Posts – Page 30 – Fall 2018 Art 1010 at Brooklyn College

Humanism

Humanism is defined as a philosophy based on the importance and dignity of each human. Humanism started in Italy, due to their innovative way of life; the increase of trade stemmed new ideas. People who practice Humanism are called humanists. Humanists essentially believe that humans have control over their lives and have the ability to question everything around them. Humanists usually study classical art, government, architecture, language, history and poetry. Humanism in art refers to the change a person could bring to art. In Greek and Roman art, the primary focus is man, while in Egyptian and Mesopotamian art articulates around the art of a higher power.

This Greek sculpture of Discobolus depicts an image of a man. Compared to Ancient Egyptian art, this image compares to an image of a human being while Egyptian art makes little resemblance to a actual human. Also the techniques of the sculpture differ from Ancient Egyptian sculptures since they are from different time periods the different techniques display different images. This Greek art shows a masculine warrior, which most Greek sculptures portray. This sculpture illustrates an image of a strong and powerful man, the way the sculpture is presented shows the slight feminine touch of the sculpture.

Humanism and Art

The study of humanism is to understand the quality of human life. It’s a system of thought used constantly throughout the artistic culture where its main focus is on humans and their values, capacities, and worth. Humanism can be used in literature, art, and even in civilization, however, the Greek and Romans have made this concept their central focus in art and in life. In the Greek and Roman culture, when it comes to art, may it be the being of a man or woman, the focus is shifted upon the anatomy and pure physicality of that being. Individuality is clearly expressed through each line drawn of chiseled within, as well as, uniqueness. Both, the artist’s individuality is expressed along with the artist’s subject. In comparison, Mesopotamia and Egyptian art focus on the power of the deities, ancient civilization, and God-like representations. The Greek and Romans attention was highly diverted towards the physicality of the human individual.

From Mesopotamia and Egyptian art, comes The Standard of Ur. This is a small trapezoidal box with two sides. Each side is covered with figurative representations and mosaics of ancient life. When looked upon closely, there are three levels that represent life differently. The most lower level portrays the subjects as slaves working for their master, delivering something like a gift for their god. The upper level of The Standard of Ur shows a being larger than the rest of the subjects who breaks the barrier of the upper border. In Egyptian society, a God is commonly represented in art as the largest being visible, which is explains the unusually large figure in this art piece. This God is presented as the almighty being, while all his subjects are kneeling and sitting before him.

Image result for the standard of ur

Although the tablet allows current society to take a quick look into past civilization and its views on culture, the Greek and Romans had a different belief of what art should depict. They thought that art should be more human-based rather than God-like to express the reality of being human. An example of this would be the statue of Kouros. This is an ancient sculpture representing the nude male youth in an upright stature. In Greek, the name Kouros even means ” youth, boy, especially of noble rank.” The Kouros statue shows a nude male standing straight on both feet, one foot forward, and one foot backward. Anatomically when standing this way, it is quite uncomfortable, however, this was how the ideal male youth was depicted. It is also portrayed as nude because, in the Greek culture, nudity was deemed as prideful and as showing a sense of unimaginable strength. As noticed before, Kouros is standing up straight, but also has a very stiff and rigid stance to him.

This was believed to be the way of humanism in Greek and Roman culture as opposed to Egyptian culture that pertains to a constant higher power or worshiping.

Blog #8: Humanism in Greek Art

Humanism is the system or movement of human beings. In terms of art, humanism shifts the focus in where man becomes the agent for change. It emphasizes the value and individuality of humans. In Greek and Roman art, humanism is very common as it is the main focus in majority of the pieces of art. In Egyptian and Mesopotamian art, they focus more on a higher power that is greater than mankind where as in Greek and Roman art, they focus more on the human itself.

