This my research for the PGPD paper :
DID THE CLASSIC ART DIE WITH THE END OF THE CLASSIC PERIOD?
Classic Art
"In the history of art there has not been rise and fall, but there is always the fact that some arts play a major role and are more important than the others. The first is the Greek."
V. CHAPOT French Professor of the Fine Arts /University of Paris. (cited in Deligiannis. 1996: p42)
Before the Greeks reach the Bronze Age, important and authentic civilizations had been developed in Greece, the Minoic, the Cycladitic and the Early Greek. This was the kind of art on which were based the first Hellenic tribes when they settle in the Greek peninsula. They were using these characteristics and morphing them into their own culture. The major Greek tribes were the Dorians (Macedonians, Epirians, Spartans, Sicilians), the Aeolians (Thessalians) and the Ionians (Minor Asians, Thracians, Athenians, and the people of Aegean Islands and Marseilles of South France). Greeks, inspired by the best elements of the previous civilizations, created a unique civilization. It would have been be impossible for the science, the philosophy, the political systems and especially the art to flourish without the creation of this unique civilization.
The peak of this civilization was the Classic Period, or "the Golden Age" 5th BC as described by the world wide experts and historians. In arts "The Greek miracle", the lost and unimportant person of the East and South civilizations is given for first time a value and a position in life. The recognition was based on the fact that Human is the creator of the art and creator of values.
In 490 BC and again in 480 BC the Persians who have conquered the Greek states of the Manor Asia (Ionian routes of Greeks) tried to establish their kingdom in Greece and Europe. The failure of the Persian Empire was the kick start of the Golden Age. This meant euphoria, economical development, democracy, and moreover creation of master pieces in every kind of art.
It is difficult to determine when the development from the Archaic Period to the Classic Period happened, as very few pieces of art have survived. But, we can say that the transformation must have happened when the archaic standstill sculpture of "Kouros" were replaced by more complicated and flexible sculptures like the "young man of Kritias" .Sir Kenneth Clark called the latter “The first beautiful naked figure of the Art".(cited in Deligiannis. 1996: p60)
Sculpture
The beauty and the idealism of the figure had reached its peak with the works of Pheidias and Praxiteles. These two sculptors spent their entire lives looking for the magnificence in the art. They had reached the level whereby they gave gods of their kingdom human like features, hence making them equal to the humans. Apart from the sculptors who are making religious sculpture, there were others like Myron and Polyklitos who were interested in the athletic sculpture. The "Kanonas" and the "Disk thrower" are statues with dimensions based on mathematics and research in order to express the harmony of the athletic body. The harmonic stretch of the hands of the statues in an imaginative level which gives an anaglyph aesthetic were replaced by Lisippos, who stretch their hands in a third dimension trying to represent a three dimensional environment. "Sintagma" by Kritias and the statue of "Zeus" or "Poseidon" of Artemision are famous bronze sculptures. The sculptured metopes and pediment of Acropolis by Pheidias are also very famous. The Metopes represents a giant-fight, an Amazon-fight and a centaurs-fight narrating metaphorically the history of the Greek nation.
It is important to note that five out of the Seven Wonders of ancient world are inspired by the classic sculpture and architecture. The statue of Zeus in Olympia by Pheidias in 440BC is one the early five wonders. The size of this statue gives the impression that Zeus will break the roof of his temple if he stood up and this has fascinated many poets and historians.
Architecture
Though the 5th century has left plenty of examples, both in Greece and it's colonies I think it's reasonable to focus on the most perfect creation of the classic spirit, the "Parthenon" the temple of Athena on the Acropolis of Athens. It was built from 447 to 438 BC by the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates. The ground plan of Parthenon is the richest of all Doric temples ever built in the Greek peninsula. It has pillars on the perimeter of the main temple and eight extra pillars both east and west side outside of the perimeter. The main temple is divided in two parts the east part where the golden statue of Athena was situated, created by Pheidias and the West where the Athenians guarded the money of the Chios' Alliance. Parthenon is entirely made from marble except from one part of the roof which is made of wood. The roof was made from Paros' marble in order to have some transparency.
