Sculpture Synopsis 4: Hellenistic period

Post published:April 18, 2023

For more on the why and how of the Sculpture Synopsis, see the first post in this series. The series is also available as a playlist on my YouTube Channel.

Characteristic examples of Hellenistic sculpture

Agesander, Athenodoros, and Polydorus, Laocoon and His Sons, ca. 1st c. BC. Vatican.
Sleeping Eros, 3rd or 2nd c. BC. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Nike of Samothrace, ca. 200 BC. Louvre.

Dates of the Hellenistic period

323 BC (death of Alexander the Great) to ca. 31 BC (Augustus becomes first Roman emperor).

Location

After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, the territory he had conquered was divided among the generals of his army. In ancient Greece, the Greek mainland was “Hellas”. “Hellenic” referred to things Greek. “Hellenistic” is a step removed: “Greek-like”. In the Hellenistic period, artists working in the Greek tradition were spread far and wide in the the area around the Aegean, Mediterranean, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), and the Near East. Foreign subjects and styles began to intermingle with Greek.

The map below is the Greek-speaking world in about 200 BC.

By 200 BC, the Romans had already expanded from the Italian peninsula as far as to the west coast of mainland Greece (dark green on the map above). By 133 BC, they controlled all the Greek mainland plus the western part of Asia Minor: most of the area shown on the map above. But for art, Romans of this period mostly relied on artists from the Greek-speaking world, so the style doesn’t change much.

Dominant ideas among Greeks of the Hellenistic period

Men are fascinating, worthy of study and accurate representation.
The world is dramatic rather than delightful.
Philosophy: Happiness is lack of pain or worry (Epicureans). Happiness is performing one’s duty to the whole (Stoics). Happiness is knowing no knowledge is possible (Skeptics). Happiness is union with a god (mystery cults).

Media

Stone, often marble.
Bronze. We have few original Greek bronzes from the Hellenistic period, but most of what survives is Roman copies in stone of bronze originals.

Subjects

Individuals: extremes of young and old, muscular and frail.
Portraits that are very detailed.

Style

No sharp break from Late Classical; artists can still produce a wide variety of figures in a wide variety of poses, with technical expertise. Trends that had been developing in the Late Classical period became more prominent and exaggerated, notably:

Violent movement
Wide range of emotions
Drapery with heavy folds and thick swirls
Range from cuteness and whimsy to extreme ugliness
Realistic portraits

Because there’s no chronological progression from less to more knowledge, Hellenistic sculpture is often dated not within a decade or two (as with Archaic and Classical Greek sculpture), but within a century or two.

Innovations during the Hellenistic period

Truly three-dimensional composition, in which every angle is fascinating.

Veiled Dancer, 3rd-2nd c. BC. Statuette. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photos: MetMuseum.org

Big names in art

None of the stature of the artists of the Classical period.

Other examples of Hellenistic sculpture

Boxer, ca. 330-320 BC. National Archeological Museum, Athens.
Great Altar at Pergamon, mid-2nd c. BC. Pergamon Museum, Berlin.
Old Woman, ca. 2nd c. BC. Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is the opposite end of the spectrum from the Sleeping Eros (beginning of post). It isn’t ugly because it’s an old woman: it’s ugly because the figure is gaunt, hunched over, and dressed in rags.
Delos Head, ca. 100 BC. National Archeological Museum, Athens.