Art from greece essays

Art from greece essays The piece of art that I chose from this chapter can be found on page 157. This is a sculpture of the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon. I guess it seems fitting that this sculpture was found on the bottom of the sea in 1928. The ancient sailors relied on Poseidon for safe voyage on the seas. He had is good points and his bad as a god; he is often thought of as a moody god. When he became upset that was when the seas would be rough, causing shipwrecks and drownings. On the other hand, when Poseidon was happy the ocean would be calm and new lands in the water would be created. This god was always creating trouble with another; he was always having love affairs or competitions. But, none the less he played a major role in Greek mythology, especially as one of the major gods in the Trojan War. This statue of him is very unique. This was probably created around 460 BC by the ancient sculptor Kalamis. It is roughly 2 meters high, made of bronze, and is of one of the newer styles of Greek art. His flowing style is that of contrapposto, so it is more relaxed, unlike the earlier archaic sculptures. His pose is one that seems to command space, his slightly bents knees make it looks as though he is about to move at any moment. This pose is most likely one of him in some sort of sport or battle, because upon looking closely one can see that his right hand should be holding a spear or something of the sort. His motion is evident of one major thing, however. It shows the Greek interest in athletics. The Greeks would go to the gymnasia and study the athletes in order to perfect the figure in action. Overall, this sculpture of Poseidon was the one in the chapter that caught my attention the most. I like the contrapposto style more so than the archaic. The fact that it is also made out of bronze is special because very few sculptures of bronze have survived from that age. It seems that Kalamis did a great job emphasizing the beaut...