The Aperture of Experience

Lessons in Creating an Enduring Image from Ancient Greece

“The hero, then, is not Time, but Timelessness.”
-Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer

Introduction
Every representational work of fine art is tasked with depicting some thing at some time.
Since the age of Einstein, time has been subject to collapsing or distending, ultimately shoved
into a little corner where we say, it’s just a perceptual phenomenon, a side effect of being. And
thanks to Einstein, even if we require a physical measurement, time is tied to things in the real
measurement called spacetime. Therefore, the volume occupied by objects is equally subject to
collapsing or distending. These are the ways in which physicists describe the world, but they are
also how ancient Greek art depicted reality.
Greek sculptors exercised their creativity in playing with the perceptual bubble of
experience by deviating gracefully from the literal and natural in a stylized, symbolic, and
immensely human way. The result of this creativity is to open the aperture of experience to the
modern viewer. We still find ourselves appreciating Greek sculpture, despite the chasm of time
that separates us. There is something deeper than age, history or skill that draws us to
contemplate these statues and reliefs. If we consider the subject of all representational art, the
depiction of some thing at some time, the Greeks figured out how to reach any viewer, how to
encapsulate their human experience in stasis for any human to encounter. Shouldn’t this be the
motive of every representational artist today?
It would seem artists educated in a postmodern world are under the impression that the
Renaissance, being a common educational starting point for the painter, has already instilled in
Western Art all the worthwhile ideas of picture making. As if Michelangelo‘s interpretation of
Greek humanism (see Appendix D) is under-written in anything made today. As painters, we
assume Michelangelo’s interpretation of Green humanism is under-written in our art, like a
birthright. Or, as postmodernists, we throw the baby out with the bathwater and reject all things
Greek.
The reasons for rejection are valid. Art after the Renaissance has already attempted
and, in my opinion, failed to interpret Greek sculpture. I will not be championing any of these
attempts. There will be no feminized idealism (Baroque painting), no virtuous man for the people
to measure themselves against (American Colonialism), no opulent testaments to the greatness
of a culture (Napoleon and French Neoclassicism), no weaponizing symbolism to suit imperialist
ends (The Third Reich). Nothing remotely neo-classical lies ahead. Instead, through an
investigation and criticism of Greek sculptors’ handling of artistic elements such as pictorial time,
current events, scale, symbolism, and allegory, I offer a wholly novel interpretation of Greek art
meant to stabilize the art of the contemporary world and allow the unique ideas of any fine artist
to endure.

1
 On Time
The 21st century’s mania for literalness can be tempered by a rejection of the ‘snapshot’.
Our enduring love affair with being able to capture the instantaneous imprisons us in the present
experience instead of allowing the viewer to wade into the anticipation of the future or reflection
of the past. Would Michaelangelo’s David be more legible if he was in the act of casting the
stone? In order for the viewer to engage with the work, the artist must make room, must open
the aperture, to allow the viewer enough psychological space in time to enter the image. The
snapshot is closed to experience, the present is infinitesimally small, it evaporates before it even
materializes.
Throughout Greek art, time is treated as a pictorial tool. Time, being a singularly human
concept, can be handled like all aspects of the human experience, symbolically. Likewise, the
Greeks were fascinated by the perceptual variance of experience and played with how they
depicted the time expression of an image.

Symbolic Treatment of Time

In more illustrative art forms, like sequential art, the depiction of time is straightforward.
One event follows the next in a cellular evolution. Spiderman climbs up the building and in the
next drawing he sees the Green Goblin and each drawing spells out this inevitable encounter.
Considering sculpture from ancient Greece, time is not handled on the arrow. In some instances
time is vertical or, in the Classical period, there is a delightful
superposition of multiple times occurring in the same picture
plane. This symbolic and stylized stacking of events is
rediscovered in the Renaissance, most admirably in the
Gates of Paradise by Ghiberti. Time spreads itself out with
actions happening in modular time from background to
foreground or from sky to horizon to ground.

Depicting some thing at some time means that time

can be handled creatively. To guide us in this creativity I have
segregated Greek tastes for time into four flavors: eternal
time, supernatural time, all time, and memorialized time.
Eternal time is the static appeal of iconography, potent but
not enduring. The art we all laugh at, history painting, suffers
from what I call memorialized time. We might think we’re
depicting something meaningful, but if we memorialize time,
if we say “I was here”, we have failed to widen the aperture of experience. The viewer will literally
scroll past our image like a picture of what we had for lunch. Successful modern painters of
symbolically “all times” are Hopper, Wyth, and Hockney.

