Greek Art

Taschen Basic Genre

by Michael Siebler, Norbert Wolf (Editor), Michael Scuffil (Translator)

The birth of the occidental concept of man The 18th century`s Neoclassicist movement, with its white marble sculptures inspired by the art of the ancient world, has helped Greek art to remain vivid in our memories even today. But the reality of ancient art was entirely different, as surfaces were in fact much more brut. As author Michael Siebler points out, recent findings have revealed that the seemingly perfect bodies of statues and sculptures were very often painted in flamboyant colors and ornaments. Thus ancient Greek art combined a high level of classical identity with an equal amount of sensuality. Despite being viewed in a new light, the beauty of the works of art persists.

Including detailed analyses of the following Alexander-sarcophagus; Apoxyomenos; Amphora; Diskobol; Apoll from Belvedere; Laocoon; Nike from Samothrake; the altar from Pergamon, now in Berlin; the Alexander-mosaic in Naples; Harmodios and Aristogeiton, in Naples; Doryphoros; sculptures from the Alphaia-temple, now in Munich; Amphora; Ptolemaier-Cameo in Vienna; Hermes; Apollo from the Zeus-temple in Olympia; numerous sculptures in Athens; Krater, now in New York; some Elgin Marbles in London; the warrior from Riace, now in Reggio . About the
Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Genre Series

Genres: Art, Art History, History, Nonfiction, Reference

95 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Carol Mola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me lo he leído del tirón antes del examen, me ha venido venido genial para el apartado de temática, mito y contexto de las obras, y también para practicar el apartado de descripción técnica.

[Christin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hardmodius and Aristageiton are "friends" huh? Like Patroklus and Achilles were "friends." Crap like that is why the Lover's Legends: The Gay Greeks Myths need to exist. Would it have killed them to write "lovers?" Seriously? It's sorta integral to the plot.

Otherwise, it's an art book. It's pretty. I actually sat down to read it but it's there for the pictures. Preeeety.

[Cris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Da demasiados datos históricos y pocos datos artísticos, dando la sensación de que la información está incompleta.

[Nautical862 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book that talks about some pieces that are not usually covered in art history books. A great surprise to me was to find out that the gorgeous Greek sculptures and temples were actually very colorful, bright colored pieces of art. The book shows a reconstitution of one piece, how it might have been back in the days based on faint remains of color. It comes as a shocking finding to me, since I have always loved their colorless volumes of light and shadows.