Compare and Contrast Two Works of Art Compa Compare and Contrast Two Works of ArtEssay Preview: Compare and Contrast Two Works of Art Compa Compare and Contrast Two Works of ArtReport this essayARTW 101 Ð- Society and Visual ArtUniversity of RedlandsCompare and Contrast Two Works Of ArtGreek culture is the source from which many of the characteristic elements of Western culture derive. Their explorations and innovations in art have both fascinated and inspired other civilizations for centuries. For this assignment I chose two Greek sculptures viewed at the Getty Museum. The first is Kouros circa 530 B.C. made of Dolomitic marble from Thasos and is approximately 200 cm (80 in) in height. The second is Cult Statue of a Goddess, (most likely Aphrodite) South Italy, 425 – 400 B.C. made of Limestone and marble. It stands at a height of 220 cm (86 5/8 in). There is some dispute to the authenticity of the Getty Kouros sculpture, but assuming it is not a modern forgery it would belong to the Greek Archaic period. Cult Statue of a Goddess (herein referred to as Aphrodite) hails from the Greek Classical period. The identities of both sculptors are unknown.
In historical terms, the time difference between these two sculptures is not a relatively large one (approximately 100 to 130 years), and the two works share a few common characteristics. They are both freestanding sculptures with open spaces. Neither piece depicts a person who really existed but rather a figure representing the ideals valued during that period. These sculptures also commemorate the living instead of the dead like the sculptures of the ancient Egyptians. The time difference these pieces do reflect a change or evolution between the two Greek periods and their respective concerns and principles. Kouros represents youth and many of the ideals of the aristocratic culture of Archaic Greece, such as that of moral and physical beauty and nobility. Aphrodite represents the Greek goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture Ð- characteristics esteemed by the Classical Greek concepts of naturalism and humanism.
The physical characteristics of these pieces differ quite a bit also. Kouros is a life-sized sculpture (approximately 6 ÐÐ feet) and displays a position adopted by the Ancient Egyptians; an upright figure sporting a stiff frontal pose, hands clenched at the sides and one foot slightly forward. The overall all renditions are block-like and sculpted with geometric reduction of details. The anatomy is made up of planes, completely symmetrical. The hair, ears, and eyes have been reduced to simple shapes Ð- again, all identically symmetrical. Kouros is depicted nude, symbolic of Archaic Greeces emphasis on the ideal individual male and autonomous Greek citizen. In contrast, Aphrodite is a considerably large female (7 feet tall and substantially wider than the Kouros). Given the larger than real-life scale, this statue probably served as a cult image in a temple. The statues excellent state of conservation also suggests that it was kept indoors. It is free standing but also in an anatomical, not just mechanical sense. The pose is full and rounded, not solely frontal. You get a sense of the body being relaxed, with one hand extended in a gesture that gives a sense of it moving forward.
One foot is also forward with Aphrodite but with the pelvis at an angle to the ground plane creating the position known as contrapposto, the position of a human figure in painting or sculpture in which the hips and legs are turned in a different direction from that of the shoulders and head; the twisting of a figure on its own vertical axis. Additionally, no geometric reduction and arrangement of separate parts occurs with Aphrodite. You have a complete human face with each element fully articulated and naturally accurate. Whereas Kouros is nude, Aphrodite displays the figures swirling, clinging clothing closely following the sculptural style current in Athens on the mainland of Greece in the late 400s B.C. This emphasizes the sculptures feeling of freedom and dramatic expression. Through the use of these compositional elements, contrapposto of the body and the dramatic flow of
hone on each of the bodies in a scene, the way art is produced and acted becomes more visually intense.
Aphrodite was created for the purpose of presenting an aesthetic and aurally different sculpture of a human figure that was both highly and highly articulated.
Aphrodite’s body is still the final piece of art to be commissioned during the commission of the new museum in Athens. If we look for the exact structure and the proportions and the geometry of the structure of this sculpture, we’ll find it too, without a doubt. Because of the very fact that it’s based on the same scale as the Athens sculptural process, it doesn’t give the illusion that any one of the pieces of sculpture is made in similar or similar numbers. The exact size difference in scale would be less about the time it took to assemble the body and parts of the sculpture, to a time it took to produce them.
During all aural work, there will be many layers. The more complex something is, the more interesting it becomes. It will probably also be easier for an artist to work a scale out. We can go back to the earliest sculptures of art, and that was sculpture without any particular geometry of the figures, though. That kind of sculpture can’t be called “art without proportions.” I think we should not be too shocked with such a simple art. We should be surprised every time a painting depicts the proportions of a person who has an eyes and lips full of flowers. The more complex they are, the more difficult they are to make from a small amount of wood and wood pulp. They give way to a more complex figure. All the details must have to be perfect and in order to achieve that, there must be other things that are going on on the figures that would require very specific shapes and different proportions of the body and limbs.
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