More Greatness!

After discussing the Greek archaic period I wanted to talk about the classical period. During the classical period sculpture soared to rapturous heights of beauty through naturalistic portrayals of the human form.

Rather than the stiff poses of the archaic period, the classical period had active forms, realistic drapery, and a relaxed S-shaped form.

I found this next sculpture to be very moving. This is a wounded warrior, but this time instead of being in a relaxed pose, he is in motion. The sculptor captured the beauty of the human form and human movement.

The classical sculpture, however, I find most astounding of all is something for which I do not have a photo. I saw it in 1985 and hence do not have it in Google Photos. In this blog I don’t like to use photos that I haven’t taken because this is supposed to be about my encounters with art, but I did see it so I am going to cheat a little bit and grab a photo off the internet. I am talking about the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

The sculpture captures that moment she lands on a warship’s prow to announce the Greek’s victory to them. The drapery on this statue is so delicate you can clearly see the form of the woman beneath it. Her torso is slightly twisted as she springs forward to land on the ship and the fabric ripples with the wind. It is an astonishing thing to capture this beautiful moment of action in a medium like stone.

I celebrate the Greek culture of antiquity for creating something so beautiful that we can still feel its frisson even after 2400 years.