2
Eternal Time

The permanence required in such a symbolic and literal treatment of nature makes the
depiction of time in either a sequential or vertical format somewhat inconsequential. Most
Archaic sculpture, especially Stelae (gravestones), is concerned with depicting a sort of eternity
(see Appendix B). Either time ceases to exist or it is a purely human construct accessible only
by the depicted. Therefore, most depictions of humans seem to take place in their own world, a
world in which nothing is actively happening. In the Stone Frieze above we see warriors on
horseback. The length of the horses legs and scale of the riders suggests the symbolic
treatment of scale. Horses are important and big. Yet, the linear march of time symbolically
imprisons these riders to forever be riding forward into battle like a fossil embedded in a piece of
amber.

In this excellent example of the Severe style predicting the tastes of the classical (see
Appendix C.I) we notice an evolution of time treatment. Possibly metaphorically, as the day

3
proceeds in action from east to west, the Eastern pediment depicts the figures and actions in a
static, almost Archaic arrangement. The west, being the direction of the day’s progress, depicts
the changing taste for action and naturalism. This is a world still inaccessible to us. Yet, it feels
accessible to someone with a God’s eye view (see Appendix A.II).
In the east, Zeus is overseeing preparations for a chariot race. The proportions are
naturalistic but stiff, possibly canonized. The actions are frozen in the past or symbolically in a
time that will always be. On the western pediment we see a more active scene. The grace and
motion of the centauromachy predict the Classical unfolded, not a coincidence given that this
temple would be completed at the birth of the true Classical period. Apollo gestures with the
stylized pose of an athlete and the humans and centaurs are locked in a momentary battle.
This grappling with the depiction of action shows the changing tastes typical of the
Severe Style. Nonetheless, time spills out from a central point. The inheritance of the eternal
symbolism from previous eras and eastern cultures is still appreciable. Yet the coming Classical
era’s taste is on display: it will be timeless but not frozen, active but not ‘in action’.

All Time
I’ve chosen one of my favorite works
of art to represent the prolific Classical
era of Greek sculpture (see Appendix
D). Its delicate humanism and
psychological depth make this image
incredibly archival. The little human in
the foreground arrests us. Not because it
is a little adult (with all the proportions of
an adult and not a child, but, at the scale
of a child) but rather because it forces
our contact. This child has access to us,
to our gaze. This particular sculpture is
the stele of a person, not a family. Yet,
who is the deceased? In the symbolic
treatment of time we can decipher this
‘picture’.
One interpretation is that the man
and woman in profile are the deceased.
They obviously coexist in the picture
plane together, belonging to the same
world. The child would have survived,
hence her ability to contact us, the living.
And maybe, as I’ve always interpreted
the upper left figure, the messenger was
someone who never was of this world.
Maybe this figure, the one in partial
profile, is the present moment itself, the

4
thread of the ever elusive present moment that weaves the timeless past and future together.
The alternative interpretation would be that the child, in her ability to access people who would
live long after her time, left the living world (in profile) too soon. Whatever the interpretation, this
stele has the emotional fabric to absolutely captivate a modern viewer. This manipulation of
gaze and perspective as a symbolic representation of different states of aliveness is remarkably
striking. The composition demonstrates a superposition of times.The alive and deceased united
forever in one unblinking eternity woven together by the thread of now.

Memorialized Time

And we lose it. You can claim I was heavy handed in choosing such a delicate work of
Classical stele in contrast to the culturally significant sarcophagus of Alexander the Great, but,
this is also a sculpture to commemorate death. As Greek culture climaxes with old Alex and his
imperial motives (see Appendix E.I), even the “common” stelae of this period assume a gross,
desperate desire for immortality typical to an empire on the brink. This sarcophagus will serve
as an artistic example for plenty of interesting Roman sarcophagi in ensuing centuries; however,
something is lost. Here is the snapshot…a postcard of the many gory and inhumane victories of
a conquering empire. Memorialized but too impersonal. Historical but too literal. David is
throwing the rock at Goliath. Napoleon is crossing the Alps. The emotion, the humanity lives in
the moments before and after. Give me Alexander the Great as a scared boy in armor awaiting
a marching hoard. If any work survived that gave me a more expanded experience for one of
history’s most successful conquerors it would allow me to access his existence human to human
rather than nod my head and say “Yes, I read about him in a history book…” and walk on.

