Sculpture

All info taken from: http://library.thinkquest.org/23492/data/works.htm

Greek art in particular was very influential in the development of Western art, and because knowledge of the Classical period is almost a prerequisite to observation of the evolution of Western art

The style of the Classical period in Greek Sculpture developed from the conventions of the earlier Archaic Period. Through the Classical period (which is usually divided into Early, Middle, and Late Classical periods), the human figure evolved from the one-dimensional rigidity of Archaic kouros and kore figures, to a more realistic figure which interacted with its three-dimensional environment.

The important concept of weight shift was first applied to sculpture in the Early Classical period. With this application, the sculpted figure came to be seen as moving in a direction through space, rather than merely standing in it, as in an Archaic statue. The Middle (High) Classical period saw the application of a Platonic canon of proportions to sculpture; the sculpted figure could represent the sculptor’s ideal of a ‘perfect’ human body.

Finally, in the Late Classical period, sculpture began to be realized as a three-dimensional form, which took up and enclosed space. The figure could be viewed, like a ‘real’ object, from any three-dimensional angle. With the figure spatially defined, the Classical style gave way to the later Hellenistic period, during which development of the emotional and dramatic aspects of sculpture was to continue.

Also, there developed a new relationship between the sculpted figure and its enclosing space. In the earlier years of the Classical period, sculptures had been intended for viewing from only one or two certain angles, usually frontal. During the Late Classical period, the sculptor began to create figures that interacted with their environment in all three dimensions: these figures could be viewed from any angle with equal effectiveness. This dimensional innovation is generally credited to Lysippos, personal sculptor for Alexander the Great.

The Greeks studied the movement of the body, how weight is carried, and how a shift in stance could affect the placement of limbs, torso, and head. After 480 BCE, the first marble sculpture displaying the qualities of ‘contrapposto,’ or weight shift, appeared in the Kritios Boy. However, whatever technical advancements made by Kritios Boy were put aside when the Persians invaded Greece in 480-479 BCE.

Renaissance sculpture.