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This is a short analysis of two sculptures from the classical period in response to two chapters of Pollit's Art and Experience in Classical Greece:
The World Under Control (450-430 B.C.):
One of the recurring themes in Classical art between 450 and 430 B.C. is the belief “that the irrational and chaotic can be overcome by conscious effort.” The Portrait of Pericles (c. 540 B.C.) exemplifies this belief by both the style and the subject. Pericles was one of the most important politicians in Athens, “without Pericles Athens would not have been what it was…he devoted virtually all the energies of his mature lifetime to a single aim: the glorification of Athens as a political power and as a cultural ideal.” That the artist chose to portray a specific man (Pericles is said to have had a strangely elongated skull and the artist both shows and conceals this with the addition of the helmet) with the perfect body of a god rather than a god shows the growing belief in man as the measure of all things. That the artist chose the portray Pericles is an indication of his confidence in man’s ability to change the work around him, because that is precisely what Pericles did.
The World Beyond Control (430-400 B.C.):
This relief of Nike adjusting her sandal, on the temple of Athena Nike, is an example of the dramatic change that had taken place since Pericles’ time. To the Greeks the world had once again become irrational, out of the control of human thoughts and actions. In the relief Nike twists her body to fasten her sandal with one hand while standing on one leg. Why? There does not seem to be an answer, except that maybe that position offered the artist an opportunity to experiment with her dress. What had in the earlier 5th century been fabric blown against the body by a strong wind was now a light fabric soaking wet and clinging, transparent, to the body. The folds and ripples have a life of their own, separate from the body of the goddess, which still comes through visible almost as if the fabric were not there. This Nike is not the rational and predictable sculpture of the early 5th century, but comes alive with spontaneity!