Consider the Riace Warrior A, the Aphrodite of Melos, and the Marble

question 30

Essay

Consider the Riace Warrior A, the Aphrodite of Melos, and the marble kouros figure of c. 580
B.C.E. Identify the cultures in which these works were made and describe how each of the works depicts the human figure. How did their sculptors use design elements and principles in each work? How do the differences in these works exemplify the changing perceptions of the idealized human form?
Drawing on Egyptian stylistic presentation of the body, the Greek Archaic period produced stiff, rectangular-shaped frontal figures, symmetrically balanced with a degree of naturalism. Sculptures were typically of young males called kouros. The Greek concern with lifelike representation is evident in the Classical style of a bronze statue, Warrior A, an idealized, virile male body, a form distilled from athletic physiques. The sculpture exhibits negative spatial areas, and the body presents the distinctive contrapposto pose, which sets the line dynamic in a gentle S-shaped curve through a play of opposites. As the spread of Greek culture moved eastward, sculpture developed in several stylistic directions, one being a continuing classical style as seen in the Aphrodite of Melos, emphasizing symmetrical balance and restraint in a closed sculptural form.

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