The Greek Body

More than any other civilisation, the Greeks placed the human body at the centre of their culture. The marble, bronze, and terracotta sculptures presented in this volume – outstanding highlights drawn from over six centuries of artistic production – demonstrate the diversity of Greek figural forms, from the idealised beauty of the Classical era to the individualised portraits of the Hellenistic period. Large, stunning details testify to the artists’ skills in turning cold, hard materials into warm, human flesh.

To the ancient Greeks the human body in sculpture was both an object of sensory delight and an expression of an intelligent mind. From the abstract simplicity of prehistoric Cycladic figurines to later realism, sculptors gave form to thought in a rich harvest of artworks that have had a profound influence upon western visual culture. Through stunning new photographs and close-up views, this book explores the subject of the body in ancient Greece, drawing on the British Museum’s outstanding collection of marble, bronze and terracotta sculptures. In the modern popular imagination, mention of the ancient Greeks is likely to conjure up an image of idealised and naked youth, and it is true that the ideal nude, both male and female, is a striking feature of Greek sculpture. However, in later Greek art especially, sculptors and their patrons became increasingly interested in human diversity, experimenting with the representation of ethnicity, age and character. The gods and heroes of Greek myth are conceived in the image of mankind, as supermen and superwomen. Other supernatural beings – centaur and sphinx, satyr and siren – combine human with animal parts as symbols of their otherworldliness. With over one hundred colour illustrations, this book allows the reader to experience the Greek body in its many forms as evidence of both art and thought.