thing. Inspiration first came to them in 800 to 300 BCE and had an effect throughout the ages (Cartwright 1). The greek sculptures are said to have a story behind each of them and could be about Gods, Heroes, Events, Mythical Creatures and Greek culture. The Greeks made their statues from many materials like stone, bronze, marble, and limestone since this is what Greece had the most of.

People wonder how the Greeks were they were able to make the perfect human body and that the sculptures were the best art ever made from a civilization (Cartwright 1). Greek Sculptural techniques and themes evolved over time because they were influenced by other countries and they adopted it into their own. The oldest sculptures were said to be found in there and they were warriors, charioteers, and musicians (Cartwright 1).  The first life-size statues were made out of marble around six century BCE and were offered at sanctuaries in symbolic service to the gods or used as grave markers (Cartwright 1).

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According to Mark Cartwright the tools that the sculptors used to make the statues were wooden bow drills, wooden wedges, and five-claw chisels and this was mainly for making marble statues. The first stone statues After that they have to make the most important part of the statues, for example, they would have to make the fine details like the skin, hair, eyebrows, lips, and clothes etc and for this, they would use small hand drills. Also, they would paint the statues with bright colors so that these statues could stand out more and depending on what statues the sculptors were made they would also add accessories, like jewelry if it were to be a woman or weapons like spears or swords if it was a man (Cartwright 1).

Others who desired bronze statues were not able to receive them because it was a material that was needed for later times.The famous artists that made the sculptures signed their names into the statutes that way if anyone found them we would know who they are and there is one artist who made humongous chryselephantine statues of Athena and Zeus which were later considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world (Cartwright 1). Many famous artists were Polykleitos, Kresilas, Praxiteles, Kallimachos, who made amazing pieces of art, for example, Praxiteles made the first female nude and Polykleitos created the great sculpture of Doryphoros. However, Greek art was not only standing figures but it was also portrayed as relief panels and grave monuments as well perirrhanterion which was a large basin with three or four smaller women and this tested greek sculptors to see how well they were able to do. Greek sculptors also did architectural sculptures like pediments, friezes, and metopes and these styles were used to add decorations to the building, making it look better and it also made sure that all of the building that was made was not the same. For example, the pediment which is the triangular upper part of a building could be made into any way they would like, so they could make it triangular, curved or make it look really old as if the building was broken (Cartwright 1).The Romans also loved the sculptures that the Greeks made, they liked them so much that they copied them but unfortunately they did not have the same touch as the people who created the statues or even have different mixes to make the sculpture (Cartwright 1). There were a couple pieces of art that stood out though and they were the Zeus or Poseidon of Artemisium and the two warriors of Riace and according to mark cartwright “the riace warriors were also magnificent with the added detail of finely sculpted hair and beards” but not everyone probably believe that since it is his opinion.

Likewise, Mark says that “The great Greek works are even consulted by 3D artists to create accurate virtual images and by sporting governing bodies who have compared athletes bodies with Greek sculpture to check abnormal muscle development achieved through the use of banned substances such as steroids” (Cartwright 1). Another thing said is that “greek culture influenced the art and architecture of every subsequent period of western civilization, but most especially the Renaissance and eighteenth and nineteenth-century Greek revival crazes”. Examples of more greek art styles are the geometric art style which was pottery ornamented with geometric banding and friezes of simplified animals and humans (The Annotated Mona Lisa 1). However, a period of time where dramatic changes occurred was the Archaic period because the way art was done before had changed:    Various aspects of change in Greek culture which by no means occurred either over one particular year or all together in the same year….

 In the Archaic Period, there were vast changes in the Greek language, society, art, architecture, and politics. These changes occurred due to the increasing population of Greece and its increasing amount trade, which in turn led to colonization and a new age of intellectual ideas, the most important of which (at least to the modern Western World) was Democracy. This would then fuel, in a rather circular way, more cultural changes (Lloyd 1).

The archaic period commenced a great change in the Greek art. In fact, the geometric style that was used earlier was replaced with an orientalizing style and during this period many changes and developments were made to temple buildings (Lloyd 1). For example, Lloyd states that the Heraion was built in 600 BCE, and was the first temple to have a stone stylobate but was still built with wooden columns (Lloyd 1).

Additionally, the Corcyra Artemision was the first Greek temple to have a stone entablature and the Temple of Apollo in Syracuse is the longest continually lasting single building to remain in consecrated ground (Lloyd 1). Furthermore, after the archaic period came the classical period which did not last very long. The Classical period was also known as one of the “better documented periods of Greek history that had tragedies, comedies, histories, legal cases and more surviving in the form of literary and epigraphic sources” (Lloyd 1). The architects from Greece in this period came up with many sophisticated techniques to make their buildings look perfectly even (Ancient Greek Art 1). For example, They would horizontal planes with an upward U-shape and columns that were fatter in the middle than at the ends and if not for this then the buildings and temples would appear to sag (Ancient Greek Art 1). Many statues and sculptures from this period would not be able to survive today, mainly because they were made out of stone and this caused them to be broken easily and if they were made out of metal they would be melted only to be used again (Ancient Greek Art 1).

Also, the earlier statues of people had looked awkward and fake, but as time went on by the classical period they looked natural and they even had the facial expression that even looked realistic (Ancient Greek Art 1). However, pottery was utilized the most in the classical period in Greece because people offered small Terracotta figurines as gifts to gods and goddesses, or they would bury them with the dead, and also gave it to their children as toys (Ancient Greek Art 1). Thus people also used pottery to make objects such as clay pots, jars, and vases and used them for almost everything and later on began to paint religious or mythological scenes on them as well (Ancient Greek Art 1).

Finally, after the classical period had ended came the Hellenistic period where the biggest changes to art came. With changes that had come to art, the classical Greek concepts were not left behind but instead more things were added (Greek landscapes 1). For example, “the artist of the Hellenistic era expanded his formal horizons with dramatic posing, sweeping lines, and high contrast of light, shadow, and emotions” (Greek landscapes 1). Also, Hellenistic art went from religious and naturalistic themes towards more dramatic human expression, psychological, spiritual preoccupation, theatrical settings and so, the sculpture of this period abandons the self-containment of the earlier styles and appears to embrace its physical surroundings (Greek landscapes 1).However, today’s art is very different from how it was back then. Modern art now is much more expressive and people usually think and plan what they are about to create, not only that but also unlike back then art today does not receive support from the church (Clarisse 1). Contrarily, ancient art received support not only from the church but even from higher authority figures such as the government.

As stated by Clarisse “Ancient art was straightforward, upfront and did not require much thinking… and did not give emphasis on depth and perspective” (Clarisse 1).But, one of the things that have not really changed is the traditional style of sculptures, those are still used to today by artists, especially when creating public monuments (Calder 1). For example, monuments that used traditional styles are Mount Rushmore and the Lincoln Memorial statue (Calder 1). Also, one of the most notable sculptures made was The Thinker which was made by Auguste Rodin (Calder 1). Light distortion was also one of the new discoveries that came to modern art and that modern artist adopted into their work (Calder 1).So to sum it up greek sculptural techniques and themes evolved because other countries gave them ideas and showed them new things that they had yet to discover and they adopted these techniques with their own ideas.

Seeing how art changed through the years was interesting. Also be able to know how different it was from today’s art is interesting. Art is always changing and people are becoming more creative so seeing how ancient Greek art will influence future generation is going to be a sight for sore eyes.

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