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Greek Art ::
Greece has a rich and varied artistic history, spanning some 4000 years and beginning in the Minoan pre-historical civilization, giving birth to Western classical art in the ancient period (and developing this during the Hellenistic Period), to taking in the influences of the East and the new religion of Christianity in the Byzantine period, continuing through the Renaissance with figures such as El Greco, absorbing Italian ideas in the Romanticist period (with the invigoration of the Greek Revolution), right up until the Modernist and Post-Modernist periods.The Greeks liked to paint about the body >> more.. |
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Hellenistic Sculpture :: repeats the innovations of the second classicism: perfect sculpture in the round, allowing the statue to be admired from all angles; study of draping and effects of transparency of clothing; suppleness of poses. Thus, Venus de Milo, even while echoing a classic model, is distinguished by the twist of her hips. One seeks, above all, expressively and atmosphere. This search is particularly flagrant in the portraits: more than the precision of the traits represented, the artist seeks to represent the character of his/her subject. In the great statuary, the artist explores themes such as suffering, sleep or old age. One such is the Barberini Faun of Munich, representing a sleeping satyr with relaxed posture and anxious face, perhaps the prey of nightmares. The drunk woman, also at Munich, portrays without reservation an old woman, thin, haggard, clutching against herself her jar of wine. Laocoön, strangled by snakes, tries desperately to loosen their grip without affording a glance at his dying sons >> more.. |
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