Statuary art had come a long ways from the stiff, frontal statues of ancient Egypt, and with the onset of Classical Greece came the arrival of idealized and perfectly-proportionate bodies. However, this idealism would soon turn into realism as the late Classical and Hellenistic Period emerged: an era filled with strife, instability, and disillusionment. The changes that occurred in these cultures would soon manifest themselves in the art of that time, most notably statuary art.
Two sculptures, the Classical Doryphoros by Polykleitos and the Old Market Woman from the Hellenistic period, effectively illustrate this stylistic development. The Doryphoros, a statue of a spear bearer, embodies the mindset of the Classical period: a striving toward the ideal, ultimate body portrayal. Its perfectly-proportioned, muscular body, carefully balanced contrapposto, and harmonic "motion at rest" quality serve to portray the perfect male statue. The athlete's serene, slightly-smiling gaze and calm expression further emphasize the aim toward perfection and order in that intellectual culture.
This form of portrayal would soon change, however, with the onset of the Peloponnesian War, and later, the beginning of Roman conquest. The political upheaval and tumultuous chaos would have a profound impact on the pysche of the Greeks. Previously focused on the ideal world of perfect beings and bulidings, the strife and disillusionment caused by the cultural upheaval would bring an end to the serene idealism of the Classical period and begin a focus on the individual and the real world. This stylistic shift resulted in sculptures filled with real-life subjects, raw, intense emotion, vivid tension, and dramatic movement.
One work that effectively illustrates this change is the Old Market Woman sculpture from the Hellenistic period It portrays a shrunken old woman bringing chickens and produce to the market. Her wrinkled face, gaunt, emanciated body, and pained expression communicate a spirit of poverty and brokenness. This sculpture is unique in the fact that it portrays a low-class, common individual, previously unheard of in monumental statuary art. This in itself represents a shift in ideals and interests, from the young, perfect, and beautiful, to the poor, elderly, and foreign.
And yet, there is something else that is different, something in this statue that is missing in the Spear Bearer: the emotional impact. The Spear Bearer characterizes the statues of that time-- a passive, distant representation of the hero. The Old Market Woman represents the statues of the Hellenistic period; real-life subjects that are strikingly real in their portrayal of raw, intense emotion.
The Hellenistic world was a cosmopolitan place, containing a mixture of poor and affluent, along with individuals of different ethnicities. The art of that period, consequently, would reflect this change in society and character. Needless to say, both works are magnificent and beautiful in and of themselves, but they portray entirely different subjects and have completely different purposes. One thing they have in common, though, is that they reflect the changes in the culture in which they were created.