I have to read the article on Cycladic sculpture, then answer the following questions. I need at least 125 words for each question below.
Please provide enough detail for each question then I can add more detail from my Art history book as well.
1. Discuss the typical problems that art historians and archaeologists have had in attempting to pinpoint the functions of Cycladic sculpture. What have been the generally accepted theories?
2. Explain the relevance attributed to male Cycladic sculpture. How were they treated differently from the female artifacts by Cycladic sculptors?
3. What are the characteristics of the so-called “canonical” Cycladic sculpture? What does that label mean and what about the sculpture allows them to fall into that category?If you have any questions please ask me, don’t worry about the font style or size. If you use any outside sources please cite them as well. Thank you!
cycladic_sculpture_ah.pdf
Unformatted Attachment Preview
GREE[E
EAST 01?
Cyclaic Sc 1y1i
The Esseltia1 PuMaity f1[
by DimitrisPlantzos
Based on an interview with the author and on his wrwtings.
What we describe as “Early Cycladic
Culture” is a civilization that flourished in
the central Aegean in the third millennium
B.C. on the islands that we call the Cyclades.
The Greeks gave them that name because they
seemed to form a Kyklos, a circle, around the
sacred island of Delos.
he islanders were good seamen, and communication
between the islands was frequent. The islands’ mineral resources allowed the people of the Cyclades to
make tools and weapons, while the abundance of white,
good-quality marble encouraged its wide use for the creation of artifacts and implements of a functional or symbolic nature. Among these, the figurines are by far the
most distinctive Cycladic creation, because of the great
numbers in which they are found, the variety of their sizes
and types, and the significance that we may assume they
held for their owners.
Although the marble statuettes obviously depict human,
mostly female, figures, we cannot be sure if they represent
mortals or immortals, because the Cycladic culture left no
written records. The figures are nude, and though they are
schematic, they are marked by an idiosyncratic realism.
The torso is complete, bearing the crucial parts of the
human anatomy. An emphasis is often placed on genitalia
and facial features, notably a long, triangular nose. An
early group of Cycladic figurines, of the so-called Plastiras type, are excellent examples of this style: one, at the
16
S C U L P T U R E
R E V I EW
I
_
r
Museum of Cycladic Art, barely taller than 4 inches, stands naked, its arms brought to the chest, and
wears a tall conical cap, the only indication of the
figure’s divinity or, alternatively, high social status.
Some of its features derive from the earlier Neolithic tradition, whereas others (like the headgear) may
betray an Eastern influence.
From about 2800 B.C., and for more than five centuries after that, the prevalent type in Cycladic
sculpture is the so-called canonical. Its figuresmost often women-stand naked, with their legs
tight, knees bent, arms folded over the abdomen,
and the triangular head, often tilted backward, resting on a powerful neck. Since the soles of their feet
point downward, as though the figures were on tiptoe, we cannot be certain that they were shown
standing. Were they, perhaps, meant to be reclining?
If this is so, are we right in assuming, as has already
been proposed by some scholars, that the statuettes
were meant to portray the dead? They tend to be
found in graves, so they must have been deposited
as funerary offerings. Their abstract form may have
suggested an idealized representation of the human
body, an intellectualized icon of nature. Since the
last years of the nineteenth century, scholars have
proposed a series of conflicting theories about their
meaning. Some maintain that the figurines were
divine effigies depicting a number of different deities
or a single, all-powerful mother goddess (along the
lines of the Near Eastern Astarte of later periods).
Many examples are endowed with swollen
abdomens, while others bear stretch marks, as
though they had recently given birth. That the people of the Cyclades worshiped an Earth goddess is a
fair assumption, but it should be left at that. The
sheer number of the female figurines, compared
with that of their male counterparts, and their difOpposite: The so-called Plastirastype (the first attempt at a realistic renderingof the human figure), early Cycladic I period (c.