On the left we have the Sumerian art of the Standing male worshipper and on the right we have the Greek art of the Kouros of Kroisos from Anavysos. In the Sumerian art piece, it represents a religious standpoint. The figure is a sign or a symbol of a higher power. The figure is covered and has detailed lines below (almost like a dress or a robe). In Mesopotamia, nudity was a sign of humility which is why the figure below isn’t nude. The eyes in the male worshipper piece are wide and distinct and is one of the first things that draws your eyes. In the Greek art piece of the Kouros of Kroisos from Anavysos, the figure has more features of a human than of a higher power. It has one foot in front of the other and is completely nude. For Greek, nudity was a sign of culture and pride. The men and boys that were sculpted all appeared nude as it was a way to show strength and power. The eyes in the pieces aren’t as distinctive as the male worshipper. In both art pieces, they have very intricate waves and beads/braids to represent the bread on the Standing male worshipper and the hair on both the Kouros of Kroisos from Anavysos and the male worshipper. Both pieces are also proportionate in symmetry and are stiff.

MD: Humanism

Humanism emphasizes an importance to human culture, our values, problems and needs rather than supernatural entities. This was a philosophical breakthrough, because humans were the now center of attention, rather than God and Goddesses. These supernatural beings were actually brought down to human actions, emotions and ideals, which is seen through the variety of Greek artwork. Gods were able to have human like attributes. Additionally, Humanism focuses around the idea of thinking critically in terms of empiricism, the idea that human knowledge and thought derive from sensory experience. The environment and interactions with sensory stimuli dictates what you think.

The Kouros figure was made to emulate a human. It stands on its own two feet, a human attainable action. Even the other sculptures resembling body-builder highly muscular body types, resemble humanistic qualities. The sculpture may have emulated this male physique because of their participation in the military, and their love of sports as well. The artist chose to show that they are physically fit, and “God like”, yet have human values and passions. Additionally, nudity was a major factor in Greek humanism. They embraced nudity, which was a sign of Greek culture, showing that they are all equal, and allowing the focus to be on the individual rather than their status in society, unlike in Egyptian art. In Egyptian art, the figures were boxed in creating a sense of separation and distance between humans and gods. Additionally, they were clothed indicating their hierarchy, as nude figures were looked down upon in society.

Blog #8: Humanism in Greek Art and Roman Art

In your own words define humanism. What is it? And how does the Art of Greece and Rome illustrate it when compared with Mesopotamian or Egyptian Art. Use an example of Greek or Roman art and compare/contrast it with an example of Mesopotamian or Egyptian Art.

Humanism is the interest in the human body and anything regarding Mankind. Humanism also strays away from religious beliefs and figures being at the center of the universe to now Mankind and their interest. While both Greek and Roman civilizations hold a strong bond with their Gods and mythology, through their art they continuously explore human anatomy and even incorporating humanism into the depiction of their Gods.

Despite the Greek civilization creating art during the same periods of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, both groups could not be any more different in terms of their subject and art style. While the Greeks experienced four periods of art, each one progressively more realistic and complex than last, they all focused on the human body and how it moves, the Egyptians maintained a consistent art style for the thousand years of their existence where only royalty and the Gods were the subjects and the Gods depiction were more detailed. For example, in the “Last Judgement of Hunefer,” the Egyptians depict the process a dead individual faces to join the afterlife and despite the piece focusing on Hunefer the piece attracts the viewer to intricate details given to the Gods and the way their depicted as more not simply a human but a hybrid of the best characteristics found in creatures roaming the earth. In the Greek pieces, “Korus” and “Doryphoros” both subjects are men and both pieces focus on the appearance of a young, healthy, and strong body. Both pieces from different periods, archaic and classical respectively, demonstrate not just progress in art styles but the progress of artist understanding how the body moves, and, mastering the portions of the human body to create a realistic depiction of mankind. In, “Hermes and the Infant Dionysus”, the artist depicts the Gods as almost humanlike and the artist even creates a more realistic depiction of a human body than the last two pieces by perfecting the proportions of the body and carving a more slimmer and trim body that through the right amount of effort can be achievable.

