Analyzing the History of the Human Form through Art - Research Paper Example

Here March 14, Analyzing the History of the Human Form through Art From the Japanese conventions of binding feet as small as possible to the more current trends of a woman with the measurements of 36’’ by 24’’ by 36’’ as a beauty standard, the human figure has been under constant analysis and evolution. With the majority of this documentation and analysis taking place through the realm of art, it is clear that by observing pieces from each major artistic era can demonstrate how views of the human form have changed over time. In this essay, two pieces of art from each of the five periods of prehistoric art, Aegean art, Egyptian art, Greek art and Byzantine art will be analyzed to discuss how the human form was perceived by artists in each of these eras. Through this analysis, this purpose of this paper will show how the focus of the human figure shifted from a reproductive sense in the prehistoric era to a stronger character representation in the Byzantine era. In order to work through this process, each era will be designated with two works of art in each section. Prehistoric Art: Conceptualism and Realism Ranging from 75,000 BP to 1500 BP, prehistoric art includes multiple eras and methods. Essentially, prehistoric art is defined as art that was completed by a culture that did not have a spoken language. Without the ability to speak or write to document their legends, history and particular aspects of their culture, ancient civilizations turned to art as a way to capture their legacy (Art History Guide, n.d.). For example, the following picture of the “Venus” of Willendorf demonstrates how prehistoric art conceptualized the ultimate role of women as the vehicles for reproduction of the human race. With the exaggerated breasts and genitals, this representation of the human form in prehistoric art shows that the concepts of ancient civilizations regarding the human form centered around the notion of procreation. While this explanation demonstrates the idea behind conceptualism, the reality of prehistoric art in regard to the human form will be explored when looking at art that represents the realism that was portrayed in prehistoric times. Although topics of reproduction often resulted in embellished pieces to demonstrate fertility, art that portrayed a civilizations way of life often fell into the realism category. For example, the Lascaux Cave Paintings demonstrate how the human form was put into scale in comparison to animals that were hunted to provide food for the civilization. With the more lifelike replicas of human beings, it is clear that when being perceived as hunters, artists of the prehistoric era wanted to demonstrate these people as they were as they faced the beasts of the day in order to secure food for themselves and their families. For art of this nature, the realism of what was taking place trumped any possible conceptual ideas, as is the opposite when concerning human reproduction. Aegean Art: Abstraction According to Ogborn in 2003’s Prehistoric Art, this section is comprised of the cultures of Greece, the Cyclades Islands and Crete. Aegean art is heavily influenced by an abstract feel in the sense that nearly all of the pottery, statues and paintings completed during this era portrayed in the human form in a non-obvious manner. In order to demonstrate the abstract nature of this artwork, this section will analyze both a male and female form in art to discuss how humans were represented in art during the Aegean period. Beginning with the statue of the Snake Goddess of the Palace at Knossos in Crete, this ancient art work shows a mystical woman in such a way that she is nearly unrecognizable as a person, aside from the clear inclusion of breasts to her figure. The key characteristics to highlight about this statue include the fact that this woman has no legs, no obvious reproductive organs as is common with prehistoric renditions of females and no hands. While her status as a snake goddess seems to explain the fact of her having serpents in place of hands, the striking aspect of this piece is the way her bosom is represented. Although the majority of the snake goddess statute is dark in color, through some sort of ancient pigment, the bosom of the snake goddess is very light and vibrant. Upon looking at this statute, the goddess’s bosom is clearly the first thing one would notice as the different color draws your eye to it immediately. With this idea in mind, it is clear that this representation of a female form seems to demonstrate the artist’s intent to capture how a woman can draw someone in with the allure of their body and then strike for whatever purpose they desire with the hands of a deadly snake. The second piece of Aegean artwork to be discussed is also taken from Crete’s Palace at Knossos. This painting is a rendition of three males and a horse. Whether intended to portray an era of war or peace, the physical representation of the male human form is starkly different than the female portrayal that was seen with the snake goddess. In this painting, the men are portrayed as athletic, viable young people who have the ability to work with and tame a large beast of burden such as a horse and effectively conquer the animal. With this painting being much less abstract, other than the sheer size of the horse, the artist seems to be demonstrating a man’s ability to simply be able to take care of what is necessary and perhaps control a horse that is substantially larger than he is. Through having the size of the horse being the only real clear deviation from reality in