Is there any difference in artistic talent between men and women?

I once read a sentence by Rousseau: Women, generally speaking, do not love any art, they do not have any specialized knowledge, and they do not have any talent. I have a different opinion on this. What Rousseau meant was that women were unable to possess artistic talent due to limited knowledge. But what he ignored is that the female body itself is a gift given to her by God. Looking at the existing human body sculptures, the earliest ones that appeared were women. The most common ones are the statues of the Earth Mother that exist in various regions. Although these have great influence on the reproductive organs. The exaggerated statues cannot meet our modern aesthetic point of view, but through them we see that the opening of art is the fascination with women themselves.

“Women are limited by their knowledge and cannot possess artistic talents.” We need to reflect on why women have this limitation. As early as the ancient Greek times, men and women received different educations. Women only studied women's education related to housework from their mothers at home, while men learned various knowledge under the guidance of male tutors.

Women’s character traits mean that they don’t like fighting, and they love to deal with trivial matters well. Even in the matrilineal society, a female-centered society was formed instead of “female rule”. Entering a school or a private school is not what they want to have, but enjoying human relations is what they love most.

Since the Homeric period, Greek society’s appreciation of body art has undergone a transformation process, that is, from appreciating the male body to appreciating the female body and alternative nudes. The male figure in official art is very different from that in folk art. During the Archaic period, the monumentality of Egyptian stone carvings combined with the isomorphic concepts and heroism of Greek gods and goddesses to create a Greek-style idealized male body, which served as the embodiment of male virtue, city-state honor, and Greek spirit. This fusion of idealism and heroism developed into the sublime style during the High Classic, with statues of gay heroes combining personal emotions and civic ideals. The intense dynamics break through the flat plate rules in Egyptian statues, and the resolute expressions and full muscles make the Athenian sculptures in the classical period achieve the unity of content and form. This capitalized male form was a symbol of the self-confidence of Greek citizens during the High Classic period. From the late classical period to the Hellenistic period, the proportions of the male body became slender and were shaped into images of tired, doubtful and sad youth. The sublime style turned to the elegant style, and the male body statues were imbued with the gentle temperament of the female statues. Greek proportions and the ideal human body had failed, and realism had taken over. Only in the art of the Macedonian dynasty do strong images of the male body remain. The male form in ancient Greece underwent a similar stylistic turn in architectural painting, but involving more everyday images.

The male body in ancient Greek folk art lacks heroic spirit. He is more like the lovely son of a great goddess. Making terracotta was originally a sacred labor during the period of goddess worship. During the historical period of ancient Greece, it still retained the characteristics of mainly female statues. In the classical period, folk art was influenced by official art. The size of terracotta became larger, the sculptures of male statues became more heroic, and the theme of a beautiful young man being robbed naked appeared. The sculptures of pottery lamps from the Hellenistic period often contain erotic themes, but rarely depict male figures. During the Hellenistic period, gilded wood carvings appeared as nude young men, deifying Alexander, the Macedonian leader, and shaping them into Greek-style male bodies. There are more male bodies in the small bronze statue, and it has also experienced a change in style from rigid to free. The fighting heroes of Homer's period seem to be dancing, and the geometric human shapes intensify this sense of absurdity. Small bronze statues from the late Archaic to Classical periods have strengthened the momentum, and their body proportions are close to the requirements of large-scale sculptures; they show naturalistic tendencies; they borrow attack postures from large-scale sculptures; athlete statues also get rid of the rigidity of the early Antique period, and are more A form of movement can be expressed. From late antiquity to the Hellenistic period, the male body was not limited to Greek citizens and official Olympian gods, and the sense of solemnity of the classical period no longer existed. Gemstone carvings from the Late Archaic to Classical periods create images of naked warriors and hijackers, and the naked youths of the Hellenistic period are even more erotic. The proportion of the male body in jewelry is very small. In late antiquity, there were nude statues of beautiful young men kidnapped by condors. The currency reliefs have more male bodies than other small sculptures. The official politics of Olympia uses the male nude as a symbol, which represents the national spirit of the Dorian and Achaean Greeks; at the same time, the image and symbol of the goddess related to Ionian culture reflect the connection with pre-Hellenic culture. Greek gods and heroes appeared on the coins of late antiquity in Achaia, and satyrs appeared on the coins of Macedonia and Thassos. During the classical period, Greek coins engraved with male bodies were distributed in mainland Greece, the Aegean Islands, southern Italy and Sicily, reflecting the official Olympian hero worship; more male bodies appeared on the coins of Northern Greece, implying the connection with the worship of Zeus; In Sicily, where the Dorian power was strong, the theme of marriage robbery was continued; in the Aegean region, there were more images of satyrs, showing their connection with folk religion. Hellenistic coinage contains only a small number of male bodies, especially rare in the Aegean islands. It can be seen that during the period when the male power in Greece was weak, the images of Olympian gods and Greek heroes were significantly reduced in coin engravings. The male body in Homeric vase paintings is a small silhouetted corpse. By the 7th century BC, depictions of the male body increased; Spartan wine cup paintings were full of the passion of battle; Corinthian vase paintings broke through the single battle theme; at the end of the Archaic period, Attica's red painting style depicted a variety of images: Olympians, heroes, athletes, warriors, boys, teenagers, including enemy children, craftsmen, and enemies are all shown naked.

