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Lesson 2: The language of art history- Naturalism, realism, abstraction and idealization
- Contrapposto explained
- What is foreshortening?
- What is chiaroscuro?
- How one-point linear perspective works
- What is atmospheric perspective?
- Classic, classical, and classicism explained
- The classical orders
- What is genre painting?
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Classic, classical, and classicism explained
Classical, classic, and classicism refer to different aspects of art and history. Classical relates to ancient Greek and Roman culture, while classic represents the best of a certain era. Classicism is the revival of classical styles, seen in periods like the Renaissance and Neoclassicism. Fun fact: ancient Greek and Roman sculptures were often brightly colored, not just white marble! Created by Smarthistory.
Want to join the conversation?
- Is the term "classic" only used in reference to the Maya Period, or can it be used as reference to other periods in Greek art history? Can you expand and explain a little bit on and about that?(1 vote)
Video transcript
(relaxing piano music) - [Instructor] We're in
the Metropolitan Museum, in the galleries devoted to
ancient Greek and Roman art. And we wanted to talk about the difference between what is classical, what is classicism and what is classic. - [Instructor 2] When I
think of the term classic, I think of things like
classic cars or classic rock. And I think often, I associate
things that are classic with being wonderful
examples of a certain era. - [Instructor] And art historians
do use the term classic. For example, we might think
about the Classic Maya Period. - [Instructor 2] When
we use the term classic in reference to certain periods
in Mesoamerican history, it's a reference to periods that are perceived by modern scholars as being the art that is
considered to be among the best. - [Instructor] And art
historians should know better. We study history and we know that fashions in what
is considered important, even into the history of
art, changes over time. So let's move on to classical. That's usually a reference to ancient Greek and Roman culture. This period that lasted over 1,000 years, a period in which much
of the Mediterranean was dominated by first the
Greeks and then the Romans. - [Instructor 2] Here we are
in the court showing lots of examples of Greco-Roman sculpture that would be considered classical. But more specifically, people talk about the Classical period, which is a specific time
period in ancient Greek art. These are divisions that
are made by art historians in much later time periods. - [Instructor] And this
"Aphrodite" is such an exemplar of what comes to mind when
we think of the classical. It's clearly informed
by careful observation of the human body, although
idealized, made better. So although this comes out of a period that we would specifically refer to as the Late Classical in ancient Greece, it is also part of this
larger, sweeping period that we call the classical, which is a reference to ancient
Greece and ancient Rome. - [Instructor 2] So if we were looking at the Renaissance era, we could think about Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus", where Venus is modeled on
sculptures very similar to this "Aphrodite" sculpture
that we're looking at. We might refer to that looking back to ancient Greco-Roman culture as looking back to classical culture. - [Instructor] Since its revival
in the Italian Renaissance, an interest in classicism
has never entirely been lost. Two events collided in the 18th century to bring forth what we call Neoclassicism. There was the rediscovery
of the city of Pompeii, sparking this renewed interest
in ancient Roman culture. But at the same time, there was an intellectual
movement that was taking place, which we call the Enlightenment, which would revive the ancient
Greek idea of democracy. - [Instructor] This is when, you think of buildings like
the White House, Monticello, these are all being constructed, thinking about the Greco-Roman world. This is also the time
when you have the origins of the discipline of art history. Johann Winckelmann is interested in ancient Greek and Roman
art and he's creating these stylistic categories,
like the Classical period and some of those value
judgments that we use today. For instance, feeling
that the classical era has the most sophisticated,
advanced, naturalistic art comes from that time period. - [Instructor] But that idea that there is a static perfection of the past, that we try to get back to, came into conflict in the 19th century with ideas of industrial progress. Were the Greeks and Romans
this epitome, this perfection, that we can only hope to re-achieve? Or, in fact, is our
society moving forward? And in the 19th and
20th and 21st centuries, we've been grappling with that conflict. - [Instructor 2] When
you have people looking to the ancient Greek and Roman past, they were re-imagining it
as this pure white marble. The great irony is that
much of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture was brightly painted. And we can still see traces
on many different sculptures. Although, for those where
you don't see traces, sometimes it was because
sculptures were later bleached to remove the traces of color. - [Instructor] So the
18th and 19th centuries, and even early 20th century, were imposing their aesthetics
on these ancient objects, making them conform to their idea of what they should have looked like, even though, we now know, that was wrong. - [Instructor 2] How different
these periods of revival would have been if only
people had been more aware of the brightly colored
art and architecture of the ancient Greek and Roman past. (upbeat piano music)