PRIMITIVE ART

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 2, 2 July 1926, Page 3

PRIMITIVE ART

BEGINNINGS OF GREEK SCULPTURE.

Before dealing with the first, or Archaic period of Greek sculpture, Professor Rankine Brown at his lecture at Victoria College on Wednesday retraced the historical facts dealt with in previous lectures, showing that at a very early period there undoubtedly existed in the islands of the Aegean, and particularly Crete, a civilisation of a very advanced and artistic type. In its earliest phase this civilisation was called Minoan, and in its later Mycenean. The civilisation finally succumbed to the invasions of a more hardy race from the north, first the Archaeaus and next the Dorians, and the intrusion of these northern races amongst the original inhabitants of Greece and the Aegean islands was the starting point of Greek history as we know it. We knew nothing at all about Greek sculpture proper before about .650 8.C., about the middle of the seventh century, and therefore the study of the subject starts with that date. Many Minoan. and Mycenean elements survived in all the spheres of Greek life, said the lecturer, but at the same time there was a marked difference between Minoan and Greek art. The former was characterised by realism or naturalism, a sense of the picturesque, with little idea or order, rhythm, or harmony. Greek art, on the other hand, concerned itself almost entirely with the human form, and its most characteristic feature was its sense of order.

"The Archaic period of Greek sculpture," said Professor Brown, "falls into two sections: (1) 025-550 8.C., which, borrowing a word from the history of medieval painting, might be called the period of the Primitives, and (2) 550-480 8.C., when tlie Persian wars made a distinct break between East and West. This second period was generally called the advanced Archaic period. "The Primitive period was coucerned with attempts to attain to some adequate representation of the human form, male and female, and shows its chief and characteristic in want of skill in handling the material. The struggle with the material is apparent in all these early works. The marble obtrudes itself everywhere to the detriment of the illusion of form which the artist wished to evoke. Gradually the artist no longer struggles with the means of expressing his ideas; he becomes free to express whatever he dosires, for he has gained technical skill as well as a knowledge of the limits imposed upon him by his material. It is not the function of any art to reproduce all subjects, but only such subjects as are best suited for reproduction in th» material in which the artist works— stone or colour, sounds or words, as the case may be." A considerable number tf nude male statues, he continued, had in recent years been unearthed in various partß of Greece. These were popularly called "Apollos," but many of them might quite as well be statues of athletes. They presented the same general features, and when arranged in order of excellence showed clear signs of progress on the part of the sculptors. It could be assumed that the first statues were carved in wood and were an attempt to give" shape to the round pillar of stone which was the original object of worship. One main origin of sculpture was the anthropomorphic conception of divinity—the conception of God as possessing a human figure—and few peoples, and least of all the Greeks, rested satisfied with the worship of mere stocks and stones, but tended inevitably to give to the object of their worship some resemblance, at least in the upper portion, to the human form. In the earliest statues the surfaces of a torso Were carved in planes; arms hung down close to the body, with a gradually increasing interval between the upper arm and the sides of the chest, but the hands were always clenched and close to the side. The legs were -only slightly parted, and were as a rule side by side, although the left leg might sometimes be slightly advanced. Except in the' very latest, the hair fell behind the shoulders bo as to give support to the head. This arrangement of the liair was also found in Egyptian statues, and might possibly be due to Egyptian influence. There was a considerable resemblance between these primitive Greek statues and the much more finished product o£ Egyptian sculpture. "It is likely enough," said Professor Brown, "that the Greek sculptors of the seventh century borrowed the grammar of the art from Egypt." Another feature in common, with Egyptian sculpture was their "frontality." All the statues faced one square, and while Egyptian art never broke away from this frontal position, Greek art did so in the fifth century, with the famous "Discus Thrower." ;

The early "Apollos" showed the hair arranged over the forehead in flat, spiral curls, five on each side, and had what is known as the "Archaic smile," a somewhat strained grin pointing to an effort on the part of the artist to give expression to the face. There was a very similar smile or grin in the cply efforts of French sculptors, and slides shown later of the statuary on the Rheinis Cathedral made this clear. Early sculpture found in Athens was also touched upon in the lecture, as well aa primitive reliefs. The most interest ing of these reliefs were found at Selinus, a town in Sicily, where the remains of several temples exist. They were roughly constructed and uncouth, but the artist succeeded in expressing his idea despite his lack of artistic skill. The slides shown included one of tha "Victory" of Archermos, an early attempt to represent a figure in violent motion to the side. The top of the body is full-face, and the lower in profile.