Among the heroic themes, only Theseus belongs to the Ionian system, and the rest belong to the Greek category. Unlike the large number of scenes showing women's labor, very few scenes are related to men's labor. The Boeotian vase paintings of the Ionian system during the Hellenistic period replaced the red paintings of Attica. The characters lacked perspective shortening and spatial changes, and the proportions and structures of the human body were also very different from the idealized Greek style. The number of images increased; in other Greek areas, the erotic elements in vase paintings increased, including the naked little Cupid and the naked Adonis, reflecting the generalization of the interest in nude Venus statues.

The female body in the large-scale sculptures of ancient Greece has experienced a transformation from whipping to admiration, from modesty to eroticism. In the ancient style, female statues were mainly dressed. Women who were looked down upon by social ethics in the classical period were often shown with their breasts exposed. From late antiquity to the Hellenistic period, the number of female images that were struck decreased, and the goddess became the object of love, represented by Venus. Venus was the first goddess to be depicted completely nude in large-scale ancient Greek sculptures. People originally praised the goddess in a symbolic and spiritual way. From late antiquity to the Hellenistic period, the nude statue of Venus went through the process of standing at attention, taking a rest, starting, and squatting; it changed from clothed, semi-nude to fully naked. With the increase in private sponsorship and the influence of oriental tastes, the aesthetics of the Greeks shifted from the praise of the muscular male body to the fascination with voluptuous female nudes. This kind of female statues combined with the passion of realism, spirituality tended to disappear and lust took over. Got the upper hand. The female bodies in the murals have also gone through a process from clothing to nudity, from coyness to indulgence. From the late classical period to the Hellenistic period, murals mostly involved themes of "hero saving beauty", "bridal robbery", and "erotic love". By the Roman period, the theme of love was permeated with pornographic content, directly depicting sexual intercourse between men and women. There are more female nudes in the folk art of ancient Greece. Small pottery sculptures continue the tradition of kneading art and respect for women in the Stone Age, Agricultural Age and urban civilization, and use symbolic techniques to summarize the physical characteristics of the goddess. In Crete during the Aegean civilization, joyful sex offset the aggression in human nature, but the description of sex on the seal was implicit. During the Mycenaean era of the Achaean Greeks, pottery represented a couple in bed, with the ratio of men to women becoming consistent and the male principle rising. The Sicilian pottery sculpture "The Breastfeeding Goddess" during the Archaic period is linked to folk goddess worship. In the classical period, the Attic female statue with full breasts and vagina heralded the arrival of the erotic Venus. Hellenistic and Roman pottery lamp reliefs are full of erotic colors and even sadomasochistic images. The small statues of ancient Greece show the themes of goddess worship and the race to sacrifice to Hera; the bathing statue of Venus in the Hellenistic period was obviously influenced by the interest of large-scale sculpture. The metal is decorated with more nude female figures. In the weapon carvings of the classical period, the passive nudity of women contrasts with the heroic nudity of Greek heroes. The decoration of bronze mirrors from the late Archaic to Classical periods followed the convention of not showing the female body in official art, and Athenian-style clothed women replaced the naked female bodies in the early Archaic period. The hedonistic taste of the upper class in the Hellenistic period was once again reflected through the decoration of bronze mirrors, and the alienated female body hinted at erotic themes. A gemstone seal from the Minoan era uses the handshake of a naked Great Mother Goddess and a small male Goddess to suggest holy marriage. During the Mycenaean period, fighting scenes replaced the theme of holy marriage, and female images were missing. Due to the influence of the Dorian invasion, no gemstone seals from the Homeric period have survived. From the ancient times to the Roman period, the female body in gem carvings is represented as an object that is robbed, secondary, watched, and desired. The plastic arts related to Venus in the Roman period added erotic meanings. In terms of jewelry, the Mycenaean period depicts worship scenes in the presence of the goddess. The gemstone crowns of Northern Greece in late antiquity transformed the holy matrimonial theme in Minoan seals, making the proportions of men and women consistent. From late antiquity to the Hellenistic period, the female bodies on Greek coins served as objects for marriage and copulation. For example, Satyr robbed the Forest Goddess and Zeus robbed Europa. Women's sexy breasts and round bodies were highlighted, and even affected people. The shaping of Nike. Abnormal women in vase paintings were often shown naked, and they were condemned for violating social ethics. In the ancient period, the assassinated Ismene, the robbed Coloni, the dancing Dionysian priestess, and the pleasure-loving prostitutes all exposed parts of their bodies in intense dynamics. During the Classical period, there were many more female nudes, including pottery spindles and shaped vases: in addition to Dionysus and prostitutes, there were Cassandra, the Furies, Poseidon's daughter, Venus, the woman seeking a child and the bathing maiden. In the bottle paintings of the Hellenistic and Roman periods, the rise of the female principle made the naked woman a symbol of the city; at the same time, the number of sexy Venus and prostitutes increased, heterosexual free love was mixed with erotic themes, and the Dionysian themes became more erotic. .

