1) I picked the video “The Measure of All Things:
Greek Art and the Human Figure” because in the first video we were assigned to
watch Greek art was briefly mentioned and I was interested in learning more
about Greek art. This is the same reason why I watched the video “Beyond the
Classical: Byzantine and Later Greek Art”, the Greeks are so important when it
comes to art so I just wanted to learn whatever I could.
2)
In the video “More Human than Human” a key
concept I learned was that humans create a lot of the images of the human body
in an exaggerated or distorted form. I learned that the reason for this is
psychological, people like to dramatize features that are aesthetically or
socially pleasing so more people will appreciate the artwork. In the video “The
Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure” I learned that during
the period when classical Greek art came about historians discovered that there
was this odd mix of idealization and portraits, which shows combinations of
ideal and real forms of art. The video “Beyond the Classical: Byzantine and
Later Greek Art” pretty much explained this combination. During the take over
of Greece and under the Byzantine influence idealize was barred from art and
churches even encouraged the destruction of idealistic artworks. They
encouraged real looking art that gave us ‘flat’ style art, which is even still
taught today.
3)
These three videos related almost collectively to
all of the readings in the text that we have done on Greek artwork and
sculptor. In the video “More Human than Human” we revisited ‘The Venus’ which
was introduced to us in the textbook and we get a psychological explanation as
to why this now seemingly bizarre looking sculpture, was considered art and why
the artist created it. I was reminded of classical art and what it is, how it
came about and what happened in history to change it.
4)
I enjoyed watching these videos very much,
especially the one “More Human than Human” because it gave a fun psychological
view of ancient art. We often forget that in art psychology is involved, art of
any form really. Writing, acting, singing, painting, sculpting and other forms
of art are outlets of psychological release that are often not viewed as such
by the common man. Often time’s art is merely viewed as a source of
entertainment or visual stimulation yet it really is a psychological process. I enjoyed the two videos pertaining to
Greek art because the Greeks did have such an intense impact on modern art. The
Greeks had a very large influence on more than just art in the world, but that
is better left to history classes to talk about. I am now better able to understand why art sometimes looks
the way it does and I am also now equipped with a better understanding of
classical artwork and concepts.
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