The Pregnant Moment

I’ve coined this term in my art theory classes to be used like the rhetorical tactic ‘the
pregnant pause’. Anticipation is more lasting than action. Reflection lingers with us long after the

5
encounter. The fullness of the beat before making your point imbues the point with meaning.
The contemporary artist would be wise to consider how much time they can pack into a single
image.
Almost in turn throughout the four major periods of Greek sculpture we see the artists’
desire to extend the moment of action or contract it into a single second.

“But time, too, we apprehend when we mark off motion, marking it off by the before and after, and
we say that time has passed when we get a perception of the before and after in motion. We
mark off motion by tak- ing them to be different things, and some other thing between them; for
whenever we conceive of the limits as other than the middle, and the soul says that the nows are
two, one before and one after, then it is and this it is that we say time is. (What is marked off by
the now is thought to be time: let this be taken as true.)” -Aristotle, Physics 4.11.219a22–219a29

The changing tastes for the amount of time portrayed could be seen as the literal march of skill
motivated progress towards the instantaneous…as if it were always the goal. I‘m more
interested in the perceptual variance of time. How some seconds fly by and others stretch out
like eternity. I claim that the pregnant moment ,as mastered in the Classical period, is the climax
of Greek art.

Time Does Not Exist

In the Archaic, should we be modern

physicists, we would say time DNE, does not exist. This
was how I marked it in my research notes and how I
would like it to be interpreted. As is usually true, a culture
without major philosophical or canonized religion will take
this pragmatic treatment of time. The past and future are
memories and hopes. The present, when contemplated, is
infinitely fugitive. Therefore it is far more, to use the word
again, pragmatic, to use the concept of time in an
absolute way. This idea occurs repetitively throughout
history with the idea of “absolute time”. Plato called time
“the moving image of eternity.” Time is the vessel that our
actions fill. This calf bearer occupied the vessel of time in
his pursuit of strength, carrying the calf every day to gain
strength proportional to the inevitable weight gain of a cow
from calf to heifer. But given that we only have the
portrayal of one moment of calf bearing we can
extrapolate the longer “present”. It has been symbolically
condensed into a single depiction.

6
 As skill and culture advance the desire for a time
that does not exist begins to wane.
B. S. Ridgway calls the Severe Style “no longer a
type but a subject” highlighting the first artistic flirtations
with arrested action.
The pursuit of the subject results initially in
impermanence. The attempt to depict humans with any
kind of naturalism lets in the temporal briefness of
life…the quest to immortalize a moment. The vanishing
of the deathly archaic smile (see Appendix B.II) makes
room for fleeting emotion. Yet, the smile is replaced by
something almost always resembling a pout. Is the pout
the more common expression and the smile only
reserved for the afterworld? This flirtation with the
immediacy of emotion and action will be echoed at a
higher key in the Hellenistic era. Yet this strange blend of
time that does not exist with the impermanence of action
gives birth to an elongated experience in the ensuing
Classical period.

The Elongated Experience

The classical period is responsible for my invention of the term the ‘pregnant moment’. It
is a common theme to a mature culture that the art becomes not a desperate grasping for
posterity (see Appendix E) but a reflective or anticipatory state of permanence. Almost all

7
Chinese art reflects this claim admirably. Greece in the classical period was experiencing a
cultural longevity that is reflected in the longevity of the moment depicted in their sculpture.
Action is not arrested but rather expanded or slowed down. In funeral sculpture we see the
superposition of times in the depiction of both the living and the dead. In monumental sculpture
we see the quiet repose of even the most active historical scenes or allegorical stories. In the
example above the artist depicts an elongated moment as we feel the anticipation of catching
the bird. This waiting nature allows the living viewer to interact with the sculpture much in the
way the presence of a living human in stelae allows the living to commune with the afterlife. The
naturalism of the classical period (see Appendix D.III) takes on an oscillating tendency between
idealism and objective naturalism. Yet, the technical skill has peaked allowing the artist to
deliberately choose between these two interpretations of nature.
This period also marks the invention of cultural allegory. Recognizable scenes from
everyday Greek life were immediately legible to people of that era. Despite the millenia that
separates us from this era, this cultural allegory is so immediately human that, when viewed
today, their humanity perseveres. These sculptors create the first depiction of living humans in
sculptural form, a trend that will continue in the art of portraiture with the most enduring portraits
depicting relatable humans and not memorialized persons of importance. The pregnant
moment, as utilized in the classical period, shares a universal time with the observer unlike the
images we can anticipate in the Hellenistic era.

