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N. Spivey, Understanding Greek Sculpture: Ancient Meanings, Modern Readings. London: Thames and Hudson, 1996. Pp. 240, incl. 142 black-and-white illustrations. ISBN 0-500-23710-7. UK£28.
Nigel Spivey wants us to do something a little different while reading his book. Instead of the traditional concentration upon style and artists, which tend to be modern rather than ancient preoccupations, he wants us to think about the original contexts of Greek sculpture and the ways in which Greek sculpture was produced and developed. Generally speaking, it wasn't 'art for art's sake' (though an exception is almost made for the Parthenon, p. 140); it was art for religious, social and political purposes. Accordingly, in his search for ancient meanings, Spivey asks questions about factors like setting, function, patronage, audience, production techniques, and so on. This isn't an entirely new approach, but it is reasonably so, and the treatment is stimulating.1
In the first two chapters, 'Introduction' (pp. 7-15), "The Greek Revolution' (pp. 16-53), Spivey invites the reader to ponder the shortcomings of traditional approaches to the study of Greek sculpture and suggests a variety of social and historical factors for consideration. This is the most important theoretical part of his book. In chapter 3, 'Daedalus and the Wings of Techne' (pp. 54-77), he focuses on the shadowy figure of Daedalus and the technical origins of sculpture in a variety of media: wood, limestone, marble, bronze, and terracotta. Chapter 4, 'Sacred Decoration' (pp. 78-104), deals with the sacred settings of Greek sculpture and the rituals it supported. Statues and reliefs commemorated numerous types of events (pp. 84-95), or served purposes of state propaganda and 'peer polity interaction' (pp. 95-103). Many different types of ceremonies were conducted around them. Chapter 5, 'Heroes Apparent' (pp. 105-22), stresses the heroisation of figures and sees Greek nudity as a costume mat might be donned by anyone with heroic pretensions. The impetus given to the production of Athenian art in general, and sculpture in particular, by the victory at Marathon is dealt with in chapter 6, 'From Marathon to the Parthenon' (pp. 123-51). Chapter 7 (pp. 15271) is entitled 'In Search of Pheidias'; in fact, Spivey embarks upon a systematic undermining of Pheidias' reputation in reaction especially to scholarship that exaggerates his role as the creative...