Archaic Sculpture of the Middle Period
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A fragment of a temple frieze from an Archaic temple at Assos, dating from the third quarter of the sixth century B.C., illustrates several aspects of Archaic sculpture of the middle period. The section of frieze sculpture is carved in medium high relief and pictures Herakles (Hercules) pursuing a group of centaurs. The block on which the figures are carved was broken roughly into halves. Beginning on the left-hand side of the composition a fragmented figure of a bearded man (now visible only from the waist up) holds a pot in his right hand and raises his left hand with a flattened palm and extended fingers. Immediately in front of this figure the naked Herakles bends forward in a striding stance and draws back the string of his bow. The first centaur appears to have been shot in the head by Herakles' arrow and he turns back to face him as he grasps the arrow. (Alternatively, the centaur could be throwing something at Herakles but this explanation works against the compositional flow of the narrative.) Two more centaurs flee, roughly in single file, to the right. Though all three centaurs are running, the relatively straight back and bent elbows of the wounded centaur contrast emphatically with the forward lean of the other centaurs' backs and their outstretched arms. The centaurs in this frieze have the unusual form that is also found in a much older work, a bronze statuette (c. 750-730 B.C.) in the geometric style. This work, shown by Tansey and Kleiner, shows th
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g his arrow. His head occupies the central position in the composition. His backward glance contrasts sharply with the forward view of the next centaur (the head of the third has been broken away). In addition, this centaur's arms are bent at the elbows and his hands are raised and bracket his head. Not only does this contrast with the outstretched arms of Herakles and the other centaurs, the two bent elbows that frame the centaur's head are also echoed at either end of the composition by similar upraised arms of the figure on the left and of the last centaur on the right. The entire composition is, therefore, bracketed in the same manner as the centaur's head. These verticals also contrast with the right-leaning diagonal thrust of the sculpture as a whole and serve, along with the relatively vertical back of the wounded centaur, to make him the center of the composition.
The shock of the centaur at being hit and the absence of forward movement in the upper half of his body creates a momentary stillness at the center of a sculpture filled with aggressively directed movement. Such movement is typical of the work of relief sculptors who were interested in examining the varieties of movement. The dominant image of surviving
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Archaic Ionic, Tansey Kleiner, Herakles Hercules, Erymanthus Herakles, Theseus Jason, , Non-European Art, center composition, Ages Vol, tansey kleiner, section frieze, frieze sculpture, wounded centaur, Scribner's Sons, bent elbows, History Vol, vol 1 ancient, centaur center, pursuing centaurs, relief sculptures, 1 ancient, wounded centaur center, section frieze sculpture,
Approximate Word count = 1550
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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