Option Number One

Winckelmann I feel had an effect on our view on Greek art today but not a huge one. The whole idea of good taste being simple and pure is huge to this day, but comparing it to the Greek statues that are painted is way off. I understand the views of simple as the sculpture are very clean and white. When looking at many of the statues in the book like the West Pediment of the Temple of Aphaia it is very clean and pure in a way but there is no realism to the piece. The facial expressions in the face are smiling and if someone were fighting they would be determined looking and maybe even angry. But when looking at a closer look like in the Archer we find that it would have been painted. The recreation of the Archer shows a lot of detail and the use of bright colors making Winckelmann idea way off.

I think maybe without Winckelmann idea of simple and pure that art work may have been different. Today white place in art is looked at as very beautiful and simple and elegant. But who really knows if that whole idea that we view today is from him. Maybe that is just one person’s idea of beauty. There are many works of art today that aren’t simple and clean like for example Vincent Van Gogh’s work the paint is very thick and there is practically no white space in his work. Every piece he did was beautiful and pure but complicated at the same time. I feel a yes and no to Winckelmann idea making modern art produced in a simple and in little color, because it is really up to the artist to believe in what they think is beautiful. I understand the view of clean and pure as being good taste but I don’t like it. I don’t like being told what is beautiful just because someone else thinks it is. What is the point of art if you aren’t able to express yourself?

The Greek painted statues are very interesting because this is what Winckelmann think is simple and pure but they used a lot of color and beautiful designs on them. When looking at the Archer the pattern that was reconstructed on the body of the man was so enteric that it is hard to see what this idea of simple and pure is coming from. The Peplos Kore is another example of the colors and patterns being everything but simple. She is full of color and though you would not be able to see that in less you saw the reconstruction.

The views on Greek art have changed from being simple and pure and using little to no color since the recreation of the Archer.  In the recreation of the Archer we can really see the beautiful and bright colors they used and maybe even the design that they actually had on the statues themselves. Looking at the Peplos Kore one can see some remains of the paint in her hair. When going online and seeing the recreation of her it is amazing how different and not simple she looks. She has a lot of bright and beautiful patterns on her. The use of beautiful color makes her not simple and gives her a sense of realism. It gives the statue more of a personality then just plain white. The reconstructions really help us see how interesting and difficult looking patterns looked like, to help us look further into what the Greek people really looked like.