On "Modernist Painting"

One of the "discoveries" of  "modernism"and perhaps fundamental to its practice is an understanding of how the human brain recognizes objects or "things" in a painting. Before modernism if painters wished to exploit/explore bold colour combinations they had to pick their subject. For example Turner's use of sunrise/sunsets or Delacroix's trip to North Africa where the intense light produced more intense colour.

It was only when colour began to be intensified as a device to heighten the expressive impact of painting, as in the works of painters like Van gogh and Gauguin that some of the principles underlying "modernist" painting began to be thought out and explored.

Two of the implications of intensifying colour were that paintings tended to become flatter and shapes simpler. Fewer tonal variations produced flattened surfaces and simplified shapes.( This flatness and simplification finally became a fetish)

It was soon realized that while shapes became simpler and flatter there was no real loss of recognition of what was being represented.The most important aspect of anything to our recognition (re-cognition) of it is its shape.This literally overpowers any other consideration in our recognition of any given thing we are looking at.

This is quite easily demonstrated by some simple drawings of silhouettes
Whoever can draw a simple silhouette can communicate through line to another what they wish their viewer to "see". Consider how much is left out of the drawing colour,texture any sense of roundness but still we recognize an apple ,a pear, a lemon. Even a "fish" can be rendered and recognized as a very simple shape.

A simple "still life" of two pears and two apples scribbled in with a more or less accepted local colour of green apples and olive green pears and brown table-top and we have a "scene" we can accept quite readily.

Similarly an unexpected local colour doesn't overpower our recognition of apples and pears but does set up a tension between the shape we recognize and the colour we don't

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    This "discovery" allowed painters to use the inherent colour of oil paint without the constraints imposed by the subject as exemplified by painters like Derain, and others in what was called the Fauvist Movement.This understanding that shape could be rendered very simply without loss of recognition also allowed simple distortion to be used expressively as the German Expressionists began to do.
As paintings became flatter and shapes simpler borrowing from Eastern and African art intensified.The simplified planes of African masks or the use of pattern to differentiate between one flat surface and another as Asian painters did began to appear.
Another result was European "primitive" painters began to be appreciated. "Primitive" work perhaps proceeds from the technical (and perhaps emotional/intellectual) limitations of its' producers but this was no longer felt to be a barrier to the production of art.
Finally it is perhaps due to early modernist ideas that our world is now filled with signs that use a flattened and simplified image to communicate messages to the public

An Analysis of Degas influence on Gauguin

Gauguin was an admirer of Degas work and borrowed some of his stylistic devices in a modified form to suit his own expressive needs. Degas as a practitioner of the "modernist" currents of his own day, in opposition to the literary conceptions from Greek mythology of the Salon, wished to present the life of his own times and in a way that expressed their immediacy. Typical of this approach " A Ballet Scene from an Opera Box ".

Degas presents the scene as a "snapshot" of a moment. In the foreground is a woman with a fan, behind her the prima ballerina, behind her the other dancers. Executed in pastel (a medium that reinforces the sense of immediacy) and not a large work at 62 mm x 50 mm. Given that we are meant to view this as a performance happening now ( in reality a moment of seconds) we can be sure that unless Degas worked from a photograph (just possible) the scene would be the result of sketches drawn on the spot over some time (perhaps with models in the studio as further reference) then worked up in the studio. That is, it is a carefully composed work to express a moment in time. This sense of "snapshot" is achieved by Degas method of overlapping and cropping. The woman viewer is overlapped and cropped by the edge of the work, similarly she overlaps and crops the prima ballerina, who in turn overlaps and crops two of the dancers behind her. The two other dancers are overlapped and cropped by the top edge of the work. Not one figure is seen in their entirety a device used again and again by Degas in many of his ballet works, his paintings of jockeys and horses and women bathing, combing their hair.

When Degas began his series of individual women at their toilet this cropping device was used consistently.The women bend over or step into the bath or use a towel that partially covers their body.

