Knowing little of Greek art, I happened upon this book in my shelves (an old college textbook belonging to my husband). I was pleased and impressed with this overview of Classical Greek art. Pollitt covers the main strands of development in architecture, sculpture, and painting and places the works firmly in the context of the historical events and cultural atmosphere of their times. As a result, I came away with an increased appreciation and understanding of the quality and value of Classical Greek art and of the interconnection between art and larger society in ancient Greece.

[let this man speak for himself...]
A thoughtful observer of these events, like
Aeschylus, could not but have felt uneasiness.
Were the Greek cities and the factions within
them being drawn, through their quest for power
even at the expenses of principle, into the
cycle of *hybris*, *ate*, and *nemesis* which
they themselves had seen in the undoing of the
Persians? In a world where Zeus punished
*hybris*, where men reaped the fruits of their
own actions, were they sowing the seeds of
their own downfall?
"...be mindful, men of Greece and Athens,
lest one among you, disdaining in his
mind the fortune of the present, and
lusting after more, waste the great
blessings he has..."
the ghost of Darius had said in the *Persians.*
These fears, and with them the vivid memory
of what destruction actually means (particularly
in Athens,which had been sacked and ruined by
the Persians) must have been strong motivating
forces in the creation of the serious and
meditative character of so much Early Classical
art. The "Aspasia," the Charioteer of Delphi,
and even the very early "Blond Boy" from the
Athenian acropolis all seem to be attempts to
embody the ideals of thoughtful restraint and
responsibility which the Greeks were so frequently
prone to forget. (pp. 26-27)
* * *
The fallen warrior [sculpture] from the east
pediment [of the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina] is
another matter. As life ebbs away and he sinks
toward the earth, he tries futilely, sword (now
missing) in hand, to raise himself. His eyes
narrow as his consciousness fades; his mouth is
slightly open as his breathing grows difficult;
he stares at the earth. His enfeebled movements
contrast poignantly with his massive physical
frame in which, for practically the first time,
the individual details of the musculature are
fused and unified by a softening of the lines
of division between them, and by increasingly
subtle modulation of the surface from which one
senses the presence of a unified physical force
emanating from within the body. The sculptor
who conceived the figure had obviously thought
carefully about exactly what it meant. He must
have asked himself what it must really be like
when a powerful warrior is wounded and falls.
What does he feel? How should we feel? And
what meaning is there in our feeling? (pp.19-20)
* * * * * * * * *
There are irritations in this work...amidst the
riches. Pollitt seems to find no inspiration in
the *Diskobolos* statue by Myron at all...devotes
little space to it except to mention its "rhythmos,"
but, incredibly, nothing about its beauty and the
idealization of the harmonic development of the
musculature of the male body by an athlete.
And Pollitt has the bias of "reason" and
"rationality" as the supposed prime virtues of
Greek thought and art...over the mystical.
Yet, if divine inspiration of poets and
artists is not a mystical experience, then
what is? And the Greeks certainly seem to
have subscribed to that belief early on.
* * * * * * * * *

Pollitt's book is one of those rare pieces of writing that rewards you with fresh insight each and every time you pick it up. It is beautifully and sensitively written, and manages to breathe remarkable life into the civilization of ancient Greece. This is a wonderful way to prepare for a trip to Greece--it will only make your travels even more rewarding. This is history at its best.