Archaic Greece was a period approximately 200 years long (700-480 BCE). During this time, Greece was just recovering from the Dark Ages and were beginning to form city-states. This was a time of reconstruction in all forms; they were rebuilding the Greek community politically, economically, and socially. The art of this time period reflects appropriately upon the circumstances. The kouros are an accurate representation of this point in Greek history. Take, for example, the Suonion Kouros (600 BCE) and the Kouros from Melos (550 BCE). These statues of young men were extremely common in Archaic art. They are sculptures of men standing, usually nude; kouros are typically stiff, with the arms at their sides, and lack emotion and much detail. These statues reflect the Archaic time-period, because they have a more serious, stern character to them, much like society at the time. Greece was just emerging from the Dark Ages and were focused more on rebuilding the government and economy rather than emphasizing emotion artistically. This does not mean that the art was lacking in quality, but that it was lacking a bit in freedom and creativity.
The Classical period followed the Archaic and lasted from about 480-323 BCE. By this time, the city-states had become quite successful and powerful, especially Sparta and Athens; both cities had enjoyed but economic and militaristic success. Art was changing just as fast as society and reflected those changes in the depictions of the human form. "The art of Classical Greece began the trend towards a more naturalistic depiction of the world, thus reflecting a shift in philosophy from the abstract and supernatural to more immediate earthly concerns" (http://www.ancient-greece.org/history/classical.html). Statues were not only more expressive, but far more accurate! Two examples of this change include Bronze Zeus circa 460 BCE and Marathon Boy circa 340-330 BCE. These two statues show a huge shift in art compared to the kouros of Archaic Greece; the poses held by both of these figures are incredibly different from the kouros. They hold so much more emotion; they are in action... they tell a story... and the details in muscle and facial expression are an enormous improvement. Human beauty holds much more weight in the classical period.
After Classical came Hellenistic Greece (323-30 BCE). Hellenistic Greece only brought more and more growth. The powerful city-state culture was expanding into an empire reachong most of the eastern Mediterranean. As for art, Realism was the new thing; "Depictions of man in both art and literature revolved around exuberant, and often amusing themes that for the most part explored the daily life and the emotional world of humans, gods, and heroes alike" http://www.ancient-greece.org/history/helleninstic.html). Two Hellenistic pieces of art are Aphrodite Eros and Pan from 100 BCE, and the Female Statuettes. The sculpture with Aphrodite depicts a goddess, but the context is not ideal; Aphrodite is fighting off Eros and Pan with her sandal, this sort of imagery is almost comedic and in know way idealizes the characters. Same with the female statuettes... they aren't even of anybody in particular. They are just women in their everyday attire... there is know emphasis on their beauty... they are even covered up. So in this age of art, they use the same amount of detail and emotion as in the Classical period, only they use real-life images as content.
The development of Greek art is admirable and very distinct. The human body was always an important subject in art, but it went through many stages... and this is just three time periods examined! The Archaic depiction of the human figure was very rigid and stylized, basically just suggesting the figure, not going into much detail or ornamentation. The Classical depiction of the human figure was idealized and there was much beautification of the human form through their poses and their muscle (most statues are nude)... and these were much more expressive. The Hellenistic figure was all about realism... gods and humans in their everyday environment doing normal things.
The influence of this progression cant especially be seen in the art of the Italian Renaissance. They not only got their architecture from the Greeks, but they combined all different ideas from their art as well; they, too, used idealism and realism in a lot of their art. Seeing this art in person was so much more powerful than reading about it and seeing slides. You could see and feel so much more emotional intensity and you could make the connections between time periods more easily. The ancient Greeks were extremely impressive.