Parthenon combines Doric and Ionic style. The four pillars behind the west entrance and the decoration of the perimetric level above the pillars were Ionic. The rest of the pillars were Doric. Ladommatos Andrew claims that this combination of the strict and traditional Doric style with the light and the daring Ionic style is not just an aesthetic inspiration, symbolizes the titanic effort of Athens of Pericles to put together the basic characteristics of all Greek world, in the attempt to force its leadership at that classic era. (Ladommatos Andrew. 1984)
4th – 2nd century BC
A big historical incident happened after the 5th century BC, the war between Athens and Sparta, “The Peloponnesian War”. The continuous defeats of Athens gave chance to other states like Thebes, Sparta, Corinth to rise. During the 4th century BC the Corinthian rhythm was the most elegant style of the pillar-decoration. The Corinthian pillar is decorated with acanthus leaves and engraved with rosettes and they often had scrolled elements at the corners and a boss, or projecting ornament at the top centre of each side.
From 4th century and onwards the architectonic structure of the ancient theatre reached the familiar semicircle shape. The theatre is composed by three main parts the orchestra, the scene and the Koilon. Orchestra is a circular level situated in the middle of the theatre, scene served as background and has three entrances for the actors and Koilon which is the main part of the theatre, a semicircular order of seats around the orchestra.
Even though some historians believe that after the 5th century the fall of the classic art started but three wonders of the ancient world belong to this period: the temple of Artemis at Ephesus(356 BC), the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (353BC) and the statue of Colossus of Rhodes (304BC)
In 336 Macedonian Kingdom became the successor of the Greek spirit and Alexander the Great spread it to the East with his conquest. The results are noticeable during the Hellenistic Period when his diadochi kings who continued and opened new horizons to the classic art. This is the period when the artists don’t look for subjects only on the top of Olympus but also humans are the centre of interest and the creation starts to reflect the personal taste of the artists. (Ladommatos Andrew. 1984)
Roman copies of the famous statues of the Hellenistic Period have survived like the Luck of Antioch, The Nike of Samothrace, and the Aphrodite of Milos.
Alexander’s successor in Egypt, Ptolemy Soter and his Kingdom can be proud of two chief ancient buildings the Library and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Both were built during Ptolemy Philadelphus era, the son of Ptolemy Soter in 3rd century BC.
Roman Era
The contribution of the Romans in History of Art is very important, because they continued the Hellenistic tradition and spread the classic art to the West and added new ways of expression. Firstly the early Italians-Etruscans have partly been influenced by the Greek colonies of the South Italy (La Grande Grecia) and later with the Roman conquest towards the East. Rome had physically conquered Greece, but the Greeks had conquered Roman thoughts. Their love for the classic art made them to collect art pieces and copy the prototypes and imitate them. During Roman ages the portraits developed a lot in sculpture, and specifically represent historical faces of emperors and high class men and women. The facial features are realistic with just a bit or none idealism. Sculptures had developed in new fields of decoration like the anaglyph scenes on the arches of victory which tell the stories of the adventures of the emperors and reflects the need of power and wealth. Classic art influenced Roman Architecture: the building of theatres, temples of the Greek gods, forums and fountains. The discovery of concrete allowed them to built gigantic buildings like the Coliseum and the Pantheon. The Corinthian was the favourite pillar order of the Romans and was used repeatedly.
During the 1st century BC the Khazneh or the treasury was built in Petra of Jordan, the rock curved city. This majestic classic architecture building was created by Nabateans an Arab lost civilization.
