ESSAY #3b ESSAY TITLE: Truth and Beauty

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cnidus_Aphrodite_Altemps_Inv8619.jpg Apbrodite of Cnidus-Praxiteles- 4^th century BC)

(http://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/nike-adjusting-her-sandal-410-405-bce.jpg 

  Nike adjusting her sandal-unkown-410-405 BCE)

(http://milan.milanovic.org/math/english/golden/golden4.html The Parthenon-unkown-432BC)

(http://www.theslideprojector.com/art3/art3lecturepresentationssummer/art3lecture16.html-unkown-unkown)

ESSAY #3b 

ESSAY TITLE: Truth and Beauty 

QUESTION: Using specific art references, why did the Greeks consider "beauty" to be the same as "truth" and how different was this philosophy from that of the Romans? 

Part One:

Summary: My experience for trying to answer this question is to understand the Roman and Greek idea of beauty being the same as truth. I approached this question by trying to understand the art of autonomy and proportion. I found answering the question fun because I have learned about Greek and Roman history.

Reason: I felt the reason for being asked this question is for us to understand the mind of different societies and what they portray as truth and beauty. I also feel it was for us to have a good grip of both societies because both had a large impact on art today.

Purpose: The purpose I believe is to understand both Greek and Roman art and what is portrayed in that art, so when the class starts to move forward, they will see the impact it had on today’s art.

Direction: I believe I have changed my old opinions of how beauty and truth has affected Greek and Roman Culture. I now understand how art today is inspired by them both.

Impression: what left me in an aha moment that I will never forget is how the Greeks were so in tune with trying to portray their art in a more realistic sense of how a human body really is. 

Part two: Answer

             Symmetry, proportion and harmony are some of the definition of what the Greeks believed to be truth and beauty.  These three examples alone would identify the Greeks, belief in physical appearance to be highly important.  The Greeks did not believe as much of inner beauty as they did with outer beauty.  The Greeks believed physical truth to be the meaning of beauty they were able to require the actual evidence instead of spiritual belief.

            Believing outer beauty to be more truthful, people can­­­­­ find examples of the Greek’s theory with the statue Aphrodite of Knidos. Cephisodotus, a Greek sculptor, sculpted the statue Aphrodite of Kindos, and he sculpted it in a way to show the sexual and seductive beauty of the body. “The bracelets on her upper left arm have a similar effect. Her strong and well-toned body leans forward slightly, with one projecting knee in a seductive pose that emphasize the swelling forms of her thighs and abdomen” (Art History fourth adition volume one, Marilyn Stokstad Micharl W.Cothren,145).   This alone proves how the Greeks saw outer beauty as explaining how the body and its natural form are considered to be the truth in beauty.

            Nike Adjusting Her Sandal is another great example of how the Greeks believed the natural form of the body is both beauty and truth. “The figure bends forward gracefully, allowing her chiton to slip off one shoulder. Her large overlapping wing effectively balances her unstable pose. Unlike the decorative swirls of heavy fabric covering the Parthenon goddess of the weighty, pleated  robes of the Erechtheion caryatids, the textile covering this nike appears delicate and light, clinging to her body like wet silk” ((Art History fourth adition volume one, Marilyn Stokstad Micharl W.Cothren,138).  This became one of the most discreetly erotic images in ancient art.

             Proportion was another good example of Greeks portraying the truth in beauty. The Parthenon is a temple located in Athens and is greatly admired by many because of the way it was built.  With the image, one can see the temple Parthenon being built in a structure that seems direct and showing order. “One key of the Parthenon’s is the sense of harmony and balance is an attention to proportions-especially the ratio of 4;9, expressing the relationship of breadth to length and also the relationship of column diameter to space between columns.” ((Art History fourth adition volume one, Marilyn Stokstad Micharl W.Cothren,130)  The Greeks not only admired the beauty of human autonomy; they also found beauty being similar to truth in structure and pose. The Greeks highly believed the truth of beauty is what pleases the human eye.

            The Roman philosophy is a completely different turn on what they believed to be beauty and truth hold.  The Romans believed the complete opposite of Greek society; they believed power and strength hold truth and beauty.  Their art deals with force. The Romans believe in brute strength as their truth in beauty;  An example of Roman sculpture Aulus Metellus’s  statue is known as The Orator and shows a man trying to address a gathering of some sort while his arm is outstretched; he  wears sturdy laced leather boots and is  draped in a toga toga ((Art History fourth adition volume one, Marilyn Stokstad Micharl W.Cothren,171)  The image of The Orators does not show anything erotic or sexual. it does not express the beauty of the body but more of a powerful message of power and strength.

            Even if both the Greeks and the Romans had opposite views of the meaning of beauty with truth, they did have similar views about what pleases the eye. For the Greeks it was the grace and beauty of the natural body while for the Romans it was the strength of not the body but the message of strength and power.