内容简介
The ancient Greeks perceived the human body as an object ofsensory delight and its depiction as the expression of anintelligent mind. This sumptuous photographic book explores ancientGreek sculptures of the body from every angle. With an introductionoutlining the use of the body in Greek art from the prehistoricsimplicity of Cycladic figurines to the realism of the Hellenisticage, seven thematic sections then feature stunning photographs ofclose ups taken from the British Museum's outstanding collection ofmarble, bronze and terracotta sculpture. The gods and heroes ofGreek religion and mythology are conceived in the image of mankind,as supermen and superwomen, while other supernatural beings such ascentaurs and satyrs combine human with animal parts as symbols oftheir otherworldliness. Human shape is also given to the inanimatephenomena of nature, such as wind and moon, as well as intangiblehuman experiences such as sleep and death. A salient feature ofGreek art is human nudity, which was celebrated rather thanconsidered shameful. The great majority of female nudes that havecome down to us are representations of Aphrodite, goddess of eroticlove. In the Hellenistic age, Alexander's conquest andHellenisation of the people formerly included in the Persian empirecreated a new and cosmopolitan world. Greek artists were made moreaware than ever before of the ethnic diversity of humanity anddelighted in representing and classifying humankind in all itsvariety young and old, fat and thin, beautiful and ugly, freebornand slave, pauper and wealthy, able and disabled, moral andimmoral. The Hellenistic period, more than any previous, was alsotruly an age of portraiture, reflected love in compelling andunusual images.