Byzantine Empire
Even though the Hellenistic and Roman art had freed the artists from the full service of the religion but Christianity in the end of Roman ages, put them back under the power of the religion. Christian Art on one hand was influenced by the Oriental symbolism and simplicity especially in the Early Christian period, but on the other hand was the acceptance of the way of expression of classic period which emphasised on the context and love for the figure particularly during the Byzantine era. Byzantines, despite of their immense effort to rise above the influences of the classical period still could not overcome completely. Very often paganistic elements appear in the art and culture. Religion in order to suppress their influence on the masses would relate these with satanic practises. The ancient expression reappeared, for instance during the ages of Justinian and the ages of Constantine the 7th the Porphyrogenitus who encourage the classic studies. For example sometimes Jesus Christ was represented as a young man of classic art and sometimes like in the basement of St Peter in Rome is represented as the god Sun on his chariot.
Renaissance
The Renaissance which started in Italy between 15th and 16th century is a phenomenon which is evident in every part of human activities. Italians, who were not effected by barbarian and Arab invasions, sustained the memory of the brilliant past civilizations during the dark ages of Europe. Renaissance in arts is defined as resurrection of Greek and Roman art. The art is free from medieval features and receives its inspiration from the classic period and is reformed with the humanistic spirit of Renaissance. In the art works of Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rafael, Botticelli one would find not copies of ancient world subjects but liberation of expression. In Rome the saint Peter’s Basilica is created by Michelangelo and is one of the most well-known buildings of Italy. The Renaissance spread the classic spirit to the West (Spain and France) and finally to the North (Holland, Germany, Belgium) to meet the gothic style and morphed to a new kind of art.
Classicism-Today
Between the 16th and 18th century a turnaround was made to the Classic Period. Classicism and Neo-classicism offered a calm, harmonic synthesis with “right” design and dimensions. The subjects then were inspired by the ancient world. The subjects as expressed by the famous artists of that period Caracci, Pussen, David had a teaching meaning connected with the struggle of the nation for freedom, rights and justice. The architecture was the prominent art of these styles and not only used but almost imitated the ancient Greek types. The sculpture finds its representatives in the names of Canova, the English John Flaxman and the Danish Thorvaldsen.
In the 1873 the statue, which portrays Napoleon as a roman emperor, had the base which was a copy of Trajan's Column decoration.
From this period France and especially British Empire spread the classic art all over the world. The new world and the USA later accepted and developed this art in new forms.
Today we can observe presence of classic art all around us: the British museum by Robert Smirke, the St Paul’s church, National Bank of England, Buckingham Palace and the Eros statue on Piccadilly circus in England to the Brandenburg Gate, Schauspielhaus Theatre in Berlin and Old Opera of Frankfurt and from the classic statues of the Olympian Gods of Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark to the Monticello by Thomas Jefferson, the statue of G. Washington as Socrates by Horatio Greenough, the statue of Liberty and the White House in USA.
Conclusion
In the end, as the author of this research I would like to conclude that the classic art acts as foundation in the field art. Through out the different periods it has faced numerous resistance and challenges. Unlike other art periods the classical art Because of its powerful characteristics did not die with time. It stands up to the test of time because; different civilizations due to their admiration toward the classical art passed it on to the next civilization. Hence the name “Classical Art” is justified.
Books
Connolly, Peter. (1998), “Greece and Rome at war”, Mechanicsburg, Greenhill books
Ikonomou, Lefteris. (1995), “Stations in the history of the Greek Art”, Athens, O.E.D.B.
Ladommatos, Andrew (1984), “History of Art”, Cyprus, O.E.D.B.
Paparigopoulos, Konstantinos. (1930),“The History of the Greek Nation”, Athens, Galaxias Ermias.
Patsis, Haris. (1986), “Golden Age”, Pireaus, Haris Patsis European Publications' Center, .
Sekunda, Nick. (1995), “Ancient Greeks”, Geobooks
‘In’ References
Boardman, J. (1973), “Greek Art”, London, Thames and Hudson,. IN: Deligiannis, Konstantinos (1996), “History of Art- Ancient Ages”, Athens, T.E.I.
Grabar, A.. (1969), “Byzantium”, London, Thames and Hudson,. IN: Deligiannis, Konstantinos (1996), “History of Art- Byzantine Art”, Athens, T.E.I.
