Greek Art

Winckelmann has had a great deal of impact on Greek art. His thoughts on the art were “pure” and “simple”. He took into consideration that the Greek statues of the pure white marble were simple and beautiful. Winckelmann was not concerned about the use of color that is just a minor detail of the art. Today I think that the view of this art has changed due to Winckelmann.         

Winckelmann changed the way we see Greek art. When you say Greek statues you don’t think of the painted ones, you think of only the white marble statues, the ones Winckelmann favored. Since he favored the works of art that are simple and pure marble. He forgot about all the works of art that are colored and have that more naturalistic look to them. Today we have art that is simple but we also have works of art that are full of color. I think that both are all strong parts of art, it just depends on the person who is viewing the art. Some people love simple art and others like the more in depth art with lots of color.

After seeing the reconstructions of the white marble statues makes me see them differently now because I try and add color to them. Adding color to the statues really gives them a different look. The statues look more naturalistic and it makes them see like replicas of actual people. I noticed the change after seeing the reconstruction of Temple of Aphaia. The Greeks took the high detail into consideration to make the warriors be more naturalistic. The simple white marble statues do show a great sense of pure beauty but once color is added it seems that the statues just pop into action or life.

For me personally I have to agree with Winckelmann about how the pure white marble adds more simple beauty to statues. I think that maybe adding the colors is too much. I like the “pure” and “simple” look of the white marble statues; they seem to be classier.