The background and conditions of ancient Greek sculpture

Social background of ancient Greek sculpture

Ancient Greece is the birthplace of European culture. The ancient Greeks made brilliant achievements in science, philosophy, literature and art, which had a far-reaching impact on the development of European culture. As Engels said, "Without the foundation laid by Greece and Rome, there can be no modern Europe."

The formation and development of Greek art is closely related to its social history, national characteristics and natural conditions. Slave-owner democracy in the polis provides favorable conditions for the development of culture and art, and the polis requires citizens to have a strong body and a sound mind. The ideal image in Greek art is not only the quiet temperament of Athenians, but also the physique of athletes. This aesthetic standard makes Greek art a model of ideal beauty in the ancient world. The development of trade and navigation made the Greeks strong, resourceful, flexible and actively pursuing their ideals, and also exposed them to the cultures of the two river basins and Egypt, thus giving birth to a large number of the best artists. Greek mythology is the soil of Greek art, which contains rational thinking about the mysteries of nature and breeds the germination of historical and philosophical concepts. The characteristics of "similarity between God and man" in Greek mythology make the coffin of God have human characteristics and emotions, which has become a favorable factor to promote the close connection between art and life. The mild Greek climate has given the Greeks wide open-air activities and sports fields. In the four-year Olympic Games, the naked competition of athletes provides artists with the conditions for shaping healthy bodies, so that they can have an early understanding and performance of the beauty of the human body. It is in this environment that Greek artists created the most outstanding art in the ancient world and left the most precious legacy to the treasure house of human culture.

formative arts

Plastic art (plastic art)

One of the art forms. /kloc-The German philosopher Lessing began to use this term in laocoon in the 8th century. In German, bilden originally meant "abbilden" or "eildmachinen". After the founding of New China, it was introduced by the Soviet Union and used with "fine arts".

The art of creating a visual static spatial image with certain materials (such as paint, ink, silk, cloth, paper, board, etc.). , wood, stone, mud, glass, metal, etc. Used in sculptures and handicrafts, as well as various building materials. ) and means. Including architecture, sculpture, painting, arts and crafts, design, calligraphy, seal cutting and so on. Generally called art, it is a grasp of art in material materials and means. Modeling is the creation of the body, and the body is the main feature of art. The term plastic arts originated from German, and German literary theorist G.E. Lessing first used this concept. It was not until the 20th century that China widely used it and incorporated calligraphy and seal cutting into its extension. The characteristics of plastic arts are compared with its relative concept-acoustic arts. The difference is that the former uses visible materials to express images; The latter uses sound and music to express images or emotions. In addition, the former always exists in a certain space, expressing the dynamic process in a static form, relying on visual feelings, also known as space art, static art and visual art, while the opposite sound art is called time art, dynamic art and auditory art. The above characteristics of plastic arts are determined by the materials and means of expression they use, and the concept of plastic arts contains all of them, so it is considered to be the most appropriate name. Regarding the classification of plastic arts, T. Lips divides them into image arts and abstract space arts. The latter is often referred to as space art for short, but it is narrower than ordinary space art. Imagery art refers to paintings and sculptures that reproduce specific images and concepts of nature or society, while abstract space art refers to arts and crafts and various designs composed of abstract space and volume. The characteristic of plastic arts is expressiveness. M. Volvollin divides plastic arts into two types: natural expression and conceptual expression, which are called object modeling and conceptual modeling respectively. It is considered that the plastic arts of Paleolithic age are object modeling; After the Neolithic Age, with the development of abstract thinking, conceptual modeling was formed. Since then, in the history of plastic arts, these two types have coexisted, developed and merged.