Art History - Marble Statue of a Woman

Marble Statue of a Woman Due: 02/17/2010

When the empire of Ancient Greece was at its strongest, several new canons propelled Greek sculpture towards a new shift that focused on more life like human figures. Greek sculptures from this time period were different than those that were common in Egypt a few centuries prior. This new evolution focused on the Greeks interest in how to set the human body in motion and pushed the limits of dynamism of statues. These new sculpted figures were extended and elongated; the overall composition of the figures appeared to be traveling through time and space. The statue entitled, Marble Statue of a Woman, was found on the Attica peninsula in Greece and can be dated from the second half of the 4th Century B.C. This piece was one of the sculptures that followed this shift in sculpting and followed the new canons set by the Greek artists. Taking from Egyptian art and adding the Greek influence, this work showed the new direction that art was going in. Two other famous figures from around the Attica area in Greece were sculpted a few centuries previous to the Marble Statue of a Woman. These were the statues of Kouros and Kroisos. The statue of Kouros was one of the earliest marble statues of a human figure discovered. These two sculptures shared the same purpose, as funerary statues that stood over grave sites designed to mark a grave as an emblem of excellence. Both statues were influenced by Egyptian art but had strong Greek characteristics that would later give rise to the more dynamic figures. Before the progression to Marble Statue of a Woman, the Kouros yielded a similar figure, Kroisos. This figure had an Egyptian stance and characteristics but was more naturalistic in its rendering. A century after the Kouros and the Kroisos sculptures, the Marble Statue of a Woman was created. This figure was drastically different than those sculptures that exemplified Egyptian art. The figure was no longer nude, but clothed and...