In Conclusion, it is apparent that despite both civilization existing during the same time period and only separated by a relatively small body of water, their art is completely different. Their art is not only completely different because of non- existent change in styles In Egyptian art and the constant progress of Greek art, but they also differ in the way they approach art as Egyptians never cared to change because to them the style was already perfect enough to distinguish people, royalty, and Gods, and, the Greeks became more interested in analyzing the human body and its limitations which ultimately led to constant progress of the art. The element of humanism is ultimately the difference and because of it, art pieces gain much more depth as they are not a simple piece depicting an individual but a piece focusing mankind as a whole.

http://deity-divinity.blogspot.com/2006/07/judgement-of-hunefer-before-osiris.html

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253370

https://www.art.co.uk/products/p9634407729-sa-i5503170/doryphoros.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_and_the_Infant_Dionysus

Blog Post #8: Humanism in Ancient Arts

In the times of the Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian, it was believed that everything on Earth should be based around God. Whatever you do in life, God should be your influence from what job you should have to what tree you should plant. As time passed by this ideology was tossed over for the idea of humanism. The idea that the world revolves around the man. No longer should your doings be based by gods but you decide what you do. This gave man more value and more independence from a higher power.

From the perspective of art, Mesopotamia’s human sculptures usually depicted an ordinary man with a normal physique. But due to the Greeks love of sports and athletes all of their human sculptures are men with god-like attributes, a nearly inhuman physique due to their humanism.

The gods of Mesopotamia were deities who were never compared to human and don’t live among humans. As well only priests were allowed to serve them directly and others would have to come to a place of gathering to ask things from them. Unlike the Mesopotamian, the Greeks saw gods as human-like featured creatures with extraordinary abilities. There are stories that these gods would assimilate with the humans even become animals, also they have human emotions and desires like every other human. Any Greek could pray to the gods from any place. Through the Greek’s adaption of humanism, they were able to focus on the world versus the deities they worshiped.

Humanism in Greek and Roman Art

Humanism is the belief in human beings. Essentially that human emotions and actions are outside the spectrum of nature. Even God or gods were brought down to the standards of human emotions. Humanism can be described using art by looking at the different pieces of art that the Greeks and later the Romans have done.

These are images of Gods. The first sculpture is Ares and Aphrodite. The second sculpture is of Hermes. One important thing you can get from these two sculptures are the almost humanest features that Gods share with Humans. Humanism is captured in the images by how Gods are portrayed as little as human beings. Of Course Gods are stronger than the average human, but like people Gods had emotions and feelings. Having emotions are considered a trait of a human. In the first image, the Gods are showed to show love for one another. This brings Gods closer to humans, showing a human centered world.

Compared to Roman and Greek art, Egyptian art illustrate humans as weak and nothing like the Gods. The God seen in the image is off Anubis. As you can see, the only thing that resembles a human would be the humanoid body, but the head shows how different gods are from humans. Anubis has a dogs head and is Gigantic compared to regular people. This is used by the Egyptians to differentiate and show the power of their gods. The Gods weren’t brought down to be or have any trait that would connect them to humans.

Putting them side by side shows the overall difference. The first image is of Aten and the second is off Zeus. They are said to be the strongest of each civilization. Humanism is illustrated through the fact that even the most powerful god still looked more human, unlike the Sun disk of a god that the Egyptians showed.

Humanism in Greek & Roman Art

Humanism is used in Greek & Roman art and it glorifies man by emphasizing the body of a human. Humanism in different art sculptures tends to evolve as it puts more detailing on the body structures and face. Egyptian & Mesopotamian art focused more on deities & gods to honor them & put them at the center. On the other hand, Greek & Roman art focuses on humans and how they’re the the center of events. They put more of a focus on humans rather than gods and goddesses. In Greek & Roman art, they emphasize the body of man by making them have certain poses and different face expressions. In one of the best known Greek sculptures known as Doryphoros by Polykleitos (image on the right), the focus is shifted from gods to humans. This art piece depicts a built, muscular man standing in a confident pose in nudity. He is standing while being nude to depict equality & to represent that the physical structure of humans were the same regardless of their social hierarchy. The artwork below (image on the left) is a depiction of Anubis, who was the Egyptian god. In Mesopotamian & Egyptian art, gods were the focus in the art pieces showing superiority over human beings. This is seen in the artwork below because Anubis is not portrayed as a human being. His head is instead, the figure has the body of a human but the head of an animal, a jackal. This shows that the gods were special because they were portrayed in a different kind of appearance compared to humans and were the focus in Mesopotamian & Egyptian art.

