Essay on Greek: Ancient Greece and early Classical

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Alberto Giacometti (Italian pronunciation: [alˈbɛrto dʒakoˈmetti]; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman and printmaker. He was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia, as the eldest of four children to Giovanni Giacometti, a well-known post-Impressionist painter. Coming from an artistic background, he was interested in art from an early age.
The main difference in appearance between Archaic Greek sculpture and the Classical styles lies in the poses. Typically, most types of Archaic statue were constructed of four strictly frontal or profile elevations and, though usually one leg was advanced and the other drawn back, the left and right halves of the body were rigidly symmetrical. Classical statues are still broadly four-square in design, but the balance of the standing figure is shifted so that the axis of the body becomes a long double curve, and to mitigate frontality the head is turned regularly towards the side. In reliefs and pedimental sculpture the Archaic formula always allowed free movement, but each part of the figure was normally shown as fully frontal or profile.
The Diskobolos of Myron is Bent over in the position of the throw, with his head turned back towards the hand that holds the discus, with one leg slightly bent looking as if he would spring up all at once with the cast. The Diskobolos of Myron represents the ideal man and athlete. His body is toned; the way his strength is represented is idealistic, however, the physical aspect of strength shown is realistic. His body positioning resembles a coiled spring at the point just before it is ready to spring into action. This statue shows the tensest position of the athlete's action however he remains expressionless, turned away from the crowd, and is focused on the task at hand. This piece is from the last years of the Early Classical Period or the beginning of the Classical Period. Created around 450-400 B.C.E., this piece shows a progression of the style of art from the Archaic Period, and also shows the art style beginning to drift away from the original archaic style. The Archaic Period was a time of basic human statues with idealistic bodies. This period symbolizes the development of a style of art that would progress through the time periods of Ancient Greece. The Diskobolos of Myron shows one of those stages in the fast moving progression from the original art style of the Archaic Period. The attributes of this statue have some similarities to earlier art pieces, but really has more differences and begins to create a different and more realistic but idealistic look.
Classical Greece was a 200 year period in Greek culture lasting from the 5th through 4th centuries BC. This classical period saw the annexation of much of modern day Greece by the Persian Empire, its subsequent independence, and it also had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire and greatly influenced the foundations of Western Civilization. In the early 5th century Greek artists began consciously to attempt to render human and animal forms realistically. This entailed careful observation of the model as well as understanding the mechanics of anatomy - how a body adjusts to a pose which is not stiffly frontal but with the weight shifted to one side of the body, and how a body behaves in violent motion. The successors to the archaic kouroi, mainly athlete figures, are thus regularly shown 'at ease', one leg relaxed, with a complementary shift in the shoulders, and the whole emphasized by contrasts
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