First Narrative
Kouros (youth) are marble statues by Greek artists and existed between 590-580BC in the archaic period. These sculptures have a rigid standing stiff posture. It has a smile and a detailed form of anatomical human patterns. Its sculpturing was from white marble obtained from the island of Paros, The eyes, lips, and hair were painted in wax-fixated colors, and the wax worked in the pores of marble to come up with color, which was required for the hair. The statue was erected over a grave of a young Athenian aristocrat. The placing of the smile on the status faces insinuates sensuous erotism among the Greeks in ancient time. The nudity shown in the Greek art of this period developed towards the portrayal of athletic Greek men through enhancement of the physical qualities. The color painted on the statue shows that the Kouro was of a respectable person and held a noble positioning in an honorable position among the Greek (Brendan and Stanley 5-210)
There was no differentiation of deities and mortals by Greek artists and that could make a man curved on marble to be a dead mortal, god or a living man on simple observation of the statues. However, the means of making the differentiation comes through the environment of their placement such as the cemetery, public place or the sanctuary accompanied by the inscription identifying the statue. The inscriptions allowed ancient people to identify the status of the statue and what position it represented – it is the same thing with the present viewer. For example, the statue of Phrasikleia and the kouros of Anavysos were only identifiable because of the inscriptions found on their bases. That brought about the realization that they were funerary in status.
Back in the Archaic period when the kouros (nude young man) and kore (draped female) there was predominance of Greek statuary. There were animals such as Myron’s Heifer, which was popularized in so many texts and dozens of epigrams composed in later centuries as dedications to the statues. The preservation of the statues of Greek statuary was beyond the mere preservation of the artists’ creativity. There were more specific and pragmatic reasons for their preservation, because it is evident that the Greek artworks ignored other forms of art such as value and form. The statuses had explicit dedications such as representation of divinity to which the statue is dedicated, as win the wide indication of offering masculine statues to the gods and feminine statuses to the goddesses. Alternatively, there were also individual dedications of statues as a depiction of humans like to someone or a family. This is such as the dedication by Argos people of the statues of Kleobis. The commissioning of statuses was by the aristocratic individuals and the state. The statues were for use in temples, public memorials, sanctuaries and oracles. The uses were in the inscriptions in the statues and in the graves. In the archaic periods, the statuses made never represented real individuals. They were depictions of idealized beauty, showing piety, sacrifice and honor. They depicted young men graded in social classifications and importance depending on the commissioner of the statue other than the innovative artistry of the creator. (Brendan and Stanley 5-210).
The Hand of Daedalus representing Anavyssos Kouros is an example of images of real people. The portrait of the statue was created in marble and placed on the grave of a young man in a rural Attica family estate. In rare occurrences, the statue was found with its base and inscriptions reading, “Stand and mourn for Kroisos now dead Whom wild Ares struck down at the battleline’s head”. It a story of a young man called Kroisos who died in battle. His name was similar to that of the Lysdias’ sixth century king fabled because of wealth. There may have been a good relationship between the father to the boy and the Lydian king with the possibility that he was an official Proxenos and guest friend and that gave him some sort of status of Athenian consul to the Lydian king. That brings the possibility for naming his son in honor of his foreign friendship held with the king of Lydia. Through the erection of his statues without clothing, without armor representing the status of the “Kouros”, the suggestion of the father about Kroisos is that he attained the status of hero for being mortal and divine. This portrait is of an ideal individual given heroic status. The statue made out of stone represents the archaic period posing in a direct frontal attention. It has a rigid archaic formula. There is also a emphasis in the treatment of the anatomy of the statue to integrate bodily structure. The mouth has a recession as an emphasis for the facial structure in the manner of an “archaic smile”.
In the analysis of the Aphrodite of Cnidus the portrait of the goddess is in Persian marble adorning an arrogant smile and having no garment, uncovering and revealing all her beauty. It is possible to admire the portrait both from the front and behind portraying her beauty. The nudity of women was not appreciated in Greek art prior to this portrait though the art presents the hand used to cover her private parts as a way of hiding and revealing the divine authority of the goddess. Her hand covers her modesty and that further draws attention to it showing the mastery of the power she has on her worshipers. The portrayal of her head shows the presentation of a perfect woman with the area surrounding the forehead and hair given emphasis and the eyebrows line and her eyes given a liquid gaze that is clear and winning. These are qualities that speak of her understanding and wisdom and her experiences in politics and affairs.
The self-conscious covering of her pubis and breasts and express nudity is a significant presentation of her divine birth coming from the sea and the role she played in Cnidus as the protectoress of the seafarers. Her gesture is an indicator of her fertility more than the initial idea that would come from an initial look at the portrait. The hydria symbolizes represents the eternity of her youth maintained through continuous cleansing and renewal rituals. The drapery links the figure to the water and the vessel. Originally, the commemoration of the Aphrodite relates to the victory of the Athenians over Spartans from Cnidus, that makes Cnidians to honor Aphrodite highly, and that led to the many sanctuaries of her. The portrait, therefore, shows the originality associated with Greek art it its portrayal of the entry of nudity into the portrayal of its koro. Just like in the Theogony art began to personify ideal people in statues. It was a period of challenges to morality and people begun accepting changing attitudes regarding morality (Brendan and Stanley 5-210).
The experience an understanding of the Aphrodite opens the understanding of sexuality related to females. For women, accepting sexuality follows the acceptance of personal sensual nature. This is different from the opinion of men, which ranges between beauty desire, passion and sexuality. These traits are apparent in the Aphrodite and its portrayal in the Greek art. She is the goddess of sexuality and beauty and that is the perception and portrayal in her statue. In certain extents, her portrayal were the nearest to presentation of pornography ever seen in Greek art at the time. The portrait represents the beauty of Aphrodite and her sexuality as a nurturing aspect of the woman. It is the presentation of the work of Praxaiteles in Athens, Greece. It is an idealized female form essentially a representation of the goddess of love, which the portrait represents. In representation of the Cnidus, it has a “pin-up” pose such as in the hands covering her private parts as a sign of reservation of her modesty. As much as it is a beautiful depiction of a prominent goddess of the Greek, the nudity of the portrait presents concerns of how it managed to pass through the beliefs of the period. There are concerns about the role she had in revealing the nudity probably as a cult or possibly the inclusion of the water vase acts as a justification of her reason for being nude. The public life of the Greek was slowly deteriorating and that can explain the acceptance of this portrait as a moral helplessness juxtaposed in different aspects. It is the point that produces the concerns of Heseid regarding immortal rivalry and the evasiveness of sexuality.
This can be seen in the acceptance of displaying the nudity of the goddess and the Korous with the consent of kings, elders and the society as a source of divine providence. Creation of memories acted as a preservation of the ideals of the Spartan community in remembering of the heroes. However, for the koro, their adorning with jewelry and clothing showed the need for appreciating the maturity of the women. This shows how the young women needed to behave as they represented the role of upholding beauty and embracing powerful family responsibilities. The representation of male nudity was however more common that female nudity. This was because of occasions of the feeling of nudity as a presentation of humiliation and defeat. There were different controls of how women of the time featured in statues depending on the social, political and economic influences. Respectable women were portrayed with ample respect and in most occasions, they adorned respectfully while a number of alterations following the changes in the society led to the appreciation of nudity in women. The Greek had the feeling that they had the most beautiful women in the entire world and the presentation through statuaries was a means of preserving the mannerisms and dressings of the time.
Works Cited
Brendan, Nagle and Stanley, Burstein. The ancient world: Readings in social and cultural history. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. (2009): 5-210
