Topic: How did the portrayal of Greek women in Art change from 950 BCE to 500 BCE.
In 530 BC naked women were a hot topic for vases. These women were portrayed in very .
suggestive and lewd positions. The vases were often used by men at drinking parties, .
which explain the topic of this art. In the middle of the fourth century, BC the image of the .
female nude body changed. Ancient Greece 950 BCE was a culture that took great pride .
in perfection, excellence and overall greatness. The people weren't what today's society .
would consider modern, but of their time they were. The Greeks essentially molded the .
creative world with their intelligence in art, architecture, and astronomy for many cultures .
to come.
.
Using balance and proportion the Greeks sculpted what they considered to be the .
perfect male and female forms. They called the male the Kouros. He was considered to .
represent Apollo or the perfect male athlete. The Kouros was always depicted nude in a .
contrapposto position, meaning one foot in front of the other, and facing forward. He had .
braided hair, no eyeballs and an archaic smile. The female figure was called the Kore. She .
was a freestanding fully clothed figure, usually depicted draped in jewlery. The Kore was .
much more youthful looking than the Kouros. She also had no eyeballs and the infamous .
archaic smile. These two forms of Greek sculpture along with others can be related to our .
society today.
Sources.
Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth, A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1996.
Garland, Robert, Daily life of the Ancient Greeks, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1998.
Hood, Sinclair, The Arts in Prehistoric Greece, Penguin Books, London, 1978.
Lightman, Marjorie And Benjamin Lightman, Ancient Greek and Roman Women, Checkmark Books, 2000.
Sowerby, Robin. The Greeks: An Introduction to Their Culture. London: Routledge, 1995.