The Emergence of the Classical Style in Greek Sculpture
In the fifth century B.C.E, an artistic revolution occurred in Greece, as sculptors developed new ways of representing bodies, movement, and space. The resulting “Classical” style would prove influential for centuries and millennia to come. Modern scholars have traditionally described the emergence of this style as a steady march of progress, culminating in masterpieces like the Parthenon sculptures. But this account assumes the impossible: that the early Greeks were working tirelessly toward a style of which they had no prior knowledge.
In this ambitious work, Richard Neer draws on recent work in art history, archaeology, literary criticism, and art theory to rewrite the story of Greek sculpture. He provides new ways to understand Classical sculpture in Greek terms, and carefully analyzes the relationship between political and stylistic histories. A much-heralded project, The Emergence of The Classical Style in Greek Sculpture represents an important step in furthering our understanding of the ancient world.
“This is a big and ambitious volume, beautifully written by one of the leading new voices in the field of Greek visual art. Filled with considerable merits, it aims to do nothing less than shift the language of the art historical description used in accounting the transition from archaic to classical sculpture. From its rich and challenging introduction on the theory of interpretation to its brilliant reading of the Tyrannicides, The Emergence of the Classical Style in Greek Sculpture is unlike any other work in its field.”—James I. Porter, University of California, Irvine
“The Emergence of the Classical Style in Greek Sculpture represents an original and worthwhile approach to a major turning point in art history from a distinguished young scholar. Well-informed and up-to-the-minute theoretically, this important contribution to ancient studies offers excellent criticisms of individual works of art that begin to reveal the crushing inadequacies of some of our most respected accounts.”—Mary Beard, University of Cambridge
“The question that Richard Neer asks is of crucial importance: ‘Given that the Archaic Greeks, by definition, didn’t know the classical style, what were they after?’ What Neer advocates in this bold and enlightening book is a return to the analysis of style, not simply in the service of attributions to masters, but instead to the reconstruction of aesthetics. I know of no other work on the subject that addresses the issue in these thought-provoking terms.”—Gloria Ferrari Pinney, Harvard University
Best Books of 2011
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