In this series Degas also adds the device of  excluding the viewer. They turn their back or bend over wholly concerned with the acts they are performing. In fact Degas is quoted as saying to the writer George Moore "Until now the nude has always been represented in poses that presuppose an audience but these women of mine are honest, simple folk, involved solely and entirely in what they are doing."

Gauguin had a different idea to express, that of the enigma of Hawaiian islanders, their "otherness" in relation to "civilized" society but in many of his works the devices used by Degas are presented in a modified form. Gauguin's figures are often overlapped and cropped by each other and and even when facing outward make no psychological contact with the viewer or with each other.When Degas' figures are in groups they are psychologically bound together by common purpose. In Gauguin's paintings, groups, while overlapped and cropped in a similar manner to Degas are self contained individuals. Where Degas figures are active, dancing, washing.combing hair, Gauguin's figures do nothing.

An Analysis of Chardin's "The White Tablecloth"

Unpretentious in size (96.8 cm x 123.5 cm) and simple in presentation but rich in thinking about visuality. Colour is here reduced to variations of brown and grey to emphasize shape and texture. The core of this work is in Chardin's understanding of composing very simple objects in deeply considered ways. It has been said (ad nauseum) that "less is more" and here perhaps that really is true.
With three larger objects, the tablecloth,table and drink cooler Chardin sets up the major shapes within the painting. His viewpoint renders what are circles into ovals. The dominant shape in the composition is an oval and Chardin manipulates the smaller objects to produce as many ovals as possible. The cut bread, one wine upright the other glass on its side, the sausage cut and placed in three ways, the lifted lid on the ceramic jug, the plate (here metal not ceramic to give variations of grey).
The smaller objects also "echo" the relationships throughout the composition. For example the ceramic jug in the drink cooler echos the relationship of tablecloth to the table. Similarly the cut bread exposing the white under the brown crust.
The placement and arrangement of objects coupled with the direction of light (as if through an open door) produces an ascending and descending rhythm within the composition. The smaller drink cooler against the larger table. The bottom edge of the tablecloth runs upward, the bread placed over the edge of the plate and also slightly higher than the far edge of the table. Against these ascending/descending rhythms Chardin places the knife and  bottom of the wine glass on its side pushing into the space for balance. These minor variations also occur in objects placed in the drink cooler with the neck of the far bottle appearing over the rim of the cooler with the open lid of the ceramic jug as a kind stop that echos the the knife and wine glass.
The overall effect is as if two people had just left the room after a basic meal of bread,wine and sausage but through his understanding of painting Chardin invests the scene with intelligence and feeling far beyond its apparent simplicity.

GAUGUIN-An Analysis-Gauguins Tahitian Figures-the Stylistic Devices

Many of the human figures in the works Gauguin produced in Tahiti have a similar distant "unconcerned" air about them. Gauguin achieves this by using and re-using certain stylistic devices. Psychologically the figures never engage the viewer with eye contact. This is evident in in works such as "Two Tahitian Women on the Beach" or "The Siesta" or the very famous "Two Tahitian Women" who all appear to be psychologically engaged with  their individual concerns or something out of the picture frame.

To take as our first example "The Siesta", the women appear not only unconcerned with the viewer but also with each other. Although they constitute a group each seems to be occupied with their separate thoughts Three of the women have their back to the viewer the other lying parallel to the picture frame seems to have her attention focused on something outside the picture frame. The fifth woman focuses on her task of ironing clothes.

A similar device is used in "Two Tahitian Women on the Beach". One woman turned away from the viewer the other apparently engaged by something  outside the picture frame. Between them there is also no psychological connection.

This same device is apparent in "Two Tahitian Women" although they both face the viewer neither is  engaged with the viewer and both appear to be psychologically engaged with different things outside the picture frame.

Gauguin also uses other devices to emphasise the the sense of self containment we feel the figures possess. Often they are tightly "overlapped" or quite intimately close but rarely communicate with each other. Their bodies are often without "spaces" within them. Arms and legs are pulled in close to the body, or they are drawn from an angle that reduces the spaces the viewer can see.For example the women on the beach; one sits cross-legged with a dress obscuring her legs and draws her arms close to her body, the other is half turned in a way that hides the space between the arm that she leans on and her body. Neither do we often see a "whole" body. In "The Siesta" for example bodies are turned or overlapped in such a way that we see only one hand or foot or only a torso and this creates for us a sense of their intimacy as a group while contrasting their self containment as individuals. This may be a device Gauguin borrowed from Degas (who he admired). In many of Degas "ballerina" works he used the same device but rather to give a sense of immediacy to the scene.