Humanism in Greek and Roman Art

During Ancient Greece art work defines humanism as man being the center of the deities. Although worshiping gods was still an important aspect of human beliefs, the belief that man was at the center of everything that happened around them became more practiced. In contrast, during Mesopotamian art they believe that gods where the reason for everything that happened around them, therefore men would worship gods the majority if the time and they would respect their divine presence. In Ancient Greece gods would be respected only for limited people. Men thought that gods were the same as them because they were able to have sexual intercourse with them. In both periods of time it is illustrated how art differs from each other, one worshipping gods and the other focusing on the beauty of men.

In the image below we can see the “Standing Man Worshipper” sculpture where it represents the idea that man could not possibly be worshipping gods all the time. Therefore they decide to create sculptures like the one below so that it represents an everlasting prayer. This is an example of Mesopotamian art,

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In the image below we can see a muscular man, the “The Discobolus of Myron” about to throw a disc across a big field, we could imagine. This is an example of Greek art where the work of art is more detail and naturalism is more present compared to the sculpture mentioned before. The life-like features such as toned muscles, long strong legs, and toned abdomen demonstrates that art focused on the beauty of men. The beauty of strong men who in this case play sports and the art work has captured a specific moment before he throws the disc. This specific work of art demonstrates that gods were no longer the center of their lives but man on their own had to be worshipped as well.

Humanism in Greek and Roman Art

Humanism was a flourishing theme in Ancient Greek and Roman times. The Greeks and Romans focused on humanism and most of their artworks (sculptures, paintings, etc) represent it. In definition, humanism is a specific type of perspective that places humans at the center of everything rather that focusing on divine beings such as Gods and Goddesses. This was a main theme portrayed in a multitude of Ancient Greek paintings and sculptures. Unlike ancient Greek and Roman art and literature, Mesopotamian and ancient Egyptian art does not solely focus on humanism. Instead, the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians placed their respective Gods and other divine deities at the top of the social hierarchy.

For example, in this post, I will be comparing two popular artworks done by the ancient Greeks and Egyptians: The standard of Ur (ancient Mesopotamia), the Standing Male Worshipper (also ancient Mesopotamia), and the Doryphoros by Polykleitos (Ancient Greek). One critical comparison can be made between ancient Egyptian artwork and Ancient Greek and that is the view of nudity. The ancient Egyptians frowned upon nudity and thought it was embarrassing to showcase a nude male or female. On the other hand, the ancient Greeks portrayed a lot of their artwork with nude males and females via a humanistic approach. Speaking about humanism, in the Standard of Ur and the Standing Male Worshipper, both artworks show a lack of humanism and leans towards divinity. In the standing male worshipper, the male is seen to be in a praying position and has huge eyes indicating the notion that he is openly praying to his God. This doesn’t show humanism, but rather shows how in ancient Mesopotamia, religion is important and God is in the center. Also, the in the Standard of Ur, there are multiple levels/ranks of hierarchy shown. The artwork shows all men kneeling towards one person, the King. The King, unlike the rest of the other men, is shown sitting on a throne and is physically larger in size than the rest of the men. This also shows a lack of humanism and leans towards the notion that divinity is the center of mankind. In the Doryphoros by Polykleitos, the sculpture is life-sized and shows a lot more fine details that the Standing Male Worshipper and the Standard of Ur. The Doryphoros portrays a nude male in a bent position and can be thought of as humanistic because it represents the ideal strong male in Ancient Greek society.