Along with science, the arts also flourished in the Hellenistic world, especially painting, sculpture, crafts, and architecture. Greek designs became more complicated as a result of the influence of ideas and techniques from other lands. Similarly, artists in Asia and the Middle East adopted elements of the Greek style. The commingling of these two approaches evolved into a new style of art that incorporated both Greek and Asian design.
This new style became known as Hellenistic art and was characterized by a greater sense of naturalism, especially in portraying the human body, than was found in earlier works. Hellenistic art also reflected a move from religious themes to a focus on more intense human emotions and psychologically oriented portrayals of its subject matter. Often Hellenistic art features more dramatic poses and high contrasts between light and shadow as well.
Greek artists first began to portray the human form in this new way during the fifth century B. C.E. During the classical age of Greece (approximately 500 to 400 b. c.e.), sculptors and other artists experimented with new techniques and approaches. While the paintings and sculptures of earlier civilizations were often stiff and not lifelike, the Greeks became the first to model realistic human forms in their art. Though no Greek paintings have survived, much sculpture remains, most of it made of marble or bronze.
The influence of Greek art can be traced all along Alexander’s path, from the Hindu Kush Mountains to the mouth of the Indus River. Archaeologists have discovered many buildings and statues on the border of India and Persia that show the influence of Greek art. These works are naturalistic and sophisticated-much more so than the art that predated Alexander’s arrival. In the region of Gandhara in India (which corresponds today with the countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan), which Alexander invaded in 326 B. C.E., a new style of art was developed that integrated Buddhist thought with Greek artistic concepts. The Gandhara style played an important role in the development of Indian art; for example, many statues of the Buddha were modeled after the Greek god Apollo. Even in Turkestan and China, countries Alexander never visited, the Buddha statues are influenced by Greek sculptural style. Early Christian art was Hellenistic as well.
Alexander’s long march through many different regions, often with skilled craftsmen attached to his army, enabled artisans from many regions to share their skills, or at least see each other’s work. Greek craftsmen, who were considered among the best in the world, were influenced by Persian crafts. For example, they became familiar with the Persian rhyton, an ornate drinking vessel often made in the shape of an animal’s head. After the war, large quantities of such rhytons appeared in Athens, where Greek artists immediately began imitating them.
Blending Styles
The Gandhara style of art in India combined Buddhist thought with Greek artistic ideals. This stucco Indian head of a Bodhisattva (goddess), dating from about the 4th century C. E., clearly shows the Greek sculptural style in its natural representation of the face.
Not all Hellenistic artworks were of high quality. Many local artists did not know how to apply the principles of Greek art, and the emphasis in some areas was on quantity rather than quality. More works of art were produced than ever before, but many were pretentious and few were masterpieces.
Some art critics believe that one such overwrought work, called by some a “monstrosity,” was the Colossus of Rhodes. But many ancients hailed its great beauty. The Colossus, a towering male figure erected to watch over the harbor of the Mediterranean island of Rhodes in Greece, was one of the so-called Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. At 110 feet tall, it was so huge that a grown man would not have been able to wrap his arms around a single finger of the figure. The Colossus was destroyed in an earthquake in about 225 B. C.E., so its true artistic worth will never be known. But one fact is known: It inspired the French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904). Based on what he imagined the Colossus of Rhodes looked like, he created America’s Statue of Liberty, which stands at the same height, also watching over a great city at the edge of the water.
World History