this painting, it is a sound hypothesis to assume that the artist was intending to show the power of men through their ease of controlling this massive creature. Egyptian Art: Conceptualism Shifting focus to the world of ancient Egyptian art, this first painting portrays both human figures as well as that of their gods. By including this piece, it is evident that in form, simply, the ancient Egyptians equated human beings and gods as similar. Also attributed to the fact that the ancient Egyptians thought of their pharaohs as gods themselves, human beings were represented as athletic, young people. By portraying human beings in this light, it is evident that the ancient Egyptians wished to demonstrate that people of this culture would remain young and powerful into their afterlife, thus signifying their immortal status for eternity. In this second ancient Egyptian art piece, two women are featured. Through this portrayal we again see the women with young, athletic and skinny forms. In addition to the physical shape of their bodies, the women are also painted with extreme beauty in the face with the inclusion of their eye make up, wigs and jewelry. This representation of the female form is a major shift from the initial prehistoric art analyzed which determined that the human form was often represented for its purpose of reproduction. By highlighting this aspect of Egyptian art, it is evident that as society progressed, the meaning and importance of certain aspects of being human changed to incorporate the physical being for appearance as well as the actual necessity of reproduction. Understanding this change in the perception of human beings is an essential component to learning the progression of art portrayal and the conceptual nature of the ancient Egyptian culture. Greek Art: Realism, Humanism, Idealism Perhaps one of the most chronicled cultures of world history, the Greeks were very influential in the world of art. In support of this notion, Greek culture often infused the aspects of realism, humanism and idealism into their art pieces. As a demonstration of this, the first piece to be analyzed is a black figure vase from the Archaic Period, which dates from 700 to 500 BC. On this vase, the warrior is represented with an almost immortal-like strength with the build of his physical being. This portrayal of the human figure is in almost direct contrast to that of the Aegean period where the warriors were painted with body styles similar to actual human beings and the animals were given a supremely strong looking appearance to demonstrate the hunting abilities of the men in the painting. Considering the high importance of mythology in Greek culture, this fact may be a contributing factor in establishing why Greek artists portrayed human beings with nearly God-like qualities of strength and beauty. While this factor definitely strays from the notion of realism, we can see the overwhelming presence of Idealism within the artwork of this ancient Greeks with this Archaic Period piece. Shifting focus to how the Greeks represented the female human body, this statue depicting a woman of the time portrays how Greek society considered the gender. With such a realistic portrayal that the woman looks real, it is clear that the ancient Greeks felt that the female form was beautiful as it was and allowed their art to let it remain untouched. By praising women as they are and cherishing their ability to be mothers, Greek culture elevated women to a status not seen among many other ancient cultures. Consider the mythical beings of Athena, the Patron Goddess of Athens or Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love – these countless goddess represented the understanding that both men and women had the ability to better themselves to a higher way of thinking, acting and living by emulating the gods that were above watching them go about their lives. The importance of this representation of the human form is that this is the first instance within these art eras that realism is identified in the sense that human beings are portrayed in life-like forms. Byzantine Art: Spiritualism, Symbolism According to Gardner in Art Through the Ages, the Byzantine period introduced Christianity dominantly into the art world due to the ornamentation of the large number of churches that were constructed during this time. The first featured piece of art for this portion is the most famous of the surviving mosaic of this era, the image of Christ Pantocrator. Known as the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, this 12th century mosaic is in stark contrast to all other eras of art by representing the human form enraptured in such a strong sense of spirituality that one cannot help but feel that they are in the presence of something holy. Another example of the human form depicted for the purpose of spirituality and symbolism is in the work of the Virgin of Vladmir. By demonstrating how the human form can take on a spiritual aspect to the point, this era depicts the transcendence from prehistoric art which focused on reproduction to the Byzantine era which centered on religion. In closing, this analysis demonstrated how the perceptions of the human form have changed from being concerned with only the physical aspects to what lies beneath the surface and within the soul. Works Cited Art History Guide. History of Art, Artists & Art Movements. Web. 15 March 2012. http://www.arthistoryguide.com/. Kleiner. (2009). Garner’s Art Through the Ages, 12th Edition. Print. Ogborn, M. (2003). Prehistoric Art. Web. 15 March 2012. http://www.students.sbc.edu/ogborn03/prehistoricart.htm Read More