Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Idealism and Naturalism
Art in ancient Greece approached beauty through the concepts of naturalism, idealism, and a combination of the two. In the case of the diskobolos (also spelled discobolos), it is viewed as naturalistic because it accurately represents the way a human male body looks. The discus in hand indicates that diskobolos does human things, and the way in which his muscles are poised - realistically -- adds to the naturalistic theme. An argument can also be made that the sculpture is idealistic because it has a pose that is so perfect it idealizes the act of throwing a discus (and because the man's body is idealized). This paper points to the literature that identifies diskobolos as naturalism and idealism -- and a blend of both.
Diskobolos -- The Literature
It is apparent that Myron has caught the discus thrower in mid-swing; the thrower has gone as far back as he can and is poised (given the position of his feet and his left arm) to follow through and release the discus for a (hoped for) long throw. Part of the argument vis-a-vis a naturalist response to diskobolos is simply because of the precise moment that Myron has chosen...
In the real world of discus throwing, there is a very brief, split second pause when the arm holding the discus is as far back as it can physically go; and Myron has "…managed to capture two separate and opposite movements, as well as create a sense of potential motion in the tensed body" (Hooper, 2010). This is a reflection of the natural moment that occurs when an athlete is engaged in the discus throw.
The arms and the left food create a "neat curve down one side," Hooper explains, and that curve is broken by the "jagged edges and right angles of his back and legs on the other"; this produces artistic balance while at the same time eschews "symmetry." It was in this period of Ancient Greece that some artists and sculptors were breaking away from the "symmetry, repetition and pattern" used by earlier artists (Hooper, p. 2). Myron produced works like diskobolos in order to get away from pure symmetry and indeed more realistically portray motion -- hence, beauty is present in the naturalistic athletic simulation of action. To be sure, there is also the idealistic aspect in the diskobolos because of the nakedness portrayed and the…
Works Cited
Goldhill, Simon, and Osborne, Robin. 2006. Rethinking Revolutions through Ancient Greece.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Hooper, Victoria. 2010. The Discobolos: Bronze Discus Thrower of Myron. Suite 101.
Retrieved December 8, 2012, from http://suite101.com.
University of Chicago. 2001. Diskobolos. Retrieved December 8, 2012, from http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout.encyclopaedia_romana/miscellanea/museums/discobolus.html.
C.E.), a large underground chamber with massive capitals supporting a slanting and beamed ceiling. In tombs like this and in many others, the walls were usually covered with paintings in the form of murals, mostly drawn from Greek legends. Most of the time, these murals provide scenes of banquets, feasts and revelry, such as in the Tomb of the Leopards in Tarquinia, Italy. This tomb is decorated with a banquet
Hellenic sculpture and Hellenistic sculpture? First, the Greek Hellenic period dates from 900-323 B.C., and the Hellenistic period came right after that and lasted until 31 B.C. The focus of the Hellenic period is Idealism, while the focus of the Hellenistic period is Realism. Hellenic art and sculpture was developed mostly in Greece, with no outside influence, while Hellenistic art and sculpture became more influenced by other lands, because