Strike A Pose Assignment The sculpture that I chose is “Queen/King Hatshepsut kneeling”, which is a big red-granite statue of The Queen/King Hatshepsut. She/he wears the traditional clothing of King and emphasize masculine features. She/he is kneeling and sits straightly on her/his legs with arms down and holding two spherical jars. Furthermore, most parts of the sculpture are lifelike, and the materials on it should be pure in order to avoid rotting and show her/his noble identity.
There is also some flowing and soft movement in this section which represents flowing rivers “it’s the flowing rivers she cleanses in”. Other sharp movements and serious facial expressions symbolize the day to day struggles of being a female, looking for food from the earth, giving birth and raising children. Lying on each other represents sleeping and leaning on each other represents strength in unity and females helping each other within their culture. Animalistic movements represent the earth, Mother Nature and how animals were important to their
The notorious Greek sculptor Polykleitos designed a sculptural work as a demonstration of his written treatise, entitled the Canon. This Canon was an example of what he considered to be the perfect, harmonious, and balanced proportions of the human body in the sculpted form. His canon was a theoretical work that was based on ideal mathematical proportions. Polykleitos was obsessed with the male figure and was determined to get the proportions correct, which he wound up doing. His sculpture, Doryphoros, featured chiastic and contrapposto in order to contribute naturalism to the image.
The name of this work is “Akhenaten and His Family.” The sculptor of this work is unknown. But the piece was originally made around 1353-1336 BCE. Provenance (Where was it made? For whom?)—It was made in Ancient Egypt for Akhenaten and his family, in honor and praise of the kings prosporous and happy family life.
Pharaoh Akhenaten and Arachne In Egyptian antiquity, Akhenaten was a real pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty who ruled for 17 years and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He was also known as Amenhotep IV and sometimes by the Greek name Amenophis IV meaning God “Amun is satisfied”. Akhenaten is noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the Aten, which is sometimes described as monolatristic, henotheistic, or even quasi-monotheistic. Akhenaten culture shifts from Egypt's traditional religion were not widely accepted.
The figure of the Woman of Willendorf, is carved from limestone and has remains of red ochre. It was probably made between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE.The sculptor may have created it to symbolize the importance of the role women played in societies, or it could have been a symbol of fertility or possibly a doll. The sculpture is of a naked, obese woman with no feet but mostly a full body sculpture. The breasts, the stomach and overall body is enlarged. The belly button is prominent There are folds of fat under the arms and on the buttocks.
Polykleitos’ Doryphoros In ancient Greece during the 5th century BCE, Polykleitos, an ancient Greek sculptor, created Doryphoros to represent an ideal human body. Also referenced as the Spear Bearer, this naturalistic, bronze sculpture represented contrapposto, showing harmony of the opposites. Polykleitos derived ideas to sculpt the human form with visual features, along with his treatise, Canon, to inspire art in ancient Greece.
The primary focus of ancient greek sculpture was that of the human body. The idealism of physical perfection was embodied through many aspects of Greek culture. Although the Greeks produced monumental statues of both men and women, there is an undeniable differentiation along gender lines. To the Greeks, men represented the ideal physical form they were seen as objects of beauty and furthermore often became disproportionately subjects of art and sculpture as artists strove to recreate the perfect human form in their works. Through a study of this complex form, the Greeks made significant advancements in proportions and depiction of motion while developing the human form to be depicted as more realistic.
This figure unfortunately shows no face, very little fragment of arms and no feet. My interest immediately sparked at seeing this wonderful show of what I consider a natural woman figure, as I do tend to love seeing examples of shapely women in art.
The sloping of the shoulders demonstrates how the left arm is bent in front of the body and therefore this motion is also reflected in the movement of the shoulders. The Sounion Kouros’ left foot is placed ahead of the right foot as if taking a step, yet the hips are horizontal and do not react to the motion manifested in the legs even though the hips displace naturally when walking. In opposition, Aristodikos, the last kouros, has both a displaced butt and hips. Aristodikos’ movement expressed in the left leg stretched forward to take a step is also mirrored in his butt and hips as they naturally react to the motion. Not only are the Peplos Kore’s shoulders conveying motion, but her head is also tilted slightly down and to the left as if she were about to look at the offering in her hand.
There are many impacts made by the pharaoh Akhenaten, born Amenhotep. Akhenaten was crowned in Thebes, and ruled for 17 years from about 1370 B.C.E- 1358 B.C.E. During his rule, Akhenaten established the sun god Aten. Akhenaten believed Aten was the most supreme god, and in his thirteenth year of being pharaoh, he declared Aten to be the only god of all Egypt. Akhenaten changed his name from Amenhotep, to Akhenaten, meaning “Living spirt of Aten.”
She was extremely important in ancient Greek mythology and for this reason was often used throughout ancient Greek artwork such as pottery, paintings, literature and sculptures. It was common to see differences in the way Aphrodite was portrayed in each individual art piece as the ancient Greeks believed she changed her appearance for every person so that she looked ideal and attractive to them. Much of this artwork displayed the goddess fully clothed until around 400 B.C when she began being illustrated naked. Aphrodite’s depiction in paintings was similar in some aspects and extremely different in others.
In many art from the eighteenth dynasty Nefertiti was shown with her husband Akhenaton; where she is made equal to Akhenaton and sometimes wearing pharaonic headgear. Nefertiti was an influential women. Thutmose’s Nefertiti is wearing her blue crown, which has some damage, along with her ears and there is more damage throughout the sculpture. Her eyes are lined with the traditional Egyptian black kohl look.
While her Greek and Roman counterparts are left to care for the homes, the Etruscan woman is allowed to join the men in whatever festivities. Ateneus, a known historian one noted how Etruscan women had been willing to recline in the banquet couch not only with their husbands but with other men. The Etruscan women are also fond of wearing jewels and heavy make-up, though this act can also be observed in men. It is the women of the society, however, who exquisitely and lavishly use make up and body ornaments. One later day archaeological excavation in the site of the Etruscan civilization revealed a tomb where a woman lay with her jewels, “around her neck was a torque and on her right arm two twisted bracelets; the one above the elbow is composed of two parallel rings, the one below, a spiral bracelet with S –shaped end” (Eldridge, 1918, 251)2.
One of the earliest three dimensional sculptures is the Venus of Willendorf. The Venus of Willendorf dates from back from 28,000-25,000 B.C. Another female figure I would like to talk about is the first nude woman sculpted in Greek art history, from the Classical Period, the Aphrodite of Knidos, which was created in 330 B.C. by Praxiteles. The two figures have been hand crafted in a way, so the viewer can admire the work, equally, at any angle. Many would assume the purpose of these sculptures lie in their physical descriptions.
