"The Beauty of the Body" in Greek Prehistory: The earliest sculptures of Cycladic art.
The oldest sculpture in the exhibition. "The Beauty of the Body: Art and Thought in Ancient Greece is a female statuette in white marble, from the art of the Cycladic Islands. Produced around 2600-2400 BC, it is a typical statuette with a serene pose, arms crossed, head in the shape of a lyre, feet pointing downwards. Although we are used to seeing these figures displayed upright in museum showcases. In fact, it seems to be designed to be lying down rather than standing upright: an interesting reflection when we consider the ancient uses of this type of statuette.
The statuette is usually female and nude, with no apparent clothing or adornment. In fact, she shows no facial features, except for the long, thin nose. The simple lines and pure forms of Cycladic island art sculptures have led to an appreciation that compares them to the quest for abstract simplicity and purity in modern art. Comparisons have been made with the works of Picasso and Brancusi, while sculptors such as Henry Moore have acknowledged their debt to Cycladic art: he wrote "I love and admire Cycladic sculpture.
Yet, as is often the case in archaeology, things are not what they seem. Recent research has increasingly shown that many and perhaps most Cycladic statuettes were originally largely decorated with paint. Details such as facial features, tufts of hair and sometimes jewellery were usually painted, and some statuettes clearly show signs of extensive body decoration with motifs such as dots, stripes, eyes and stars. Their original appearance must have been very different from the pure white marble we see today.
This lecture will consider Cycladic sculpture against the background of its ancient context, discussing not only the statuettes themselves but what they and other archaeological evidence reveal about life in the Cycladic Islands in the Third Millennium BC.