3300/3200-2800/2700 B.C), marble; the hat is usuially worn by
male and female figuirines. On this page, top: Female figutrines,
early Cycladic 1I period (c. 2800/2700-2300/2000 B.c.), marble;
the figure on the left is more faithfil to the canonical type and
the Spedos variety, wahile the figure on the right is from a small
grouip of the Dokathismatavariety and was created by the socalled Ashmolean Mueseuim Master; bottom: The post-canonical
type, early Cycladic 1I period (c. 280012700-2300/2000 B.c.),
marble; the female is from the Chalandrianivariety, said to have
been fouind together with the male, the nmost naturalisticexample in the groutp of warriors/hunterswith baldric.
ferences in posture and attitude must be taken as evidence
_
for their use not as effigies of the dead they accompanied,
but as tokens of a prophylactic function, that of guarding
them through the afterlife.
Apart from the standard “folded-arms” type, Cycladic
figurines were also made in postures in which a greater
variety may be observed. Here, the male is the prevalent………………
gender. Several of these figurines are depicted performing
specific activities or functions: a man raising his cup as
though he is proposing a toast, a man (a hunter? a warrior?) wearing a baldric and a dagger, and several elegant
harpists and flutists. Such statuettes tend to be small, and
their function was secular, rather than religious.
The abstract, generic, even emblematic aspect of the
Cycladic figurines does not abide with the notion of portraiture as it is conceived of in Western art-or, indeed, as
exercised in Greek art since the fourth century B.c. However, we have to acknowledge the importance that its
artists ascribed to characterization. This quality was
much more prominent in antiquity than we may appreciate today: the sculptors of the Cyclades used blue and red
pigments (azurite and cinnabar, respectively) to denote
anatomical detail, as well as elements of jewelry or dress.
_
_ _
_t ‘.
*
*i-+;
_= J
_ ?_
‘
‘
9
;’
_
;_
i”‘
_
_
iVi_
It is possible that the islanders practiced body painting in
real life and that this habit was reflected in their sculpture.
Often, we trace “tattoo-marks”(such as dots or lines across
the cheeks) on the statuettes, and some surviving figurines
most probably looked rather flamboyant when the paint
was fresh. It is also likely that pigments were used during
burial, or for medicinal/magical purposes, and that marking one’s body bore a complex symbolism, as is common in
several other cultures-including our own, in which, in
certain circles, body piercing has come to be considered
‘
rather
f 5’t decorative.
Cycladic figurines have been known since the eighteenth
century, when they were regarded as obscure artifacts of
uncertain significance. Until as late as the 1920s or so,
antiquity was still viewed through the looking-glass of
Neoclassicism: compared with later Greek art, Cycladic art
was dismissed as barbaric, the product of a primitive culture. New views on art professed by the artists of the time
and further research, now undertaken on more scientific
grounds, established Cycladic art as a truly remarkable cultural phenomenon-one with historical as well as aesthetic
value. The Cycladic sculptor appears to have mastered natural form through his intellect, thus identifying the essence,
not the superficiality of his prototype. @
Dimitris Plantzos is curator at the Museum of
Cycladic Art, Athens. His academic interests
include Greek glyptics, ancient jewelery, and portraiture. He is the author of HellenisticEngraved
Gems (Oxford, 1999) and of several articles on
Hellenistic and Greco-Roman glyptics.
Opposite, top: Seated harpist,
early Cycladic 11 period (c.
2800/2700-2300/2000 B.C.),
marble; bottom: An unumsiually
realistic bead, early Cycladic I
period (c. 3300/32002800/2700 B.C.), marble. On
this page, top left: Early
Cycladic 11 period (c.
2800/2700-230012000 B.C.),
showing stretch marks, marble;
top right: Cup-bearer, early
Cycladic 1I period, (c.
2800/2700-2300/2000 B.C.),
marble; bottom left: Man,
standing in a woman’s stance,
an exception in Cycladic art,
early Cycladic II period (c.
280012700-2300/2000 B.c.),
niarble; bottonm right: Violinshaped figutrines, the woman
with the scratchedgenitalia, also
showing stretch marks, early
Cycladic I period (c. 3300/3200280012700 B.C.), marble.
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
TITLE: East of Greece: the essential humanity of Cycladic
sculpture
SOURCE: Sculpture Review 49 no4 Wint 2000
WN: 0035000726004
The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it
is reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article in
violation of the copyright is prohibited.
Copyright 1982-2001 The H.W. Wilson Company.
All rights reserved.
…
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
Recent Comments