DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48293#0021
THE APPEAL OF GREEK ART
Civilization, as we know it today, has devel-
oped in two main streams, one from its source
in India spreading out over China and the East,
the other spreading westward from its fountain
head in Greece. The life, the thought, and the
art of the East are hardly less foreign to us than
the prehistoric culture of America.
Take for example a copper figure from south-
ern India, representing Siva dancing. Of course
the features and the accessories are unfamiliar
to us, and the refinement of the slender limbs is
not what we expect in sculpture. The four
arms seem only a monstrosity. The flying hair,
the forced curves of the garment, the contorted
attitude may give graceful lines; but at first
sight we find them meaningless and fantastic.
Is there any artistic significance, we ask, in the
child on which this strange figure is dancing?
Nor is it any less at variance with our concep-
tion of art as the free product of the artist’s
imagination, when we find that this type with
only the slightest variations persists for cen-
turies.
Indian sculpture does not aim to represent
nature with accuracy; it does not seek to pro-
duce forms more perfect than nature; it is never
satisfied to depict mere physical beauty. It is
[7]
Civilization, as we know it today, has devel-
oped in two main streams, one from its source
in India spreading out over China and the East,
the other spreading westward from its fountain
head in Greece. The life, the thought, and the
art of the East are hardly less foreign to us than
the prehistoric culture of America.
Take for example a copper figure from south-
ern India, representing Siva dancing. Of course
the features and the accessories are unfamiliar
to us, and the refinement of the slender limbs is
not what we expect in sculpture. The four
arms seem only a monstrosity. The flying hair,
the forced curves of the garment, the contorted
attitude may give graceful lines; but at first
sight we find them meaningless and fantastic.
Is there any artistic significance, we ask, in the
child on which this strange figure is dancing?
Nor is it any less at variance with our concep-
tion of art as the free product of the artist’s
imagination, when we find that this type with
only the slightest variations persists for cen-
turies.
Indian sculpture does not aim to represent
nature with accuracy; it does not seek to pro-
duce forms more perfect than nature; it is never
satisfied to depict mere physical beauty. It is
[7]