The Influence of "Laocoon"on Michelanglo's Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo's first known work after 1506 are the frescoes he produced for the Sistine Chapel, commissioned by Pope Julius the Second. After disagreements with the Pope on the form the work was to take Michelangelo was allowed to create his own designs and work began in 1508. The frescoes were completed four years later in 1512.
If we can make the comparison, Michelangelo and the "Laocoon" sculptors must share a similar approach to their work. Both have a cultural/literary narrative source and must first imaginatively visualise from it. This implies choices about which parts of the narrative to represent and why those particular choices and in what manner.
In the main panels at the apex of the ceiling Michelangelo, where formerly he seemed to avoid dramatic high points, now chooses those most dramatic incidents of the biblical Genesis. The division of light from dark, the division of water from earth, the creation of the Sun and Moon, the creation of Adam and Eve. However he omits the story of Cain and Abel and goes to the story of Noah and the Flood.Michelangelo finishes at Chapter 9: verse 23 the "Drunkenness of Noah". The design reverses the biblical sequence of "the Great Flood" and "Noah's Offering". This decision perhaps also indicates Michelangelo's desire,like the "Laocoon" sculptors, to treat the narrative in the most dramatic manner possible presenting the most dramatic and significant parts of the narrative in the most dramatic settings.
Michelangelo's choice of narratives could also be said to represent his interest in the nude but here his interests and the narrative can be neatly "married" since the nude can be introduced as an integral part of the narrative without losing the dramatic force of the narrative. The nudes and figures also share a similar conception of proportion to the "Laocoon" figures.
If it could be said that Michelangelo uses the "visual form" of "Laocoon" to portray man in in a drama of divine intervention he uses it in a way the "Laocoon" sculptors could not. "The Creation of Man" for example ignores the biblical description and introduces gestures and figures that suggest Michelangelo's interpretation of the spiritual and historical (to Christians) significance of the event. The right hand of God touches Adam, his left hand touches a figure that appears to be the infant form of Jesus, linking past and future events. It could be said that aspects of the "Laocoon" unacceptable to the christian artist, polytheism and mankind "unredeemed" form the philosophical antithesis of the Chapel frescoes while its "formal language" (the high drama, the use of exaggerated proportion) become its thesis. This definition could help to interpret the iconography of a work that presents a spiritually christian drama in "historical form". For the christian artist the biblical act of creation precedes all earthly events and therefore the civilizations of antiquity. God creates all men and, after destroying mankind in the Great Flood, all men, though not yet "redeemed" share God's covenant through Noah.
This "history" is continued in the bronze medallions at the side of the main panels. The main panels are surrounded by "Ignudi" some of whom hold what appear to be tasselled cloths others the bronze medallions. The "Ignudi" are possibly used emblematically as "Antique Form" that "reveal" the christian drama. Below the main panels biblical prophets alternate with sibyls from antiquity an at this point the "history moves forward pointing toward the birth of Christ. Below the seers and prophets the spandrels show boys who will be future kings of Israel. Below them the lunettes show the ancestors of Jesus.
In conclusion perhaps a comparison could be made between two variations of a subject Michelangelo treated before and after 1506. The "David" of the Sistine Chapel,"David Killing Goliath" shows the narrative source dramatically treated. The figure of David is clothed,his size.in comparison to Goliath, small and undistinguished. In contrast to Michelangelo's earlier David all overt references to Greek models disappear, the Sistine Chapel David is now an actor in a larger drama of divine intervention in the affairs of men.

On Religion

It is a very pleasant and seductive thought that when you die you go to Heaven and are re-united with all your loved ones gone before you. But as consumer advocates tell us, if something looks or sounds too good to be true....it probably is.
A.H.

