GREEK ART

850 B.C. - 146 B.C.

Was there ever a civilization as in love with beauty as the ancient Greeks? Perhaps not. The cradle of culture brought a realism to art that has proven timeless.

While the Egyptians were capturing history, citizens of Greece were laying the foundation of modern culture. In a brief rule of less than a century, and 400 years before the birth of Christ, the magnificent Parthenon, and famous Greek sculptures of Kritios Boy, Discobolus, Spear-Bearer and Venus de Milo, were all created. To place these masterpiece sculptures next to the funeral mask of King Tutankhamun, is to see the first glimmers of the age old war between “art as glorification” and “art as inspiration.” To think of them alongside the Book of the Dead is to witness the difference between human fear and human spirit.