Vocabulary - Module 3 Flashcards
Archaic smile or “sign of life”
Artificial-looking smile was part of the formula for pre-classical (Archaic) statues.
Contrapposto
distribution of the weights and balances of the body with corresponding higher or lower hip and shoulder to the weight-bearing leg or side.
Canon
standard, or rule, against which all classical and later Roman statuary was measured
Classical
Refers to the period in Greek art from 480 B.C. to about the time of Alexander the Great’s death in 323 B.C
Gymnasium
Greek schools that taught the liberal arts and athletic training
Hellenistic
stylistic period that began with the death of Alexander the Great (323 BCE) and ended with the annexation of Egypt to the Roman Empire (30 BCE)
Art became more varied in subject matter and style and was often highly dramatic, exaggerated, tragic, passionate, and intense.
Kouros
A standing male statue of an archetypal Greek, athletic youth presented nude with one foot set forward, hands down to the sides
Kore
A standing female statue of an archetypal Greek maiden presented with one hand extended making an offering to the gods. She is always clothed and frequently with the archaic smile. They also were rigid and axial in style and were used as dedication figures at the temple
Lysippos
The greatest sculptor from the school at Sikyon
-introduced a new canon of proportions in which the bodies were more slender.
Myron
- Greek sculptor from Eleutherai
- deceptive realism of his work in bronze, especially statues of athletes
Olympian polytheism
- A religion .
- The Olympian gods were considered to hold supernatural powers and live forever but demonstrate the personality traits of humans as they often succumbed to their passions. Their human form and beauty inspired young Greeks to cultivate and perfect their own appearances.
Open composition
A term that describes a work of art that is not self-contained but refers to other implied elements outside of its own space and may include a reference to the viewer. Could also be used as a formal description of a composition with extended elements and voids.
Panathenaic festival
A festival honoring the goddess Athena, the warrior goddess of wisdom and the intellect and patroness of the city of Athens.
Polykleitos
- Greek sculptor
- wrote a manual (the Canon) and headed the first recorded major “school” of sculptors
Praxiteles
His colossal reputation was due in part to the novelty of ideas embodied in an essentially conservative art. For example, he introduced total nudity as a means of enhancing the sensual appeal of mature goddesses; by contrast, he also showed a predilection for the playful activities of adolescent gods. His chief contribution to Western art lies in his aesthetic exploration of female sexuality.