The Instantaneous

In my more dismissive moments of the Hellenistic era of Greek art I will throw around the
term hubris. There is a hubristic tendency to any culture on the brink, a clutching at the
importance of its time and desire to
document its cultural dominance
for posterity. While this era does
see the creation of some of the
most important and pivotal works
to be re-discovered later during the
Renaissance, the lack of quiet
reflection or maturity will be
adopted by the more
temperamental bloodthirsty culture
of ancient Rome. Action is
absolutely arrested and extreme
emotion is prevalent. The desire for
capturing a more and more specific
moment becomes a priority. The
viewer is squeezed out of the
experience. The work becomes a
memorial to skill and an extinct
culture.

8
On Things
Contemporary themes in painting are increasingly personal as artists strive to use their
practice as a catharsis. Yet, unless the personal narrative of the painting is, by virtue of design
and restraint, identifiable, the viewer’s ability to read the image will have an extremely short
shelf life. What’s worse is to depend on this perishable personal narrative being correctly
interpreted tomorrow, much less 50, 100 years from now. Another common motif in
contemporary painting is the epic scale, as if confronting the viewer with an idea makes it
worthy of saying. By studying the Greek mastery of image making, one can bypass hinging the
legibility of our image on symbolism, allegory, narrative or scale.
While I think the Classical period excels at image making above all else, we can learn
from all the Greek periods when attempting to create an image. The legibility of the following
images will be inherently different today than it was for the people for whom it was made. In our
ignorance of Greek symbolism and allegorical themes we can glean from these images
something personal, human, and timeless.

Forgotten Meaning, Enduring Design

The Archaic period, being representative of the
earlier tastes of Greek culture, is heavily symbolic. For
example, many sects of religious cults had very specific ritual
uses for these symbolic works of art. The symbolism of this
era dies with it and is almost entirely illegible to current
viewers unless it’s explained. This early grave monument is
an excellent example of this time stamped symbolism.
To quote the placard:
“The youth on the shaft is shown as an athlete, with an aryballos
(oil flask) suspended from his wrist. Athletics were an important
part of every boy's education, and oil was used as a cleanser
after exercise. He holds a pomegranate—a fruit associated with
both fecundity and death in Greek myths—perhaps indicating
that he had reached puberty before his death. The little girl,
presumably a younger sister, holds a flower.”

I was aware of this interpretation because I’ve studied this

sculpture as an artist for years. I studied it despite my original
ignorance of the symbolism. I found the proportions, the
usage of the ‘picture plane’, the scale, and the design to be
extremely appreciable. Standing 13 feet tall this grave
monument is one of the oldest and largest stelae to survive.
While its height is commanding, the figures are confined to
one smaller face of the overall monument. Crammed stylishly
into this space we experience not tension, but restraint. The

9
intersection of the oil flask, pomegranate and little girl's head create a dynamic area of
exploration for the viewer. In drawing the eye to this intersection the artist asked us to consider
this symbolism very deliberately. However, the design of this intersection inspires curiosity in a
viewer not acquainted with traditional Greek symbology. Let the contemporary artist take note
and draw the eye to their motive, regardless of its legibility.

The Severe style, doing its job in linking the

Archaic to the Classical world, suffers the
same symbolic fate as the Archaic. In
researching the symbolism of this fragment
of a stele I had to laugh at art history’s
grappling with identification of the symbolism
rather than its dynamic, stylized, dare I say
beautiful, qualities. To lift a segment of this
art historical quibbling from Wikipedia.

