Schalon Dyce
Midterm Essay
The human body form in the art world has evolved in the aspect of 3D sculptures gradually but
not drastically as time has progressed. Artists have rendered differently parts of the human form. They
have rendered the hair, face, body, clothes, and the realism within their artwork. I will expand more on
each of these aspects artists have been rendering over time as I go through this essay.
Let’s get started from the top, literally. Artists have many ways of sculpting the way they want
their pieces hair to look. Earlier sculptures the hair of different pieces appeared very stiff. An example
one of the earlier statues with this stiff hair present can be found with the King Mycerinus and Queen
Khamerernebty (2532-2510 B.C.E.) sculpture (Frank, 2006). The Egyptian sculptures had a queen with
very stiff, stagnant hair. In contrast to Bernini statues where the hair has more flow and movement. You
can see an example of the fluidity on the hair in The Ecstasy of St. Theresa (1645-1652) sculpture (Frank,
2006). The change from stiff hair to fluid hair shows the rendering in artwork overtime.
Moving along to the faces of different sculptures and paintings evolving throughout time.
Beginning statues that are a good to starting place with would be the Peplos Kore (ca 530 B.C.E. Athens)
or the statue of Emperor Constantine (312 C.E.) because they both executed example of emphasized
eyes (Frank,2006). First eyes executed on many statues and paintings were very widened, being the
main focal point of the face. As time progressed the eyes began more relatable to the eyes of live
human beings. The actuality of the human eye in size can be viewed on Sofanisba Anguissola’s, The
Chess Game (1555) painting (Frank. 2006).
The structure that holds the human figure together has been changing over time throughout our
history. The human body has stood for ideals and has been attempted to be perfected by various artists.
When looking back Paleolithic Female Figurines we are shown woman that are large in shape. The large
figure shape of woman was due to the respect given to woman as the carries of life. Paleolithic images
also were very simplified and portrayed the basic imagery of the human figure. As time progressed into
the Egyptian and Greco-Roman period the body also had a change with the positioning of hangs on
statues. If you view the Votive Statues (c. 2500 B.C.) from the Temple of Abu you will see the statues
hands placed in positions resembling prayer (Frank, 2006). Along with the positioning of the hands in a
prayer structure. The arms are also viewed at times as very stiff to the statues sides with AnAvysos
Kouros statues (Frank, 2006). Another body part that has been changed is the rendering of the male
body. The areas of the pectorals and abdomen have developed into more muscular sexualizing the male
figure. The muscular vision can be seen in The Rising of the Cross (1610-1611) painting (Frank, 2006).
Artists have many ways of clothing their pieces of artwork. At first clothing was simply draped
to cover the figures in art work. As time progressed, the artists began to add texture to the clothes
placed onto the human body. An example of the texture would be the presentation of pleating on
clothing. A good example of the pleating can be seen on the Enthroned Madonna and Child (13th
Century) painting (Frank, 2006).
All of these different aspects of rendering have been pulled toward the last aspect of art that continues
to rendered, the idea of realism. As time progressed artist used different ways in their artwork to make
their pieces more realistic. In the visual arts course we went through the progression leading up to
realism and it was an interesting journey.