Every human activity gets meaning in terms of its relation to the culture and history of humanity. An investigation of the relationship between art and culture can best be understood in terms of the general nature of human activities. No human activity can be seen in isolation and it is this correlation among the various human activities and the culture they belong to, that gives meaning to culture as well as the human deeds. In this context, we may investigate the relation between art and culture and understand the pertinent correlation that exists between them. It is, therefore, most essential to find meaning to arts in relation to the culture that plays behind the artistic works, that is to say, art is essentially related to culture. In an attempt to establish the real nature of this correlation between art and culture, let us engage in an analytical study of the artworks of Pheidias which may be most efficiently comprehended in terms of their cultural context.
In this paper, the essential correlation between culture and art is analyzed focusing on the Pheidias artwork in a cultural context. An investigation of Pheidia’s artwork in the cultural context of Greece serves as the best illustration of the relation between art and culture. In the three parts of this paper, we investigate this essential and evident relation between art and culture. In this attempt of finding out the remarkable correlation between art and culture we first analyze the artwork of Pheidias and its history. Then we will find the essential correlation this art has got with the cultural context of Greece. The most significant result of this investigative analysis of the correlation between art and culture has been the finding that the artwork of Pheidias was partly the result of a supporting cultural environment, especially the contribution of his instructor Agelades and the philosophical environment created by the philosophical giant Socrates. That is to say, we can very well establish the relation between art and culture by an investigative analysis of Pheidias Artwork in the cultural context of Greece.
In order to fully understand the relationship between art and culture as it reflects in the artworks of Pheidias, it is important that we analyze one of the most significant works of this great artist. Thus, we can understand from an analysis of the statue of Athena which “is a marble copy of a bronze statue, presumably the Athena not wearing a helmet which Pheidias made for the Lemnians in the middle of the fifth century and which they dedicated as a votive offering on the Athenian acropolis. It is the figure of a mature young woman, looking down at a helmet which in the original she carried in her right hand and holding a spear erect in her left hand. She wears a heavy woolen garment that falls in severe folds to her feet, and aegis on her breast, while the thick curls of her hair are confined by a broad fillet.
The effort for accurate representation is no less evident than in the statue just discussed. With increased knowledge and skill the artist has depicted this young woman as one might see her, a being instinct with life and strength; and the garment is represented almost literally, in a way that does not wholly conceal the full form of the body underneath. Nor is there any less effort for the design than before, in the charming pose of the figure, the head slightly bowed and turned the hair that frames but does not shade the face, and the carefully studied planes of the face itself. The loose clinging folds of the garment above the concealed girdle, the varied line of the lower edge of the overfold, the severe columnar treatment below, broken only by the bent knee, and the almost too rigid arrangement of the edges down the right side where the garment is open, all these bespeak the artist’s thought of the design in which he saw the figure.” (Fairbanks, 1933, pp.19-20). The artistic beauty of this work can be considered the result of the cultural impact on the work. The cultural context of myth and mythical figures can be evidently seen as the most essential contributor to the artwork of Pheidias.
There are various elements in the art of Pheidias that proves the true class of this art master. Thus, we find that the works of Pheidias were the result of the genius in him and the contribution made to the art by the culture of the period. Thus, in working on a beautiful statue of Athena the culture of the age gave a prominent position to the mythical figures such as the gods and goddesses. The beauty and elegance of the goddess Athena are the results of this influence of the culture on the works of Pheidias. When we investigate the element in the work which makes it simple but elegant, we come to recognize that the work was created in a specific period of time.
An inquiry into why the statue lacks a specific touch of human intimacy which is evident in the artworks of other cultures, we can very well conclude that t is the way the Greek culture perceived the mythical figures and gods. To the Greeks, it is not a cold, but quite human in touch, though it may not seem so to other cultures. “Such is the idealism with which the Greeks conceived their gods as human yet super-human beings, a conception which gave the artists of the fifth century B.C. their great opportunity. The aegis on the breast of this figure proves that she is the goddess Athena. Her dignity, her majesty characterize the goddess of wisdom, mistress of the arts of peace as well as of war, the embodiment in the divine form of the practical, the intellectual, and the civic life of Athens.” (Fairbanks, 1933, p.20).
What is the true merit of the art of Pheidias? It is, of course, based on the culture of the time. There are various other significant characteristics of the art of this great master. “In seeking the ways of the highest truth, Phidias found possibilities that enriched the domain of art forever. His standards were truths that are universal, immortal, divine; hence the benediction on his work was celestial beauty, moral grandeur, divine majesty. Not a fragment of his almost divine statue has ever been found. The burial place of this immortal artist is unknown, but he has found God, for he sought only truth, and all truth leads Godward.” (Scull, 1894, pp. 423-427). In an analysis of the correlation between art and culture, it is important that we understand the contribution of every culture and the historical period on the artworks that are produced. It is this finding that gives the exact answer to the question of the essential relationship of the culture which acts as the necessary background for the artistic works.