It is thought that about 600 B.C. the Greeks became acquainted with Egyptian sculpture and from them took a method of composing a figure and a system of proportion. Nothing is known of the underlying motives for the early Egyptian system of figure composition. It may have been mainly a convenient technical method of designing a statue ( keeping an essentially top heavy figure stable ) or perhaps carried a wider theory of the human figure. The arms held firmly at the side with clenched fists and one foot forward does give a sense of both "aliveness" and resolute purpose.

However Greek sculptors began to diverge from the Egyptian model soon after it became established in Greece.the posture of the figure and a consideration of proportion were retained but a general stylistic progression emerged toward greater naturalism.
This process can be readily seen in the kouros figures produced in Ancient Greece between about 610 B.C. to 450 B.C.

This tendency toward greater naturalism inevitably led to the disappearance of the pre-conceived posture of the archaic kouros. The figure began to be conceived with greater freedom and more naturalistic observation of the body appeared. A Roman copy of an original Greek bronze The "Doryphoros" by Polykleitos ( the Spear Carrier) shows clearly this blend of observed naturalism and proportion.
That the work partly results from direct observation is indicated by the articulation of the body, suggesting an exact moment in action, in the detail of the hand grasping and muscles tensed or relaxed according to weight distrubution. That a proportional scheme is also present is indicated by the fact that altough of "heroic" size the figure retains a human proportion within itself.

Assuming it is a faithful copy, compared to figures of a later date, the planes of the body are simplified tending to stress individual parts with a resulting lack of sensousness in the surface.

Over time surface was given greater consideration and culminated in works like "Marathon Boy", believed by some to be the work of Praxiteles the most famous of later classical Greek sculptors.

All three of the previous examples have some fundamental things in common. Each concerns itself with a single nude male figure. Each could be said to be a synthesis of naturalistic observation of living models and an abstract canon of proportion. If works like these can be said to be one development from the kouros figure perhaps the sculptural group treating a legendary event is another.

"Kleobis and Biton" may be an example of an archaic Greek treatment of a legendary narrative. Kleobis and Biton were young Argives whose mother was a priestess of Hera. On the occasion of a great festival in honour of the goddess the oxen who were to pull the wagon taking their mother did not arrive from the fields in time. The brothers yoked themselves to the wagon and pulled it a distance of 5 miles to the temple.The assembly of people at the temple praised the youths, the men commenting on the brothers strength, the women for their devotion to their mother. Their mother prayed to the goddess that her sons would be granted the highest blessing men could attain. the brothers lay down in the temple precinct after their exertions and never woke again. (Be careful what you wish for ?)

None of this narrative can be deduced by looking at the figures.The only visible clue being almost identical statues conceived as one work. The archaic method of figure composition shapes a definition of the brothers as commemorative rather than narrative in spirit.

Grouping figures in an historical,legendary or mythical narrative required an approach different from that used in "the Argive Twins".The greater freedom in methods of composing figures as naturalistic observation was included in sculpture initially supplied that approach. However using cultural narratives as a source for visual works also reshapes that approach and its results. Sculpture or painting tends to be limited to illustrating one point in a narrative that must define the narrative source clearly. Events from mythical or legendary narrative cannot by definition be directly observed. The artist must "re-create" the action through memory or imagination or both. An artist must therefore first conceive the action they wish to define, thereafter observation of the living model is used to "realise" this conception. Accordingly a work with narrative as its source may/must embody something of an artists personality. Assuming artists have a choice, one moment of action from many moments of action must be selected. Implicit in such selection may be interpretations, judgements, preferences, sympathy with or understanding of particular narratives or moments of narrative.

"The Bride of Pirithous attacked by a Centaur" from about 460 B.C. shows these differences in comparison to the "Agive Twins". We can be sure the artist could not observe a centaur attacking a woman. The centaur, composed from combined observations of men and horses, is the most obvious piece of imaginative re-creation, although the sculture is conviningly conceived and rendered rather than observed. Unlike the "Argive Twins" a pyschological relationship is expressed between and among the figures. This is also reinforced through contrasting details like the bearded centaurs and the non-bearded face of Apollo. This neccessity to show pyschological relationships between and among figures requires their bodies to perform a double function. The figures must express an "atitude" and receive consideration as part of a larger unit. Through narrative the notion of "unity" must be considered, since narrative partly shapes the manner in which ideas can be expressed through figures.