From late antiquity to the Hellenistic period, the increasing number of female bodies in Greek art was also influenced by exotic traditions. Alexander's Eastern Expeditions brought ancient Egypt and India into the Greek territory, and their art contained elements of female nudity. Statues of dancing girls and maidens during the religious reform period of the New Kingdom in ancient Egypt were customarily nude, with secular themes and realistic techniques, which were the source of the nude figures in Alexandrian art during the Hellenistic period. Ancient India suffered from the same Greek invasions as the Greek region, and its image of the nude woman underwent a similar transformation. In the Drabid civilization, pottery sculptures and seals used symbolic and suggestive techniques to express the creation of life by the goddess, which corresponded to the sacred marriage pattern in the Minoan seals of the Aegean civilization. After the Aryan invasion, they destroyed previous civilizations and developed Vedic culture based on the caste system. Temple carvings featured themes of popular sexual dances, which were very different from the implicit style of pre-Greece.

The image of Yakshagana in India during Alexander's Eastern Expedition had a significant impact on the taste of nude women in the Hellenistic period. The portraits of lovers on the outer walls of temples also contributed to the proliferation of erotic art in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The desire-based treatment of female nudity is directly related to the patriarchal worship and male psychology brought by nomads. The small statue of the Mother Goddess completes a concept and represents the sacred belief, while the nude of Venus in official art is a symbol of lust, indicating the civil society's physical desire for women. Her erotic qualities are reflected in the folk prostitute bottle. It is fully displayed in the painting. The pre-Greek tradition cannot be restored, and the alienated and secularized goddess indicates that it has entered an era of erotic Venus rather than spiritual Venus. This is the result of the mutation of the Ionian principle transformed by Greek consciousness.

In the Hellenistic period, in addition to the femininity in male statue sculptures and the popularity of nude Venus statues, alternative nude images also deserve attention, and are reflected in both official and folk art during this period. . The secularization of sculptures in big cities has made custom themes and images of ordinary people the objects of expression. Multiculturalism and local styles promoted the emergence of alternative nudes. Hermaphrodites, beggar women, children, enemies, aliens, and deformed people also appeared in sculptures and paintings. The blacks and deformed figures in the Sycyon mosaics and small carvings are more animated, although they lack Greek proportions and structure. Boeotian vase paintings depict local gods and heroes in a humorous way. These works that appeared outside Athens reflect the national integration and the turn of classical aesthetics during the Hellenistic period: the standardized, centralized, and official Olympian idealism was abandoned, and the pluralistic, democratic local color was enhanced. Alternative nudity is not only an aesthetic turn, but also reflects changes in the entire social, political and cultural life. Folk Ionian culture and pre-Greek female principles were strengthened during the Hellenistic period.