The Human Form: Archaic to Hellenistic

The development of the human figure in Greek art from the Archaic Period through the Hellenistic Period is represented by changes in artistic technique, themselves reflective of cultural and philosophical value shifts in Greek society. As Greece became more philosophical and sophisticated, its artespecially that which depicted the human formalso appreciated in terms of idealization, realism, and drama.

During the Archaic Period (600-400 BC), Greek art was characterized by the development of the kouroi and korai statues. These statues depicted young men (kouroi) and young women (korai). They were typically rigid and frontal, and resembled Egyptian statues. Male figures were usually nude, but female figures clothed. One well-known feature of this period was the "Archaic smile" a mysterious Mona Lisa-type expression often found on the faces of these statues. This period also saw the human form portrayed in vase painting, consisting of black-figure...

The former used silhouetted figures painted in black, and the latter showed the background filled in, leaving the figures in the natural red of the clay. As the Archaic Period progressed, there was a gradual move towards naturalism in art. Figures began to...…Greek world expanded and interacted with surrounding regions, there was a noticeable fusion of styles and subjects in art, which reflected the changes in its own culture and business (Stokstad & Cothren, 2018).

Overall, the trajectory of the human figure in Greek art, from the Archaic to the Hellenistic periods, reveals movement from the stylized and symbolic representations of the early kouroi and korai to the dramatic sculptures of the Hellenistic era. This movement mirrored the broader social changes of Greek society. The way Greece saw itself is basically the way it represented the human form from one period to another; the…