![Picture](/uploads/5/1/3/2/51327567/264418_orig.jpg)
- Veiled and Masked Dancer
Title: Veiled and Masked Dancer
Artists: Unknown
Size: H. 8 ⅙ in. (20.5 cm)
Medium: Bronze
Original patron: N/A
Original place: Greece
Present: Metropolitan Museum of Art
I learned that this type of sculptures were from the period of Hellenistic Age, and the sculpture was a mix between the Hellenistic and the Greeks. The Hellenistic sculptures were different with the Greek classical in many ways, the classical Greeks sculpture were very different the Greek sculptures showed beauty, harmony, balance, order, and moderation in their work. These early followed the Golden mean “Nothing in excess, and everything in proportion”. During the Hellenistic period, sculptors modified and work on traditional concepts rather than perfections. The Hellenistics portray in their art individuals from everyday life and so often the subjects included slaves, actors, philosophers, dancers, dwarfs, and beggars. The Hellenistic sculpture focus in the inner emotions rather than beauty and the it turn very realistic and all the poses shown in active, and dramatic realism. We can also see the freedom of the moments in the Hellenistic sculptures than what it was early art (Stocker, 2008). Although according to kiwimedia "This dancer has been convincingly identified as one of the professional entertainers, a combination of mime and dancer, for which the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria was famous in antiquity".
The reason why I chose this sculpture is because it looks real. The sculpture does show as if the dancer as if they are still there listening to the music and dancing to it; she takes you to that moment where you can actually see her dance, be there and listening to the same simphony that is making her moved. She looks freely dancing in the moment and she looks very mysterious, it makes you wonder who she was? was she a professional dancer, was she some’s rich person lover, why would this a wealthy person want to catch that moment? Was this rich person lost in the moment by seeing her dance. The sculpture seems so alive that we almost expect the dancer’s next step to carry her out of the place she is standing and into our time.
The Veiled and Masked Dancer is a bronze statuette about eight inches high.The sculpture presents a figure of a professional dancer although completely covered from head to toe. The complex body motion reveals the form beneath the clothing in a interest way. The dancer appears to be in her late 20’s or maybe mid 30’s. The woman’s face is covered with a veil down to the hairline, and half of it is showing only the cutouts of her eyes. Her body is making a turn in a very sensual way with her garments falling heavenly onto the woman’s silhouette; the pressure of the right and left arms, as well as the right leg, help her turn gracefully. The sculpture also shows her right arm lifting and the right arm seems to use the fabric to obscure her facial features and holding her garments when turning with style. Also, the right leg is helping her turn while she is showing her slipper. The left arm is holding the garments as well. The clothing, are conveyed by the alternation of the tubular folds pushing through from below and freely curling softness of the fringe.
Within the Hellenistic era, we can see how the Greek did a great job capturing everyday life. The Italic Old Woman for instance is another sculpture with an individual’s experience, maybe a religious festival. The experiences and the emotions of everyday people are well captured. The italic woman shows a different picture in the types of what and how women have been presented in arts. The drunken women is realism at its best. The details of the wrinkles on her face and neck and the position the drunken woman is sitting. Her head is tilted backwards in a very realistic drunken position that makes a powerful impression on the viewer.
In Art, or even in the present, normal women like the two examples above, will not be portrayed as the elderly drunken woman having an emphasis on all the details of her wrinkles and her stage of drunkenness, we can see her kneeling over a jug of wine. In conclusion, the Hellenistic period shows us less than ideal issues such as old age, poverty, despair, and drunkenness. Sculptures such as this remind modern day thinkers that there was more to Greek life than the grandeur, beauty, and excess often shown in Classical art. Perhaps, The poor condition of the old women evokes a feeling of pity or perhaps disgust in the viewer. From the statue, we are able to understand how the lower class struggled and lived in contracts with the dancer we can see how different were in the social status.change and individualism become more attractive than perfection and the result is the two beautiful examples of realism presented.
References
Stockstad, Marilyn, (2008) Art History Volume One. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:The_Baker_Dancer