The Ancient smile was used by Greek Archaic sculptors, especially in the second quarter of the 6th century BC, perhaps to show that their subject lives, and is impregnated with a sense of well-being. For audiences accustomed to realism, his smile is flat and seems unnatural, though it can be seen as a movement toward naturalism. One of the most famous examples of Archaic Smiles is Kroisos Kouros.
The dying warrior from the western pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina, Greece is an interesting context because the soldier is almost dead.
In ancient Greek times (about 600 BC to 480 BC), the mushroomed art contains images of people who had an old smile.
For two centuries before the middle of the 5th century BC, the ancient smile was widely sculpted, as evidenced by the statues found in excavations throughout the Greek mainland, Asia Minor, and on the islands of the Aegean Sea. It has been theorized that in this period, the artists felt that they represented that they were blessed by the gods in their actions, so that the smile, or that it was similar to a smile previously planned in modern photographs.
The importance of this convention is unknown, although it is often assumed that for Greeks this kind of smile reflects the ideal state of health and well-being. It is the best anthropological practice to assume expertise in craft execution and to seek formal/stylistic reasons why cultural artefacts appear as they do. It has also been suggested that it is merely the result of technical difficulties in adjusting the curved shape from mouth to head that is somewhat like a typical block of Archaic statues. Richard Neer theorized that the Archaic Smile could actually be a marker of status since the aristocrats from various cities across Greece are referred to as Geleontes or smiling people.
There is an alternative view for an old-fashioned, "very flat and seemingly unnatural" smile. This is how John Fowles describes the ancient smile in his novel The Magus (Chapter 23): "... filled with pure metaphysical good humor [...] intelligent and timeless ticking. [...] Because a star explodes and a thousand worlds like us die, we know this world.That is a smile: that what may not, is [...] When I die, I will have this beside my bed.This is the human face the last thing I want to see. "
Video Archaic smile
See also
- Ancient Greek Art
- Baekje smiled
Maps Archaic smile
References
External links
- The Dying Warrior of Alphaisa Temple
- [1]
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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