Module 8

1)      I selected the “The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure” video because of the pervious video ending on the Riace Bronze statues and the Greek idea of what was desirable to exaggerate. The second video I figured would tie in with the previous and expand on the Greek culture and their view of the human body. Also I found the topic interesting and wanted more information on it.

2)      The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure discussed the expansion of Greek interest in the realism and making a human figure as pleasing and athletic as possible. It described their transition from Egyptian style to a much more realistic style. Also how they studied and worked to make things life-like but exaggerate features to make them even more visually stunning.  How in all their work there is still mythology which is tied into to their religion and still managed to create life-like statues. More Human Than Human describe how it is mentally ingrained in the human to want to strive for more perfection than possible, especially when to do with the human body. That this desire can be suppressed when culture demands, but will still come out, just in different ways for each culture. Also that it is still very much present in our modern society. This instinct to exaggerate humans to extremes has been around for as long as we have replicated humans in art as well. It is also this is present in other animals, due to the seagull experiment of them finding the three stripe stick better than the one because you are exaggerating what their brains find desirable.

3)      The readings in the text explain why when you examine art you have to look at it from the time period and the culture to decide if it was ‘good’ or not. It also goes into individuals who have pushed the boundaries and pushed art forward into a more life-like area or changed the way it is done and how this influenced their society. The videos show how art has changed and has been influenced by what the culture perceived as the perfect body and what they felt need to exaggerate on the body.

4)      I found both videos interesting. I especially like how the More Human Than Human described the changes in what the culture perceived as beautifully and how cultures learn from others to advance their own art, and how all seem to have a fascination with the human body, even today.