Introduction

The term Hellenistic is derived from the word Hellas which is the ancient Greek word for Greece. Hellenism refers to an admiration for, or an imitation of, the ideas, styles or culture of classical Greek civilization. It was widespread during the Hellenistic Age that is said to last from 323 BCE (the death of Alexander the Great) to 30 BCE (shortly after the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and the subsequent conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt). The Hellenistic Age had great respect for the Greek culture (Martin). By this time, the Greek culture was very pure and had not been affected by any other culture. However, after Alexander the Great conquering other parts of the world, the Greeks got an opportunity to interact with other people outside their Hellenic culture. As a result, there was a classic culture blended with cultures from Asia and Africa to create a blended culture. This man Alexander the Great is responsible for all this blending and had significant contribution to the Hellenistic art as discussed below.

Hellenistic art

Hellenistic art is the art of the Hellenistic period that dates from 232 BC to 146 BC.   It is important to note that a good number of the best known works of Greek sculpture belongs to this period. It is characterized with modern invention, the Hellenistic World not only included a huge area covering the whole of the Aegean, rather than the Classical Greece focused on the Polis of Athens and Sparta, but also a huge time range (Martin). The intercultural blending that transpired during the era of Alexander the Great was responsible for the shift in the art culture amongst the Greeks.

It is prudent to note that the Hellenistic art is richly diverse in subject matter and in stylistic development. It is during this era that there were museums and great libraries such as those at Alexandria and Pergamon. Also, Hellenistic artists copied and adapted earlier styles as well as made great innovations. Prior to the Hellenistic age, the only arts present were the representations of Greek gods. Nevertheless, Alexander the Great brought about introduction of secular arts (Worthington). For instance, the popular image of nude Aphrodite is a reflection of secularization of traditional religion. The Hellenistic art embraced dynamism and extravagance which is a sharp contrast to the calm, restrained majesty of classical statues.

Although the classical Greek concepts were not entirely abandoned by the Hellenistic art, the art of this era expanded to greater horizons with dramatic posing, sweeping lines, and high contrast of light, shadow and emotions. There was increased freedom and room for experimentation, where artists explored subjects from different unique points of view. Idealism of classical art paved way to higher degree of naturalism. As a result, great sculptors such as Praxiteils, Skopas and Lysipos worked towards a more realistic way of expressing the human figure.  The classical era was replaced with modernization and civilization whereby greatness and humility was replaced with bold expressions of energy and power (Burgan). It is important to note that the Hellenistic art shifted from religious and naturalistic themes towards more dramatic human expression, psychological and spiritual preoccupation, and theatrical settings. The sculpture of this period abandons the self-containment of the earlier styles and appears to embrace its physical surroundings with dramatic groupings and creative landscaping of its context.

The nude Aphrodite is a good example of a Hellenistic sculpture where naturalism and boldness of expression is evident. In the fourth century B.C.E. the sculptor Praxiteles created a life-size naked statue of Aphrodite, also popularly known as Venus. The sculpture was placed in a shrine in her temple at Knidos in southwestern Turkey. It was an important innovation in classical sculpture, and subsequent Hellenistic sculptors created several new types of nude Aphrodite figures, that further emphasized the sexual nature of her cult (Martin). In the sculpture, the Aphrodite is shown attempting to cover her nakedness with her hands but in vain. The action in fact only succeeds in drawing the viewer’s eye towards the sexual areas. In essence, the sculpture somehow abandons the classical art that was purely on religion and idealistic. A realism approach is evident in the sculpture where sensitive issues such as sexuality have been addressed.  In addition, the three-dimension attributes evident in the statue is an indication of modernization and Greek civilization resulting from the work of Alexander the Great (Worthington). In conclusion, Alexander the Great made significant contribution to the Hellenistic art where artists enjoyed freedom to innovate and make their expressions known without fear.

Image of a naked Aphrodite sculpture.

Work cited

Burgan, Michael. Empire Of Ancient Rome. New York, NY: Facts On File, 2005. Print.

Martin, Susan Rebecca. “Hellenization” And Southern Phoenicia. Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI, 2008. Print.

Worthington, Ian. Alexander The Great. Harlow: Longman, 2004. Print.

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