“It is generally agreed that the plants depicted in

the stele fragment are either poppies or
pomegranate flowers, however, classical
archaeologists and historians of ancient Greek art
discuss different species in the literature: German
scholar Ernst Langlotz (1895–1978) thought that the women were holding a type of rose; Picard
recognizes the symbolism of Demeter and Kore and identifies the flowers as a species of poppy,
possibly the opium poppy, the Oriental poppy, or the Iranian poppy. Careful examination of the
thick 'stems' fails to resemble that of the flowers. German scholar Eugen Petersen (1837–1919)
proposed that the figures were holding knucklebones (talus bones from goats or sheep used to
play the game of jacks) in their left hand and roses in the right hand; Hampe argues that the stele
depicts only knucklebones, not flowers.”

Again, let us consider the design despite the symbolism. Let us even set aside knowing
who was depicted in this image (also a hot topic of art historical debate). This fragment was
excavated and purchased by the Louvre’s first curator and displayed in the world’s leading art
collection because of the masterful gesture, emotion, and complete compression of the space
available to the sculptor. The dynamic interaction of the hands and the gazes of the women is
inspirational! There’s a never before seen kind of sensuality. This fragment exhibits a delicacy in
the modeling definitely attributable to increasing skill and artistic tools and methods being
refined in this era. The scale, due to this fragment's likely role as part of a larger tomb
monument, is intimate and asks us to investigate. Come closer and exalt the flower.

Everyone Has a Story

I would encourage the contemporary artist who is thus far compelled by my views
to study the Hellenistic in detail for lessons in ‘what not to do’. They can then apply these
lessons to a supplementary study of Roman art. Let us tell our stories with restraint. Let us
prioritize design, humanity, (god forbid) taste. Let us not hit our viewers over the head with

10
excessive showiness of skill and cloying narrative. Allow me to disgust you with the not exactly
allegorical, but rather historical motive of this work. Depicted is
a Gaul, a conquered people of Celtic origin, who has killed his
wife and is now in the act of killing himself to prevent their
capture. A noble act, sure, but a disgusting depiction for
Attalus I, ruler of Pergamon, conqueror of the Gauls, to
commission. This statue is believed to be part of a larger
sculpture group from the Pergamon which also included
famously tasteless statues such as ‘The Dying Persian’ and
‘The Dying Barbarian Woman’. Does this piece, despite its
symbolism and narrative function as glorifying a conquering
empire, have the archivality we’re after? The lastingness of
this image stops at its historical use. Yes, the skill is high. Yes,
the theatrical narrative is present. It lacks humanity with the
exception that we can emotionally be provoked by a common
horror of war. But this emotional provocation leads to more
war. Where is humanity? It would only take a few narrative
paintings from the Baroque and ensuing Neoclassical periods
for me to fully prove the idea that history, or as it would be
known in its time, a current event, is not fit subject matter for
fine art. History paintings die with their generation, entombed
as illustrations in an art history volume. The Classical Greeks
at least had the sense to stick to the allegorical. And, when
depicting these long forgotten mythological scenes, they did
so with such style and grace that we, the modern viewer, can
appreciate their design, simplicity and restraint for making them a lasting image. Archivality of
an image at its finest. An enduring image can survive without the cultural context. We must
remember this as we strive to create works motivated by emotionally potent experiences and
the immediate world around us instead of reporting upon our own existence, screaming into the
void.

Concluding Remarks
A truly timeless work of art lives on in the minds and hearts of the modern viewer
because the aperture for experience was wide enough to encourage our interaction, reflection
and appreciation. As I hope to have shown through this contemporary criticism of Greek
sculpture, the elements of a timeless image exist beyond the interpretation of the subject matter.
Every representational work of fine art is tasked with depicting some thing at some time. The
trick is to make that thing secondary to elements such as graceful design, considerate scale,
refined and competent skill and the essence of humanity. Then, enlarge the time from the
instantaneous shutter speed of the camera into a longer, enduring, engaging experience.

11
 Appendix A

Geometric 900 BCE-700 BCE

I
We would be well served to begin our
overview of Greek Sculpture with an
acknowledgement of the larger artistic ecosystem
which gives birth to what is now classified as “Greek”
art. This period of early Greek art marks the
inheritance of Agean motifs which, by 900 BC, had
existed for hundreds of years. The tradition of the
male and female standing figure would morph into
early Archaic Korai (see Appendix B) .
It would be completely reasonable to see
Geometric Greek art as looking Egyptian. Most
Mediterranean art around the turn of the millennium
BC was obviously influenced by a series of dynasties
that lasted thousands of years. Greek culture is in
bloom and their individual cultural motives will come
into focus in the ensuing Archaic period.

