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THE IDEALS OF CLASSICISM

THE BASIC IDEALS OF CLASSICISM ARE:


Use of:
REASON - INTELLECT - LOGIC - UNDERSTANDING
Necessary mental approach:
RESTRAINT - MODERATION - SELF-CONTROL
Striving for:
PERFECTION - IDEALIZATION - REALISM
Visual stylistic characteristics:
SIMPLICITY - PROPORTION - ORDER - BALANCE - HARMONY
CLARITY OF STRUCTURE - SYMMETRY - MATHEMATICAL PRINCIPLES
- GEOMETRIC REGULARITY

Mood:
CALM - PEACEFUL - STILL
Focus on:
FORM (rather than feeling)

We humans have two major sides of our nature - we are rational and emotional
creatures. These two are opposite qualities, often in conflict. While ancient Greeks
recognized both and tried to live their lives in the best balance of the two, a strong
tendency to learn about the world they live in made them choose rational approaches as
the right way to finding truths they were searching for.
We call this philosophical and aesthetic approach, CLASSICISM.

Born in the Classical Greece, this general mindset was clearly reflected in philosophy, art, architecture,
drama and other aspects of Greek life. It was copied to a great deal by ancient Romans; hence the Greco-
Roman world is often called Classical Antiquity.
Classicism has periodically been reborn throughout the history of Western civilization, exchanging place
with anti-classical approach, oppositely based on feelings and emotions. Some of the anti-classical
elements have been introduced in the art of Hellenistic period and in the ancient Rome, although we still
consider these periods to be a part of the ancient Classical world.
Read the following Segments from Chapter 2 Classicism:

- Section The Classical Style: from Greek Architecture: The Parthenon to (and including)
The Sculpture of the Parthenon."

STUDY QUESTIONS

Use these study questions to help you focus on important facts, but read carefully everything that
is assigned.

1 - Parthenon is dedicated to which deity?


Athena, the goddess of war and of wisdom, and patron of the arts and crafts.
2 - Who commissioned the building of Parthenon, and with which funds?

Pericles, with Delian League funds to restore the wooden temples burned by the Persians during
their attack on Athens in 480

3 - Which architectural order (style) does the Parthenon use?

Doric order (instead of Ionic or Corinthian)

4 - Which are the three Greek orders of architecture? Describe each of them.

Doric: simple and severe. In the Parthenon it reached its most refined expression.

Ionic: more delicate and ornamental. Its slender columns terminate in capitals with paired volutes
or scrolls.

Corinthian: the most ornate of the orders, is characterized by capitals sculpted with acanthus
leaves. It is often found on victory monuments, in tholos (circular) sanctuaries and shrines, and
in various Hellenistic and Roman structures

5 - Which temple on the Acropolis employed Ionic order?

Temple of Athena Nike

6 - What is the name for the spiral decorations in the capital of Ionic column (use
illustration)?

Volutes

7 - Why is Parthenons geometry not perfectly straight?

To counter the optical effect of thinning that occurs when the normal eye views an uninterrupted
set of parallel lines.

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