"Laocoon and his Sons" could be said to represent one "logical" outcome of the imaginative re-creative approach approach to the legendary/mythical narrative. Here the sculptors conception is applied with a thoroughness that excludes almost any naturalistic observation. Both the figures and the medium are manipulated where this is felt to aid in visual expression equivalent to the narrative.

Everything serves the double function as visible representation of the event and an artistic/expressive device. The snake crushes the figures and animates the spaces between them.The figures appear to be trying to free themselves from the grip of the snake but the postures are subtly stylized. For example the boy on the right thrusts up and out with his left leg down and back with his right arm. The boy on the left turns his torso outwards and his lower body inwards. The Laocoon figure thrusts out and down with his right leg up and back with his left arm. The figures of the boys are also interesting in that if we look at their height we might judge their age to be perhaps ten or twelve years old. If we look at their physique we might judge them to be five to ten years older. To increase the sense of the boys innocence the sculptors perhaps needed to portray them as children. To increase the sense of crushing snake verses muscular power the Laocoon figure is given an exaggerated physique. To retain a unity between the figures the boys are given a physique that approximates that of Laocoon. The nudity of the figures also shows stress and strain in a way that clothed figures could not, this coupled with the minute rendering makes the action appear very "real"
The "Laocoon" is also significant in a wider historical context. Lost after the disintergration of the Roman Empire "Laocoon" was rediscovered during achaelogical excavations in Rome at the time of the Renaissance and became one of the sources for renaissance knowledge of ancient art. It was seen by Michaelangelo just before he started work in the Sistine Chapel

After the Greeks were conquered by the Romans many Greek art works, in the form of copies or originals, were taken to Rome. These art works were lost, discarded or ignored after the disintergration of the Roman Empire. However with the growth of Christianity in the west, with Rome as its centre, and consequent emergence of a christian art gradually awakened interest in Greek solutions to artistic problems.


One area of common ground between christian artists and artists of antiquity was the desire to give visual form to cultural narratives. Artists of antiquity, considering visualization of legendary/mythical narrative and a christian artist using biblical sources share similar artistic problems (jewish and muslim artists never visualised from sacred texts). Greek and christian narratives share similar features. Both are concerned with humanity and with human actions.In both gods take human form. Christian art was open to influence from antique art through the common ground of narrative but shaped by a christian outlook.


Michelangelo's contact with antique sculpture and thought began after his introduction, in 1490, to the house of Lorenzo De Medici. At this time a group of scholars associated with Lorenzo were studying and reviving interest in Greek and especially Platonic thought.Toward the end of the 15th century Greek literature was being translated and between 1475 and 1500, amongst others, Homer,Aristotle,Isocrates and nine plays of Aristophanes were published.



However prior to 1506 Michelangelo's work appears rather as series of recurring interests and themes. The nude, the figure, the antique and the christian seem shaped by theme or each other rather than narrative. Small figures of saints in marble Petronius and Proculus (the christian) "The Battle of the Centaurs"(the antique). Even the "Pieta" of 1498-1499 while both are figures from the Bible they are not drawn from particular narratives but are rather expressions of christian sentiment using biblical figures in thematic relationship. They are, perhaps, closer in approach to antique works like "Eirene and Plutos. The figures perform symbolic and philosophic functions.

Even in a work with an identifiable narrative source, "The Battle of Cascina"(now known only from copies of his cartoon) Michelangelo's interest in the nude is chosen in prefence to other possibilities. By choosing an incident from the day before the actual battle. It shows soldiers surprised by a false alarm while bathing in the river Arno.

A similar view could be expressed in a discussion of "David". The only work before 1506 drawn from Old Testament sources. "David" appears similar to the "heroic" Greek nude, althletic and over life-size and shares the concern with observed naturalism and canons of proportion. In order to acheive this, overt references to biblical narrative are played down. The nudity of David and the selection of a moment before/after the killing of Goliath rather than during gives the resemblance to antique form. "David" could be said to present a "biblical hero" using antique models.

