Tag: Blog #8: Humanism in Greek Art

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.

Related image

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

Image result for kouros greek sculpture period

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

Image result for doryphoros

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

Image result for hermes and the infant dionysus

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

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,

‘

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.