In this context, we can very well identify the artwork of Pheidias who was largely assisted by a period that contributed to his artworks. Pheidias is a master artist in several ways. In order to appreciate the true merit of his artwork, it is important that we are familiar with the grand style that was ennobled by Pheidias. “Phidias, the great master of this and of all the Grecian ages in sculpture, was born B. C. 500; his instructor was Agelades; Socrates was teaching philosophy at Athens during his mature manhood; Pericles was rebuilding Athens when his genius was at the height of power, and thus everything around conspired to bring forward the master of the grand style in sculpture… The age that matured a Sophocles, a Themistocles, a Pericles, and a Plato, the climactic period of the philosophic, literary, civil, and military glory of Greece, produced Phidias. It required a century of art training of the whole Grecian people and the contemporary influence of a spiritual philosophy to develop such a genius.” (Elements of Art Criticism, 1867, p.321).
The period that gave birth to the master artist Pheidias was significant in the history of the art of any nation and of any age. The artwork of Pheidias was very significant in his own period and there was an exact influence of the culture of the time in the works that were created by this master artist. The culture of the time had a superior influence on the works of Pheidias. The influence of the culture can be evidently found in the statues and sculptures that were created by this master craftsman. The influence of the culture made him create the statues of the Parthenon–Zeus, and Athena. The concepts for all these works were provided by the cultural background. It was a period of people with superior strength. “At that time of lofty ideals, art was bestowing her rewards. There were sculptors who had striven to embody their highest conceptions, so when the master of masters, Phidias, began his work he was not alone in worthiness to place in temples statues that seemed instinct with a Divine presence.
They were found to be worthy to be co-laborers with Phidias. It can not be determined who made the two central statues of the west pediment of the Parthenon–Zeus, and Athena–but it is known that the temple statue of Athena Parthenos was made by Phidias. It is also known that sublime as was the statue, it was transcended by the colossal statue made by Phidias for the temple at Olympia–the world-renowned Jupiter Olympus. What was Phidias’ conception of Zeus? Such conception as was vouchsafed to any soul that, spurning all things that are earthly, walking in the light of what he believes to be the highest truth, seeks Him whom he believes to be the highest god. When asked how it was possible for him to produce that mighty work, Phidias replied that Homer had for him his ideal. I shall never believe that Homer’s conception of Zeus approached in moral purity and power that which Phidias’ lofty character enabled him to conceive.” (Scull, 1894, pp. 423-427). That is to say, the cultural background of the period had a huge impact on the artwork of this master artist. It is not a specific case of Pheidias alone. This impact of the cultural background and context can be evidently found in the works of great artists of all time.
Thus, in order to understand the correlation between art and culture, it is important that we exactly understand the period and the people of the particular artwork. The correlation between art and culture can very be established in the artwork and the cultural context that the work is produced. In this way, the artwork of Pheidias is related to the specific culture that he belonged to. There was every possible contribution to his art made by the cultural context he lived in. there was a philosophical, religious, mythical, literary, and cultural background readily available for his art to conceive. Thus, we find an exact relation between his art and the mythical background. The artwork of Pheidias was also remarkably influenced by the religion of the time and its myth. “The religion of the Greeks has ever been recognized as intimately connected with their feeling for form and its manifestation in their sculpture. As Greek was strongly influenced by their mythology, so their works of art again reacted upon and modified their religious feeling.” (Waldstein, 2005, p.21). it is important that the artwork of Pheidias is seen in the background of this cultural, mythical, and religious context.
In an ultimate conclusion to this paper, it is a significant finding that the artwork of Pheidias is tremendously contributed by the cultural context of Greek culture of the period. There is an obvious relation between the artwork and the cultural history of an artist and the case of this great art master provides us the exact background to our understanding of this essential relationship between culture and art.
Reference
Fairbanks, Arthur. (1933). Greek Art, the Basis of Later European Art, Longmans. Green and Co.: New York. pp 19-20.
Scull, Sarah Amelia., Oldham, Mary Kavanaugh (ed). (1894). Study of Greek Art, Eagle. A Celebration of Women Writers. pp. 423-427. Web.
Elements of Art Criticism, (1867). J.B. Lippincott & Co. P.321.
Waldstein, Charles. (2005). Essays on the Art of Pheidias, Kessinger Publishing. P.21.