M6 : Video Review

3. What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of the themes/topics for this week?

1.

Beyond the Classical : Byzantine and Later Greek Art

This video spoke about churches and Greek Orthodox and it's affect on the culture of the country. Icon's were popular during this time, and religious paintings were a bulk of what was being created. Paintings had a lot of 2 dimensional elements and artists in that area still practice and perfect this style of painting.the temple of zeus and other structures in the area were popular visit spots during "Grand Tours" rich folks would take during this time. Neo-classical architecture-> authority and grandeur. The Royal Exchange and Bank of England were built in this style.

The Greek Awakening : Art from the 5th Century BC

The 6th and 5th centuries were when the Great Awakening took place. The people of Greece won against eh Persians and had a newly found sense of confidence that was reflecting in the work that they made. The Parthenon was always a religious place, whether it was a Christian Church or an Islamic Mosque. In 1975 they began construction and preservation work to try and save some of these larger structures. The Parthenon was a symbol of humanism, rationalism, and idealism in 5th century Greece.

The Measure of All Things : Greek Art and the Human Figure

The Acropolis was built and there was an explosion of philosophy, art and architecture. Artists finally discovered the natural form and started creating realistic sculptures rather than stylistic. The Cycladic sculptures are particularly interesting and look very similar to contemporary paintings and sculptures that are familiar to me. This period of time was considered a turning point in western art, a "revolution". The Calf Bearer was an interesting sculpture during this time because it was one of the first to convey movement, he is smiling and spooky but you can tell then what he was intact he and the calf were in motion. Contrary to everything I thought I knew, a lot of Greek sculptures were painted very brightly.Greek culture was the most dominant in the Mediteranean, this was a revolution in art, architecture and humanism.

2.

The videos and readings were slightly similar, though I feel like the readings were a little more detailed about certain information that the videos were not. They touched a lot on cave paintings, the Neolithic Revolution, Ancient Egypt and its influence on Greek and Roman culture.

3.

The films were interesting and slightly familiar to something I've seen in a different class. They spoke a lot about Greek and Roman architecture and how it affected so many cultures after their own, and I think its very apparent that those styles are still seen in a lot of architecture today.