Evolution of Greek sculpture throughout the classical era

 During the classical era in Greece, artisans greatly improved their methods and created a new standard for sculptures. The classical period was divided into two parts; the earlier “severe” style and its predecessor “mature”. During the earlier severe style facial expressions and actions tended to be more serious while the artists used contrapposto as a means to give the statue more lifelike positions. Pathos, the act of dying with nobility and restraint became a common tool also used to express emotion in the sculpture. The medium of choice was bronze and allowed the sculptor to create a more realistic and  flesh- like  feel. By the end of the period sculptures had become more natural and realistic, artists had dropped the severe look and adopted more believable expressions. The mature style aimed for perfection and artists sculpted their models to look like the ideal human being.

 One of the major contributions during the classical era of sculpture is the use of Contrapposto; Contrapposto is an Italian word meaning (counterpoise). One leg carries the weight of the sculpture and is referred to as the engaged leg, the other leg is known as the free leg. This gives the figure more balance and enables the statue to stand freely. Contrapposto allows the artist to give the sculpture a more relaxed and realistic feel by arching the body properly; the body no longer looks mechanical or stiff. This helps the sculpture look like it is in the middle of doing something instead of having a military air to it. This allowed the Greeks the ability to create more dynamic scenes and poses and tell stories through their sculptures. Contrapposto evolved quickly throughout the classical era, beginning with the Kritios boy who does not exhibit full contrapposto but the hips are not aligned and there is a gentle s curve down the back to create an illusion of some movement in the pose. By the end of the classical period Contrapposto had been mastered and the Greeks were able to use body movement to its full extent, Diskobolos, otherwise known as the discus thrower conveys the improvement the Greeks had made using contrapposto. The stance is considerably more complex, offering a full body twist while keeping all the proportions and anatomy in check.

 Another way that the Greeks used to emphasize emotions in their sculptures was using “pathos,” a method of showing suffering and pain in away which moves us rather than horrifies us. Dying Niobid, is a prime example of this, being the first movement in architectural sculpture, it had been carved for the pediment of a Doric temple in the 440’s. The artist was able to show a lot more emotion with this statue because of the body movement that would have been impossible to showcase before Contrapposto.  

The severe style in Greek sculpture, as its name implies refers to the severe expressions on the sculpture's face, which were usually thoughtful and pensive. It made the use of the archaic smile (a lifeless twist of the mouth used earlier to convey realistic expression) unnecessary to show life in the statue. The stance is no longer rigid in the severe period; the face and head are much more natural looking. For instance: the mouth is extremely small, very full lips, the eyes are wide open, the jaw is neither to square or pointed and the nose runs all the way up to the eyebrows. In the Charioteer (an earlier example of the severe style) the expression of severity is that of the period and even though the body is draped in robes there is still a hint of anatomical structure showing through, the angles of the feet are varied to make this apparent. There is also still a slight curve in its stance adding some life to the figure. The clothing also adds a touch of realism. Although it is simple the folds in the cloth look pliable, have a certain flow to them, and also the artist has taken gravity into consideration the cloth is pulled where it needs to and fits properly overtop the body instead of being clumsily applied on top of the structure. 

The Greeks medium of choice was bronze, because it was so thin it enabled sculptors to add more details to the statue including lines to the face and body that marble would not be able to duplicate. It also helped to create the illusion of skin and muscles making the figures look more anatomically proportioned. Since the Greeks worked in bronze all the time it is easy to distinguish a true copy of a Greek statue and a Roman copy.

The second phase of the classical period is called the mature style; it took place during the reign of Perikles a ruler in Greece who heavily supported the arts and helped Greece enter its golden age. During this style artists strove for perfection and sculpted what was believed to be the ideal human being, everything was measured giving the body particular proportions, the skin is smooth and flawless and the body types were lean and muscular. Polykleitos, a renowned sculptor created a “canon”in which he set the ideal proportions of the human figure, this set an ideal for sculptors after him. The most famous sculpture and best example of polykleitos discovery is Doryphoros also known as the spear bearer. Everything in this sculpture is in perfect harmony, the contrapposto is much more pronounced and a lot of attention is paid to the precise anatomical details giving the figure a realistic and more lifelike appearance.  Although this is just a copy easily distinguished because the medium used is marble, which is clearly Roman, it can be assumed that it pales in comparison to the original.

In conclusion, I believe that the classical era helped fashion a new blueprint in which sculptors could follow and create more realistic sculptures. Contrapposto was one way to give the sculpture a sense of movement and life as well as throwing away the previously used bland facial expressions to allow for a more natural feeling. The use of pathos on top of the rest of these methods added to the overall appeal of the sculptures during the classical period of Greece. Without those developments there would be little emotion in sculptures and no sense of realism. The development of the canon allowed future artists to have a system of measurement to use in their sculptures, giving sculptures a more unified and natural style. It was a period in which much advancement in sculpture was made and still many of these are in use even today.