Video Review

More Human Than Human
Images of human body share the idea that they are unrealistic
Venus of Willendorf-25,000 BCE-May be symbol of fertility. No face and very small arms. Artist chose to exaggerate some features and virtually ignore others. Reason: Brain programmed to exaggerate most desired features because of their importance.
Ancestors were nomadic hunter/gatherers.
By the 5,000 BCE severe weather changes had occurred that made people gather by river banks
In opposition, ancient Egyptians chose to depict humans from clearest angle. Did not change for 3,000 years because the scientific technique used to create images were used to keep order and consistency-both important Egyptian values
Greeks-believed Gods took human form and had beautiful bodies. Thus, the more perfect your body then the better you were as a person. Artists created statues of gods because they wanted to them realistically. Greek artists used Egyptian masonry skills to create more realistic, life-size statues.
Kritios Boy is first example of artists creating statue to mimic distribution of weight
Too realistic made the image boring, so Greeks had to change to make more interesting
Polyclitis divided the body into 4 quadrants and moved each quadrant so the statue looked it was in motion-proportion and details are not realistic
Cultures' values dictate what will be exaggerated in works of art

I chose the three videos below because each is from a different period in history and each period is one that I enjoy learning about.

The Illuminated Manuscript
Monasteries were centers of knowledge. Monks created written works to spread the word of the Bible. However, most citizens were illiterate.
Each book was copied by hand and most  monasteries only had about 20 books
Monks wanted to preserve knowledge
The process of creating a book was very long and labor intensive
Scribes believed there was demon that made them make mistakes and these mistakes would be used against at their final judgement-however, copying just one letter was said to forgive a sin
Universities began to open and book trade flourished
Sign of wealth to have books copied and illuminated
Printing press replaced scribes

Cairo Museum
160,000 artifacts in museum but only half are on display
Valley of the Kings (40 mummies of kings) was discovered by a goat herder who sold many of its treasures at market
Conservation is important part of the discovery process and being able to put them on display and make recreations
There is still more to be discovered

The Greek Awakening
Greeks wanted humans to be represented more realistically then stylistically
3 million people visit the acropolis every year
"perfect symmetry"-looks perfect because made corrections to compensate for viewer's vision (a straight line will look bowed, therefore building it bowed makes it look straight)
Sections of the the frieze and pediment at the Parthenon are on display at the British museum-copies have been placed on the Parthenon
Greek comedy and tragedy began in the 5th century

The videos gave more detail about specific works discussed in the book. For example, the book talks about "Warrior A" and the video More Human Than Human explained this work fully.

The videos were very interesting, especially Cairo Museum because it mimicked what I love about ancient Egypt, which is its mystery.