Post #6 Greek Art

I picked option one for one main reason when I listened to that lecture it really got me wondering if I could look at a painted piece of Greek work and actually know it was Greek because I have for so long put the white statues to Greek art. Especially white statues with no arms and it always made me laugh how Disney made it Hercules fault they had no arm when he accidentally broke them off. Johann Joachim Winckelmann was a art historian and also a archaeologist that took roman art works to promote and discover things about Greek works. he stated that art should be pure and simple like the Greek art ( the statues being fully white with no color) and that "pure"white marble is ideal beauty. Also that color shouldn't play a big role in people view of beauty. I personally feel that his ideas and perception has greatly affected our perception today of Greek art. The Disney movie Hercules shows proof because all the statues that where seen were in fact white and very simple. also like I said earlier I do not think I could look at a painted statue and figure out it was Greek because it put into my mind that they were always white. I'm not sure though if art today would be different if Winckelmann did not promote his ideas. there might have been a chance that if he didnt say anything that people could have thought that white is not pure which I guess would affect the look of some art works that look was for pure beauty on those standards. Though now days color is used every where in art even on statues and if color isn't used they are not really white or simple for that matter, like statues today have so many details like clothes or hair, ect. When I saw the example in the lecture of a Greek statue painted I did not really know what I thought because I like the pattern details with the paint, but I felt that the white seemed more realistic which is weird because the painted one probably showed have looked more realistic. For example, the "Dying Warrior" looks so realistic as he tries to hold his body up this statue makes me see in my head a man doing the same thing, but while I look at the "Reconstruction of the Archer" it feels cartoon-ish to me like someone just decided to color on the statue no that it was made that way for a reason. If i look at the actual "Archer" statue I feel like someone is really doing something. My perception of Greek art really hasn't changed that much because my mind is still telling me it must be from a different era or civilization. It has however made me realize that there work wasn't really simple that it had detail it just has all disappeared. I think it will definitely take a while for me to actually believe they were painted because I still just can not see it.