Научная статья на тему 'Anthropological methods as a way to analyze the art image of ancient Greek sculpture'

Anthropological methods as a way to analyze the art image of ancient Greek sculpture Текст научной статьи по специальности «Науки о Земле и смежные экологические науки»

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Ключевые слова
ANCIENT GREEK SCULPTURE / FACE PROPORTIONS / EVOLUTION OF ART IMAGE

Аннотация научной статьи по наукам о Земле и смежным экологическим наукам, автор научной работы — Belikov Anton, Goncharova Natalia

Ancient sculpture is one of the best examined objects in the world culture so it can be used for the verification of some hypothesis in anthropology and art history. Applying of anthropological methods to analyze art objects creates a new methodology and reveals tendencies in the evolution of the image. The essential distinctions between the archaic and classical images in spite of the paradigm of the anthropological type stability lead to the search of the reasons for such considerable differences. The purpose of this study is to detach the anthropological content from its ideal content determined mostly by the canon of proportions. The author’s photos of ancient sculptures and the archaic sculptures photographs by Gisela Richter are used. Such characteristics as height and width proportions of faces, size and disposition of the eyes, lips and nose were subjected to statistical analysis. The anthropological methods denote the typological features of different periods. The differences between the archaic and classic sculptures appear in the inclination of the eyes, in face proportions, and lips thickness. The variability of the facial proportions in archaic period is higher due to the lack of the canon. The differences between the facial proportions of two periods are the result of the proportional schemes evolution. The study allows us to mark out the characteristics of the image related to the proportions regulated by the canon from real anthropological features such as a structure of the periorbital area and facial horizontal profile. The stability of the reproduction of these features through time and space suggests the influence of real anthropological environment on the images. The change of the image in the VI-V cc. BC presumably reflects the change of the anthropological type, which took place in the remote past. In art this change became apparent later. The study of the faces of sculptures reveals the proportional similarity of the Palmyra funerary sculpture and the Greek archaic images. However, the structure of the periorbital area of these two groups differ which can probably be explained by the differences between the anthropological types of the population.

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Текст научной работы на тему «Anthropological methods as a way to analyze the art image of ancient Greek sculpture»

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Section MISCELLANEOUS

across the territory of Russia and neighbouring countries (Teshik-Tash, Staroselie, Afontova Gora etc.). There are high-class copies of the main fossil hominids from Africa, Europe, Asia, skeletons and stuffed models of modern primates also. The department of Paleoanthropology unites the collections of skulls and skeletons from Upper Paleolithic to 17-18th centuries across the territory of our country. The collections of Archaeological department embrace the whole history of mankind from prehistoric past to the Slavic antiquities, including ivory figurines from the Avdeevo site. The department of Ethnography houses the collections from Africa, the Americas, the Pacific and Siberia that were gathered in the second half of the 19th century and demonstrates native cultures at the period of the first contacts with Europeans. The department of Illustrations contains photos, glass negatives, drawings, death masks and busts of the peoples from different parts of the Earth, including pencil drawings of the famous Russian scientist N.N. Miklukha-Maklay, made during his voyage to the New Guinea. The collections of the Museum of Anthropology are deeply involved in the research process, serving as a base for preparing scientific articles, term papers, diplomas and theses.

Key words: anthropology, museum, museology, history, collections

Contact information: Balakhonova Ekaterina, e-mail: [email protected].

ANTHROPOLOGICAL METHODS AS A WAY TO ANALYZE THE ART IMAGE OF ANCIENT GREEK SCULPTURE

Belikov Anton1, Goncharova Natalia2

1Department of Aesthetics, Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia 2Department of Anthropology, Biological Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

Ancient sculpture is one of the best examined objects in the world culture so it can be used for the verification of some hypothesis in anthropology and art history. Applying of anthropological methods to analyze art objects creates a new methodology and reveals tendencies in the evolution of the image. The essential distinctions between the archaic and classical images in spite of the paradigm of the anthropological type stability lead to the search of the reasons for such considerable differences. The purpose of this study is to detach the anthropological content from its ideal content determined mostly by the canon of proportions. The author's photos of ancient sculptures and the archaic sculptures photographs by Gisela Richter are used. Such characteristics as height and width proportions of faces, size and disposition of the eyes, lips and nose were subjected to statistical analysis. The anthropological methods denote the typological features of different periods. The differences between the archaic and classic sculptures appear in the inclination of the eyes, in face proportions, and lips thickness. The variability of the facial proportions in archaic period is higher due to the lack of the canon. The differences between the facial proportions of two periods are the result of the proportional schemes evolution. The study allows us to mark out the characteristics of the image related to the proportions regulated by the canon from real anthropological features such as a structure of the periorbital area and facial horizontal profile. The stability of the reproduction of these features through time and space suggests the influence of real anthropological environment on the images. The change of the image in the VI-V cc. BC presumably reflects the change of the anthropological type, which took place in the remote past. In art this change became apparent later. The study of the faces of sculptures reveals the proportional similarity of the Palmyra funerary sculpture and the Greek archaic images. However, the structure of the periorbital area of these two groups differ which can probably be explained by the differences between the anthropological types of the population.

Key words: ancient Greek sculpture, face proportions, evolution of art image

Contact information: Belikov Anton, e-mail: [email protected], Goncharova Natalia, e-mail: [email protected].

Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Series 23 ANTHROPOLOGIYA — 3/2014

19th Congress of the European Anthropological Association Lomonosov MSU, Moscow, Russia, 25th - 29th August, 2014

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