II
In the round, the Cycladic inheritence of symbolic depiction is literally straightforward.
When these aspects are depicted in relief they are constructed without a station point, or a point
of view, figuratively straightforward. This literalness is perhaps not an ignorance to perspective,
scale, gesture, or three-dimensional depth but rather a willingness to have nature represented
from all points of view. Some scholars believe this lack of station point or even naturalistic
proportion to be the “God’s Eye View”. A world without a viewer is a world as seen by a creator.
A world without perspective is an inaccessible world to the living. A world without perceptual
experiences is a world without time.

III
Much like Cycladic art, the early Geometric endeavors represented mankind without
realistic proportion or gesture. Features and aspects are largely symbolic, sometimes
proportional to their function, sometimes proportionately large as befits their function. The legs
of this centaur are an excellent example of this proportional symbology. Long legs suggest the
scale.
The symbolism and style of this period is largely inherited from these peripheral
cultures and is not a fully articulated Greek language of symbolism, as of yet. And, like any
good inheritance, it will be taken for granted. Their external contributing factors will be, in the
course of a few generations, entirely internalized.

12
 Appendix B

Archaic 600 BCE-480 BCE

I
Death and crossroads were all the rage in ancient Greece. We can even
go so far as to psychoanalyze the Greek mind for seeing them as one and
the same. The art of human statuary blossoms with manifold uses. One,
like the Herms of ancient Greece, were signposts marking crossroads. As
dangerous places, one would bless a Herm for safe passage. Another
common usage is as a sort of gravestone. Humans are represented with
stylized features and proportions as in the Kore on our right. I’d want my
tomb effigy to depict me as the brazenly beautiful youth I once was: perfect
hair, stylish outfit, hand extended in offering (or in accepting your gifts if I
could be so lucky as to be deified). Alternatively, if the Korai was meant as
an offering to a deity, especially one as notoriously vain as Athena, this
Kore would be styled in the highest taste of the town.

II
The most notable depiction of human qualities from this period is what is
known as the archaic smile. This stylized
smile seems both amused and at rest. The
Fallen Warrior below is smiling despite the
arrow in his chest. Exactly the kind of
bemused smile we would correctly place on
an embalmed child.

III.
With regards to clothing, a concern with the fashion of the
day is depicted in an evolution of drapery for figurative sculpture.
This is the beginning of a nod towards naturalism. Yet, the
draping and articulation of cloth is still very rigid and not realistic.
As this period progresses it maintains a simplicity of
design in stone that borders on minimalism when compared with
the ensuing Severe Style. Yet, we must remember these were
mere stone canvases for adornment. Patterning, painting and bejeweling have not survived on
what are now perceived as simple and minimalistic designs.

13
 Appendix C

Severe 500 BC-440 BC

I.
History rarely gives a strong demarcation in style on which all art historians can agree
and the slow march towards the Classical is no different. This art historical beating about the
date bush is so troublesome that the Severe Style isn’t always
included in an overview of Greek sculpture. I’ve included it in
this article because of this period’s emerging taste for
naturalism, gesture and emotion.

II.
The Severe Style is a 19th century term invented to
represent exactly what it is: a pre-Classical temper tantrum
with taste. And, although it definitely bleeds into the Classical
period, it is unlike either its predecessor or successor. As I
mentioned before, there is a distant familial likeness between
the Archaic and the Classical. There is a direct kinship
between the Severe and the Hellenistic (which succeeds the
Classical), even though almost 200 years separates them.
They share an adolescent impatience for permanence, a
grasping for posterity. The archaic smile is sacrificed for the
pained expression in a quest for more emotional realism,
pathos. The ‘God’s Eye View’ vanishes entirely and we
confront a world closed to us not by an inaccessible eternity but an illusive present.