Greek Lessons for Renaissance Italy

After the Greeks were conquered by the Romans many Greek art works, in the form of copies or originals, were taken to Rome. These art works were lost, discarded or ignored after the disintergration of the Roman Empire. However with the growth of Christianity in the west, with Rome as its centre, and consequent emergence of a christian art gradually awakened interest in Greek solutions to artistic problems.


One area of common ground between christian artists and artists of antiquity was the desire to give visual form to cultural narratives. Artists of antiquity, considering visualization of legendary/mythical narrative and a christian artist using biblical sources share similar artistic problems (jewish and muslim artists never visualised from sacred texts). Greek and christian narratives share similar features. Both are concerned with humanity and with human actions.In both gods take human form. Christian art was open to influence from antique art through the common ground of narrative but shaped by a christian outlook.


Michelangelo's contact with antique sculpture and thought began after his introduction, in 1490, to the house of Lorenzo De Medici. At this time a group of scholars associated with Lorenzo were studying and reviving interest in Greek and especially Platonic thought.Toward the end of the 15th century Greek literature was being translated and between 1475 and 1500, amongst others, Homer,Aristotle,Isocrates and nine plays of Aristophanes were published.



However prior to 1506 Michelangelo's work appears rather as series of recurring interests and themes. The nude, the figure, the antique and the christian seem shaped by theme or each other rather than narrative. Small figures of saints in marble Petronius and Proculus (the christian) "The Battle of the Centaurs"(the antique). Even the "Pieta" of 1498-1499 while both are figures from the Bible they are not drawn from particular narratives but are rather expressions of christian sentiment using biblical figures in thematic relationship. They are, perhaps, closer in approach to antique works like "Eirene and Plutos. The figures perform symbolic and philosophic functions.

Even in a work with an identifiable narrative source, "The Battle of Cascina"(now known only from copies of his cartoon) Michelangelo's interest in the nude is chosen in prefence to other possibilities. By choosing an incident from the day before the actual battle. It shows soldiers surprised by a false alarm while bathing in the river Arno.

A similar view could be expressed in a discussion of "David". The only work before 1506 drawn from Old Testament sources. "David" appears similar to the "heroic" Greek nude, althletic and over life-size and shares the concern with observed naturalism and canons of proportion. In order to acheive this, overt references to biblical narrative are played down. The nudity of David and the selection of a moment before/after the killing of Goliath rather than during gives the resemblance to antique form. "David" could be said to present a "biblical hero" using antique models.

" Laocoon and his Sons" the medium and the figure manipulated

"Laocoon and his Sons" could be said to represent one "logical" outcome of the imaginative re-creative approach approach to the legendary/mythical narrative. Here the sculptors conception is applied with a thoroughness that excludes almost any naturalistic observation. Both the figures and the medium are manipulated where this is felt to aid in visual expression equivalent to the narrative.

Everything serves the double function as visible representation of the event and an artistic/expressive device. The snake crushes the figures and animates the spaces between them.The figures appear to be trying to free themselves from the grip of the snake but the postures are subtly stylized. For example the boy on the right thrusts up and out with his left leg down and back with his right arm. The boy on the left turns his torso outwards and his lower body inwards. The Laocoon figure thrusts out and down with his right leg up and back with his left arm. The figures of the boys are also interesting in that if we look at their height we might judge their age to be perhaps ten or twelve years old. If we look at their physique we might judge them to be five to ten years older. To increase the sense of the boys innocence the sculptors perhaps needed to portray them as children. To increase the sense of crushing snake verses muscular power the Laocoon figure is given an exaggerated physique. To retain a unity between the figures the boys are given a physique that approximates that of Laocoon. The nudity of the figures also shows stress and strain in a way that clothed figures could not, this coupled with the minute rendering makes the action appear very "real"
The "Laocoon" is also significant in a wider historical context. Lost after the disintergration of the Roman Empire "Laocoon" was rediscovered during achaelogical excavations in Rome at the time of the Renaissance and became one of the sources for renaissance knowledge of ancient art. It was seen by Michaelangelo just before he started work in the Sistine Chapel

