There are three major categories of Greek sculpture: freestanding statues, architectural sculpture, and nonarchitectural reliefs. The principal subjects of Greek sculpture are gods, heroes of legend, and athletes, youths, or maidens intended to demonstrate ideals of beauty. Whatever the subject, category, or material, the typical Greek sculpture was basically spiritual in function. Most statues and reliefs were dedicated as offerings in sanctuaries to please or thank divinities, or stood as markers over graves, while architectural sculpture was carved essentially only for temples, treasuries, or tombs. The determining phase of Greek sculpture closes with sculptures viewed principally from the front. This...
Melodramatic, exaggerated effects are especially associated with the Great Pergamum Alter, built atop the city's acropolis sometime from about 190 to 156 BC. Some figures seem ready to leap off the wall and even crawl up the sides of a staircase. The muscles of the figures are, the drapery sweeping, the poses striking, and the faces expressive. In one scene, the goddess Athena has caught a giant as he gazes helplessly toward the sky as he tries to free himself. His expression resembles that of Laoco?â?Ân, a later statue, shown as he struggles to free himself from giant snakes.
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Michael Moore's film, Roger and Me is about the closing of several General Motors plants in Flint, Michigan and the effects that the situation imposes on Flint's citizens. Throughout the movie, Moore, the director and narrator, tries to reach Roger Smith, chairman of GM, to let him understand Flint's suffering...
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What was the importance of these two altarpieces for the development of painting in Venice, both from a stylistic and iconographic point of view? It has been said that Titian's Assunta, which adorns the high altar, and Pesaro on the left aisle of the chapel of the Immaculate Conception stand...
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The life and work of Andy Warhol has inspired many writers to tell of the artist's secrets in published writings. However, Carter Ratcliff accomplishes this feat in a unique fashion, profiling Warhol's work in Andy Warhol. A must-read for anybody interested in the origins of American Pop art, Ratcliff's book...
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The painting Metamorphosis of Narcissus was created in 1937 by oil on canvas by Salvador Dali. This painting uses a lot of images to say what it means, for example, a person, a hand, water, a starving dog, a chess board, a canyon or cliff, and people. This is not...
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The Empire State Building The granddaddy of all skyscrapers and now a National Historic Landmark, the Empire State Building ESB, with its central Manhattan location, offers the best views of New York City. It is still one of the world"s tallest buildings. This New York icon was completed in 1931....
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