The Antique as Principle and Guidance: The Point of View of the Artist

Excellent lecture as part of London Art Week Digital examining the role of artists in establishing the canon of archetypal antique statues.

Given by Adriani Aymanino the talk looked at what statues were available to artists at various periods and, taking The Laocoon as an example, he looked at the different reasons artists drew these works from records of expression, thought anatomical study to compositional studies.

He spent some time discussing the concept of ideal proportions and beauty that these statues were thought to demonstrate and the role this played in an artists training within the academies and why this fell out of fashion in the late 20th century.


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