The antique Greek dance, after sculptured and painted figures . that, in the fifth and fourth centuries B. C, it ex-presses energy of the combative kind (metopes of Olympia, Par-thenon, Tomb of Halicarnassus, etc.) ; and, asit degenerates from its primitive meaning, be-comes, in the Hellenistic period, the gesture ofabandon, of complete repose. It is not yet amere decorative convention, but is full of ele-gance, though somewhat lacking in logic, be-cause the person seems to be asleep with onearm supporting the head, a most unstable posi-tion. Of the same kind is the Faun of Mu-nich, who is hea
The antique Greek dance, after sculptured and painted figures . that, in the fifth and fourth centuries B. C, it ex-presses energy of the combative kind (metopes of Olympia, Par-thenon, Tomb of Halicarnassus, etc.) ; and, asit degenerates from its primitive meaning, be-comes, in the Hellenistic period, the gesture ofabandon, of complete repose. It is not yet amere decorative convention, but is full of ele-gance, though somewhat lacking in logic, be-cause the person seems to be asleep with onearm supporting the head, a most unstable posi-tion. Of the same kind is the Faun of Mu-nich, who is heavy with wine, like the Satyrof Naples. The Ariadne of the Vatican hasbetter equilibrium, although the gesture of the lovely sleeper is ratheraffected. The Niobe at Florence is more sincere; here the handsare held in a manner that suggests dramatic truth. The gesture of the wounded Amazon resembles the preceding, asa conventional expression of suffering (Fig. 8) ; but, by an inver-sion, the same thing becomes a gesture of energy in the primitiveconcrete Fig. 8. 30 THE SCULPTURED AND PAINTED FIGURES
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherl, booksubjectdance
