Masks

Bill
10/25/17

Greek Tragedy masks

 Greek masks are very distinctive, their facial features are extremely exaggerated for actors' dramatic performance.

The mouths of Greek masks are usually limited to certain sizes because they have to be small enough to hide actors' mouth.

Greek Comedy Masks

Laocoon Brief

Bill
10/17/17

Laocoon is a Greek statue made of marbles and it is considered to one of the greatest and most ancient statue that is unearthed in Rome. The statue is life-size and done by three Greek sculptors, depicting the scene in which the Trojan priest Laocoon and his two sons, Antiphantes and Thymbraeus, being twisted by sea serpents. The body movements and facial expressions of the human figures of the statue highly emphasize the suffering, especially for Laocoon himself: his body parts are twisting and straining. Multiple versions of the history behind are various; it is not mentioned by Homer. Laocoon, in Virgil's Aeneid (which actually came out later than the statue), is Poseidon's priest who is punished to death be after he trying to expose the Trojan Horse tactic. Another version goes that he is killed because he had sex in the temple of Poseidon. Moreover, in Greek tragedian Sophocles's play, Laocoon is the priest of Apollo who is supposed to stay celibate but he get married. Therefore his sons are killed for the punishment and he is left alone suffering.  

                                         Laocoon, 1504 (excavated) 6'10'' × 5' 4'' × 3'8''

                                                         Laocoon's head

                                               Head of Laocoon's son, Antiphantes

                                                        Head of the younger son, Thymbraeus

Greek Theater brief

Bill
10/10/17

Greek Theater originated in Athens initially from dances performed in the purpose of worshiping the god called Dionysos; The other two main dramatic genres, Greek Tragedy and Greek Comedy then emerged and flourished in late 500 BC. Dramatic performances in the city of Athens were usually held in a uptrend semi-circle space known as orchestra, where the chorus danced and performed the plays with music.

The round-shape plate designed to create acoustics so that actors voices could be heard clearly. The theatron (where audience seat) was created in the idea of "gathering"people, bringing them together to the play, which happened in the center. 

The visual art emergence came from the mask; It was significant to Athenian's cult of Dionysus and it was also important to actors who play certain roles on the stage. Moreover, when actors put on the masks, the audience could sense the emotional movement--panic, dread, tragic--through those very expressive facial expression and exaggerated features on the masks. A Mask was made of light-weight materials, and the mouth opening size was small enough in order to hide the actor's mouth while the whole area of the mask was big enough to cover the actor's entire face. By that It allowed actors to immerse in their roles.   

                                  Mosaic, theatrical mask for tragedy and comedy

                                                        Mask samples
The theater of ancient Greece represents the earliest form of theatrical performing art in western civilization; its cultural influence affect the military and politic power and the social interactions of people. Greek shared the theater culture in the form of festival celebration (Dionysus cult) to its colonies and surrounding city states; the theater was their ways of speaking and communicating.

Ares Pics

Bill
10/2/17

Ares, Head 

Mars, Head, Roman counterpart.

Mars, muscular male statue.

Ares. 

Ares, 5.5" W X 4" D X 12.5" H

Mars.

Ares, Sat Statue