From the power point “Abstracting the Figure” select 3 artists to underpin your investigation for a Body of Work in which you are to explore a variety of techniques and extend your knowledge of the human form.
1. For each of the three (3) artists investigate the techniques and compositional devices that the particular artist employs in their practice. Use the structural frame questions and handouts to inform your in-depth study. (500 words per artist)
2. Include a minimum of one (1) labelled image for each artist in which you indicate the structural devices employed in the work.
3. Include references and bibliography Marking Criteria: Your work will be marked on
The figure has been subjected to change over thousands of years. …show more content…
Polykleitos is well known for his artwork sculpture – Doryphoros. Doryphoros was a bronze artwork (that has been lost) but the Roman rework made from marble with a chisel is 2.12m in height. Doryphoros, meaning “spear-bearer” is an example of contrapposto – the relaxed balanced stature stance seen in Doryphoros with one foot in front and one back, making it seem relaxed to the responder. The world and audience in which Polykleitos lived in vastly influenced his artwork as seen in how it is represented. The ancient Greeks viewed nakedness to be imbued with cultural, philosophic and religious meaning. They appreciated and celebrated the naked male form as public nudity was a normative condition for men who participated in athletic competitions such as the Olympic games in which all athletes were naked. Greeks believed in the philosophy of freedom (both physical and mental) and diginity of the individual through nakedness. Due to this, Doryphoros is seen as a naked male which celebrates the human form in an ‘ideal’ fashion. Polykleitos achieves this through developing the convention of the “canon” or “rule” which ultimately displays the human body as harmonious with balanced proportions. The rule was that the head should be 1/7th of the figures height; the foot should be three times the length of the hand and the length of the leg from the foot to the knee and the distance between the knee and the centre of the