Geometric
The man and centaur
The sculpture represents a contemporary improvement to the earlier funerary vessels such as the funerary crater. As one of the unique geometric period artwork, it is dated around 750 BC. The sculpture offers an interesting multidimensional view due to its elementary shapes which form solid and negative space.
Link: https://classicalarthistory.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/hero-and-centaur/
High classical
Lapith fighting a centaur
This is a sculpture formed during the Doric frieze representing frescos that demonstrate war and battles between gods and humans or enemies. The sculpture depicts a legendary battle of a centaur against a Lapith. The sculptures are said to run against a cellar interior as displays against the wall.
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Link: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/407857309996636213/
The arts emerged during the Greek civilization when the colonies in the mountainous areas were tied by religion, heritage language, and art. Both arts from the geometric period and high classical period were inspired by Greek artists who sought to improve the artistic designs and trends by shifting in styles from those of common in Egypt (Stokstad & Cothren, 2014). The arts were developed in an era when the Greeks believed in a religion where gods were immortal but existed in human forms. They dedicated sacred places to them such as altars, statues, and monuments.
The geometric period occurred between 900 and 700 BC and was referred as geometric due to the emergence of funerary art inform of geometric shapes such as triangles. The shapes allowed views from different angles such as full profile or full frontal or side views (Stokstad & Cothren, 2014). The funerary items were mostly ceramics made in linear motifs and were used as grave markers. The figures developed at the time were made of wood, clay, cast bronze and ivory and presented a prominent theme of warring men and centaurs. Geometric period sculptures had elemental shapes and forms that enabled multidimensional views. The period also saw a transformation from linear decorations and preference for large vessels.
The high classical period is referred to as the golden age as it reflects the high-value art historians’ places on the period. The artwork time was between 450-400 BCE. The period is characterized by political dominance and influence that trickles down to the art (Stokstad & Cothren, 2014). The form and presentation of the art were reduced to essential characteristics making some of the art contradictory but maintained careful and creative choreography. Themes of war especially fighting with centaurs as well as religion appear dominant during this period (Smith & Plantzos, 2012). The art takes more human forms and even features women as a central part of the art.it uses a system of ratios between the basic units and the length of the various body parts. The statues and sculpture demonstrated different propositions and succeed in achieving perfect propositions, cross balancing and commensurability in their artwork.
The differences between the artwork separated by the archaic period show a revolution and improvement from the use of wood, clay, and limestone to the use of more permanent materials. It also shows a transformation from the ceramics to human forms and from one-dimensional view to multidimensional views (Smith & Plantzos, 2012). The sculptures from the geometric period were simple and related to objects in the environment. The high classical period presented a period of shifting to more complex and unique artwork that was heavily influenced by political occurrences such as wars. The sculptures depict the victories and battles happening during the time capturing the enemies and their defeat. There was also the formation of features derived from religious beliefs such as gods. The similarities and differences show the diverse and rich varieties of the Greeks artworks through their evolution and transformation showing the creativity in designs and structure that left remarkable sculptures, statues temples, and cities.
References
Stokstad, M., & Cothren, M. W. (2014). Art history. Boston: Pearson Education.
Smith, T. J., & Plantzos, D. (2012). A companion to Greek art. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell
