| Greek
Sculpture & Nekkid People by Diebold Essen One of life's little mysteries But give a talented ancient Greek artist a good block of marble and it was Katy, bar the door. Anything went. Museums are still inhibited about showing everything (storerooms are full of proof of the lack of self-censorship in the good old days around the Aegean). But what they do show is, well, it is what it is. Generations of art scholars have made careers analyzing it. One such scholar, the late Kenneth Clark, even managed to turn a priggish little volume of his called "The Nude" (in which he convinced himself that there was a profound esthetic difference between nudity and nakedness) into a PBS series. Generations of artists have stood--and still stand--long hours before the works, learning lessons beyond words. Generations of tourists have trooped--and still troop--through the sculpture-filled galleries of the Louvre, etc., for reasons best known to themselves. There's no substitute for an encounter with the objects themselves. Sculpture is after all meant to be walked around. Reminders that these extraordinary objects exist are helpful. So here's ours. Two caveats 2. Some of the best surviving pieces are in the Vatican Museum. Sadly, we don't have any of those in little little exhibit. Not because we're anti-Catholic, but because the Church Fathers long ago saw fit to apply fig leaves to cover all offending penises. We refuse to be a party to such childishness. Click here if you want to see one example of how such infantile censorship mars a great work of art. Some, of course, might say that the midi files we've added to the pages below also mar the works of art. At least you can turn your speakers down. But just try removing a fig leaf in the Vatican Museums and see what happens. Aphrodite
and Pan. 2nd Cent. B.C.E. How many voices of humor and hope
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