Greek Art-Classical-The Bride of Pirithous Attacked by a Centaur

"The Bride of Pirithous attacked by a Centaur" from about 460 B.C. shows these differences in comparison to the "Agive Twins". We can be sure the artist could not observe a centaur attacking a woman. The centaur, composed from combined observations of men and horses, is the most obvious piece of imaginative re-creation, although the sculture is conviningly conceived and rendered rather than observed. Unlike the "Argive Twins" a pyschological relationship is expressed between and among the figures. This is also reinforced through contrasting details like the bearded centaurs and the non-bearded face of Apollo. This neccessity to show pyschological relationships between and among figures requires their bodies to perform a double function. The figures must express an "atitude" and receive consideration as part of a larger unit. Through narrative the notion of "unity" must be considered, since narrative partly shapes the manner in which ideas can be expressed through figures.

Greek Art-From Crude to Classical-"Kleobis and Biton" (*The Argive Twins) and "Marathon Boy "

Over time surface was given greater consideration and culminated in works like "Marathon Boy", believed by some to be the work of Praxiteles the most famous of later classical Greek sculptors.

All three of the previous examples have some fundamental things in common. Each concerns itself with a single nude male figure. Each could be said to be a synthesis of naturalistic observation of living models and an abstract canon of proportion. If works like these can be said to be one development from the kouros figure perhaps the sculptural group treating a legendary event is another.

"Kleobis and Biton" may be an example of an archaic Greek treatment of a legendary narrative. Kleobis and Biton were young Argives whose mother was a priestess of Hera. On the occasion of a great festival in honour of the goddess the oxen who were to pull the wagon taking their mother did not arrive from the fields in time. The brothers yoked themselves to the wagon and pulled it a distance of 5 miles to the temple.The assembly of people at the temple praised the youths, the men commenting on the brothers strength, the women for their devotion to their mother. Their mother prayed to the goddess that her sons would be granted the highest blessing men could attain. the brothers lay down in the temple precinct after their exertions and never woke again. (Be careful what you wish for ?)

None of this narrative can be deduced by looking at the figures.The only visible clue being almost identical statues conceived as one work. The archaic method of figure composition shapes a definition of the brothers as commemorative rather than narrative in spirit.

Grouping figures in an historical,legendary or mythical narrative required an approach different from that used in "the Argive Twins".The greater freedom in methods of composing figures as naturalistic observation was included in sculpture initially supplied that approach. However using cultural narratives as a source for visual works also reshapes that approach and its results. Sculpture or painting tends to be limited to illustrating one point in a narrative that must define the narrative source clearly. Events from mythical or legendary narrative cannot by definition be directly observed. The artist must "re-create" the action through memory or imagination or both. An artist must therefore first conceive the action they wish to define, thereafter observation of the living model is used to "realise" this conception. Accordingly a work with narrative as its source may/must embody something of an artists personality. Assuming artists have a choice, one moment of action from many moments of action must be selected. Implicit in such selection may be interpretations, judgements, preferences, sympathy with or understanding of particular narratives or moments of narrative.

Naturalism in Greek Art

This tendency toward greater naturalism inevitably led to the disappearance of the pre-conceived posture of the archaic kouros. The figure began to be conceived with greater freedom and more naturalistic observation of the body appeared. A Roman copy of an original Greek bronze The "Doryphoros" by Polykleitos ( the Spear Carrier) shows clearly this blend of observed naturalism and proportion.
That the work partly results from direct observation is indicated by the articulation of the body, suggesting an exact moment in action, in the detail of the hand grasping and muscles tensed or relaxed according to weight distrubution. That a proportional scheme is also present is indicated by the fact that altough of "heroic" size the figure retains a human proportion within itself.

Assuming it is a faithful copy, compared to figures of a later date, the planes of the body are simplified tending to stress individual parts with a resulting lack of sensousness in the surface.