The Emergence of the Classical Style in Greek Sculpture [Hardcover]

In this wide-ranging study, Richard Neer offers a new way to understand the epoch-making sculpture of classical Greece. Working at the intersection of art history, archaeology, literature, and aesthetics, he reveals a people fascinated with the power of sculpture to provoke wonder in beholders.  Wonder, not accuracy, realism, naturalism or truth, was the supreme objective of Greek sculptors. Neer traces this way of thinking about art from the poems of Homer to the philosophy of Plato. Then, through meticulous accounts of major sculpture from around the Greek world, he shows how the demand for wonder-inducing statues gave rise to some of the greatest masterpieces of Greek art. Rewriting the history of Greek sculpture in Greek terms and restoring wonder to a sometimes dusty subject,The Emergence of the Classical Style in Greek Sculptureis an indispensable guide for anyone interested in the art of sculpture or the history of the ancient world.

Richard Neeris the David B. and Clara E. Stern Professor of Humanities, Art History, and the College at the University of Chicago, where he is also a coeditor ofCritical Inquiry.

List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction: An Apology for Style

1 Wonders Taken for Signs
2 The Speed of Light
3 Diaphanous Figures
4 Myths of the Inner
5 Space and Politics

Coda: The Benefits of Hindsight

List of Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
General Index
Index Locorum