The human figure in art

An example of Greek art

The fact that women in the Stone Age were shown as child bearers and life givers. They may not have even wanted to be seen only as that. They may have wanted to be portrayed as beautiful women as well as mothers/ life givers. It seems that in this day and age that the beautiful woman is represented in a way that expresses her physical beauty as of that of being young and skinny. I feel that in our culture today that too much importance in given to the way people look and how much money that they make, rather than what is in their hearts. Our culture just seems to judge people without even giving them a chance. You see it in the tabloids, on TV, at school, at work, and even in our own homes. Our culture seems to have that “you have to look perfect” mentality. We as a culture are like picking favorites, making any people that look a certain “perfect” way feel special. When we all should feel special and worth something .We as a culture should be more supportive of one another rather than fighting about who is better than the next. It sure would make the world a nicer place to live! Don’t you think so?

In the Medieval Period of Greek and Roman art, the view for human beauty seemed to be very high. I did enjoy the marble sculpture called Head of an Old Man (25 B.C.E.-10 C.E.)the most because the Romans portrayed more of a realistic interpretation of the human figure. The Romans sculptures gave their art work careful physical details and imperfections which give character to the people’s faces. They did this by careful observation and recording these physical details and imperfections. Thus showing more of a realistic portrayal of the human figure.