Guess they’ve never seen all of the statues of Athena, Artemis and Aphrodite. You don’t get as many nude female statues because it was usually considered obscene for women to be naked in public.
But the Greek male statues were fully nude and depicted ripped mortal men because they were made in line with Aristotle’s idea of good art being educational. Those were arguably the marble version of “git gud, scrub”.
If there were more male “perfect” body statues at the time, which we can’t establish because many have been lost over the millennia, it might actually be evidence that men were considered less attractive and they needed more body shaming to fix it?
Also they’re depicted with small pps because that body part was associated with savagery iirc. If we had the same trend today they would probably all have underwear with a huge bulge because that’s where puritanism and male beauty standards are currently.
The penis thing is pretty hotly debated, but savagery comes pretty close to my understanding of the theory you mention. It’s not a hugely different concept from some of the manosphere stuff you find today though.
Basically the idea was (it’s theorized) that thinking with your dick leads to making hasty and bad decisions, but you want to be like the cool smart intellectual philosopher rhetorician dudes ruling society who are strong enough to control their urges. You want to be the civilized powerful master strategist, not the uncivilized weak-willed destructive glutton. So… because art needs to be about reality and be educational (there’s no place for that creative abstract shit), we’re going to de-emphasize the body part associated with urges that are difficult to control. These are powerful rational dudes afterall.
The biggest difference with modern manosphere bullshit is maybe the part where they shrunk the pps on the ripped marble dudes to make that point. Instead we get… social media statue and peacock “science” analogies.
I think Nemesis is Roman, but probably a copy of a Greek statue. I might have chosen to forget because the “restoration” work on her head breaks my heart - but I know that’s a common problem. Such a pity because the drapery is gorgeous.
Looking at this Diana/Artemis, who was much luckier than most statues by having her original head reattached, you can see how different it is. The proportions make much more sense.
Image text description below image:
Photo of a marble statue of Artemis (aka Diana), which lives at the Louvre. Artemis is mid-step reaching for an arrow in the quiver on her back. In her other hand she’s pulling on the antlers of a small deer that she has caught. She’s wearing a short and practical belted tunic (chiton) appropriate for hunting, functional sandals, and an equally pragmatic hairstyle with her wavy locks in an up-do. Her arms and legs are neither skinny nor super muscly, they’re very average looking. But, being a goddess, she’s got a tiara. Not an ostentatious tiara, a simple solid tiara. A utility tiara, if you will. And being a female goddess, you can still see her nips pushing on the intricate drapery of her chiton. She’s clearly got some sex appeal carved in, but the statue is of a capable person who is independently getting shit done.
I love her because she basically looks like the kind of woman a modern conservative commentator would condemn for subverting gender roles. Also with a proportional head.
Guess they’ve never seen all of the statues of Athena, Artemis and Aphrodite. You don’t get as many nude female statues because it was usually considered obscene for women to be naked in public.
But the Greek male statues were fully nude and depicted ripped mortal men because they were made in line with Aristotle’s idea of good art being educational. Those were arguably the marble version of “git gud, scrub”.
If there were more male “perfect” body statues at the time, which we can’t establish because many have been lost over the millennia, it might actually be evidence that men were considered less attractive and they needed more body shaming to fix it?
Also they’re depicted with small pps because that body part was associated with savagery iirc. If we had the same trend today they would probably all have underwear with a huge bulge because that’s where puritanism and male beauty standards are currently.
Also one of the most significant statues of that era is a female figure…
The penis thing is pretty hotly debated, but savagery comes pretty close to my understanding of the theory you mention. It’s not a hugely different concept from some of the manosphere stuff you find today though.
Basically the idea was (it’s theorized) that thinking with your dick leads to making hasty and bad decisions, but you want to be like the cool smart intellectual philosopher rhetorician dudes ruling society who are strong enough to control their urges. You want to be the civilized powerful master strategist, not the uncivilized weak-willed destructive glutton. So… because art needs to be about reality and be educational (there’s no place for that creative abstract shit), we’re going to de-emphasize the body part associated with urges that are difficult to control. These are powerful rational dudes afterall.
The biggest difference with modern manosphere bullshit is maybe the part where they shrunk the pps on the ripped marble dudes to make that point. Instead we get… social media statue and peacock “science” analogies.
Don’t forget nemesis:
I think Nemesis is Roman, but probably a copy of a Greek statue. I might have chosen to forget because the “restoration” work on her head breaks my heart - but I know that’s a common problem. Such a pity because the drapery is gorgeous.
Looking at this Diana/Artemis, who was much luckier than most statues by having her original head reattached, you can see how different it is. The proportions make much more sense.
Image text description below image:
Photo of a marble statue of Artemis (aka Diana), which lives at the Louvre. Artemis is mid-step reaching for an arrow in the quiver on her back. In her other hand she’s pulling on the antlers of a small deer that she has caught. She’s wearing a short and practical belted tunic (chiton) appropriate for hunting, functional sandals, and an equally pragmatic hairstyle with her wavy locks in an up-do. Her arms and legs are neither skinny nor super muscly, they’re very average looking. But, being a goddess, she’s got a tiara. Not an ostentatious tiara, a simple solid tiara. A utility tiara, if you will. And being a female goddess, you can still see her nips pushing on the intricate drapery of her chiton. She’s clearly got some sex appeal carved in, but the statue is of a capable person who is independently getting shit done.
I love her because she basically looks like the kind of woman a modern conservative commentator would condemn for subverting gender roles. Also with a proportional head.
Diane de Versailles - Louvre catalogue
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