III.
The symbolism quiets to a note we, the modern viewer, cannot distinguish. The statue
no longer extends its hand with its literal attributes. We are supposed to read its symbolism in
the subcontext.
“The basic Kouros type now becomes sharply differentiated into either Apollo or a human
being, and the difference no longer rests on the attributes held by the statue. Apollo is
recognizable not only through a certain grandeur or ethos (one of those intangible elements in
Greek art which are so difficult to pinpoint but with which one has inevitably to reckon), but mostly
because he now wears his hair long while the contemporary athlete has his short-” B.S. Ridgway,
“The Severe Style in Greek Sculpture”, 1970, p8-11

IV.
Notice the more naturalistic expression, musculature, gesture and arrested action of
Tyrannicides. Drapery and the human body are still treated in a rigid and not yet completely
naturalistic style but they’re surely on their way. It’s obviously the goal.

14
 Appendix D

Classical 440 BCE-338 BCE

I.
The classical era is a period of emerging
tastes and refined skill. A seemingly creative
time, artists of this era pushed the limits of
picture making both in content and scale but
also in constructing a template, or form, that
many Greek artists would adhere to for over a
century. This makes this era extremely prolific,
many enduring examples live on through
Roman copies.

II.

The depiction of gods with human qualities

troubled thinkers of the classical age.

“However, thinkers like Plato considered the

anthropomorphization of a deity to be unbecoming
and misleading, as it not only misrepresented its
object but also demeaned it in an attempt to bring it
too much into the sphere of the human. To face
these difficulties, later sculptors made use of special
resources to keep the distance between gods and
men clear, rescuing archaic stylistic traits such as
frontality, hieratic posture, impassive and
supernatural features, which, in contrast to the increasingly naturalistic and expressive style of
profane statuary, delimited well the spheres of the sacred and the mundane and forced the
devotee to respect the idol, as a reminder that the divine remains forever essentially
unknowable”. -SPIVEY, Nigel. "Bionic Statues". In POWELL, Anton (ed). The Greek World.
Routledge, 1995.

III.
The symbolism of the basic Severe Style softens into a graceful permanence of shared
humanistic iconography still recognizable today. The tendency to a naturalistic idealism
becomes a stand-in for the more symbolic stylization of features or anatomy from the Archaic
era. This induces a sculptural and pictorial dialog between emotion and action.

15
IV.
At times, the prioritization of naturalism in the depiction of humans will suggest a cultural
desire to see themselves reflected in the art around them. In other instances this naturalism is
set aside for a kind of mannerist, iconographical human. Features, characteristics, and drapery
are all handled in a sensitive and observational way, representative of, if not true to, a
recognizable reality. The gestures become more refined and restrained. The increased
understanding of human anatomy allows for more active poses yet the mature taste for subtlety
calls for this action to be somewhat arrested in a timeless way. Could the canonized and
idealized anatomy and proportion of the human figure be the result of this quest for stillness, an
activated Archaic? These stylized motivations stand in stark contrast to the Hellenistic period,
which, in all its decadence, manages to capture a snapshot of action or emotion. How
disappointing. The Hellenistic inheritance of this sublime period is to do the gaudy Severe Style
all over again but this time with the skills.

“Even within the confines of the conversations reported by Xenophon in the Memorabilia,
we can discern a tension – a tension that would become central to the entire legacy of mimesis –
between divergent views on representational art being, on the one hand, a fictional illusion, the
product of a 'deceptive' artifact, and, on the other, a reflection of and an engagement with reality.”
-HALLIWELL, Stephen. "Plato and Painting". In RUTTER, N. Keith & SPARKES, Brian. Word and
image in ancient Greece, 2000. pp. 101–102

16
 Appendix E

Hellenistic 338 BC-146 BC

I.
The Roman Empire is born and the sun sets
on the history of Greek art. This period, being the
ancestor of Greco-Roman art, will be what most
ancient Roman sculptors copied…figures. The
Classical will survive in a few Roman copies but
the Greco-Roman style will continue the tradition
of this final, skillful, but short sighted period of
Greek art. 1300 years later the Renaissance will
fall in love with the skill all over again. This is the
textbook treatment of Greek Art History.

II.
The Hellenistic period of Greek sculpture is
one of decadence, plenty, allegory, and
showmanship. Very manifest destiny. Very
Alexander the Great. Very temporary. The
simplicity and grace of the Classical period give
way to the dynamism and flair of an empire at the
brink of its downfall.

III.
Symbolism in proportion and style give way to
epic allegory and large scale works that commemorate the illustrious heritage of an empire
regarding its triumph.
The mastery of the human body is complete and can be depicted in a variety of gestures
and glorious actions, at any scale.

17