Greek sculpture encapsulate greek virtue of sophrosyne, or self knowledge characterized by a belief in inner retrain and denial of excess...it articulates a greater psychological presence.
According to Tom Flynn in The Body in Three Dimensions, the Greeks felt body proportion, balance and equilibrium to be the most elevated expressions of human life. Principles of rhythmos (composition) and symmetria (commensurability of parts) were grounded in mathematical proportions...and comprised the Canon of Polykleitos of Argos also Pheidias of Athens (450-430B.C. - high classical period). The Canon was appropriated in the renaissance by both Leonardo (in his Polykleitan Canon) and Michelangelo (in David).
Polykleitos, Spear Bearer/Doryphoros, ca. 4th century B.C.
Leon Battista Alberti (1404 – April 20, 1472)
Mirroring the Greeks, Italian renaissance architect, Leon Battista Alberti, defines " beauty to be a harmony of all the parts, in whatsoever subject it appears, fitted together with such proportion and connection, that nothing could be added, diminished or altered, but for the worse"-- a controlled relationship among the separate parts creates the ideal.
from Nathan Knobler, The Visual Dialogue
Like most visual artists we were seduced by the amazement of light falling on flesh achieved by the use of contrapposto.
Praxilites, Hermes, 4th century B.C.
We agreed with Rodin: the side view of the ancient Greek sculptures accommodated light streaming down their torsos and limbs, expressing reason and balance above all things.... from Art of Ancient Greece, Claude Laisne (p.185-6)
Alexandros of Antioch, Venus de Milo, ca. 130-100 B.C.
In the Hellenistic period, transgression had begun: Venus de Milo lost classical mathematical proportions and the provocative drape held up by her pubis was decadent.
Despite our proportional transgressions, Flynn encouraged us noting that "the body has moved into sharper focus as a theoretical tool for questioning structures of power, ideology, and identity across a range of visual materials....no longer an unchanging, biological fact, but as a historical and cultural category changing with prevailing social, political and economic forces. (p. 9)
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The concept of an "ideal" set of relationships where the elements (parts) are so situated in relation to one another that each has a sequential (or referential) aspect of its parts to the reflective aspects of all other parts and to the whole. This equates the static and the dynamic of both interior and exterior elements of the individual and society. Idealistically.
This concept is not just Platonic. It can be found in every culture and civilization where some form of harmonic relationship of the individual to the group is sought. The interesting aspect of that premise is it requires a notion (concept) of the individual in contrast to that of his/her relationship to the group. This is not found in tribal societies where, by in large, the concept of the individual as we currently know it does (did) not exist.
The concept of "beauty" varies in both form and value across all societies. Even the word "beauty" has a greater and lesser meaning in relation to values both perceived and
imposed. Perception and imposition being a mirrored, empathetic response. To the ancient Greeks "logos" (mind as intellect) was of great importance. Psyche had value; but the cognitive elements were preferred to the emotional "aesthesis" of "feeling". To "rationalize".... Therein lies the significant contribution of Greek culture to Western Civilization. (?) All the proportion and restraint ebbed and flowed from ideation to emotional expression every bit as much as today in that sine curve frequency of limits and repetition. Plato's concept of and critical opinions of music is only one case in point. This essay must stop lest it become a book. Thank you.
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