Archaeology Magazine - September 1961 - 67

REVIEWS

RECENT

a CriticalReview,by
GREEK
SCULPTURE,
Rhys Carpenter, xiv, 276 pages, 47
plates. University of Chicago Press,
ChicagoI960 $6.95
A recent issue of Vogue contains a
test by which readers may determine
whether they are "with it" or still
following yesterday's fashions. If you
have "art books on coffee table" you
are no longer with it. If you have "art
books on night table" you have kept
up with the world. Mr. Carpenter's
book is not suitable for either location.
For the coffee table the pictures are
not startling enough; for the night
table the text is too stimulating.
The second half of the title, "A
Critical Review," is its most important
part. The book is not an introduction
to the beauties of Greek sculpture.
Its purpose is rather to persuade those
who enjoy looking at Greek sculpture
that they ought also to think about it.
In this purpose the author succeeds
completely.That he does not always
persuade us to think exactly what he
thinks about individual works is perhaps not so important.
His aim, clearly stated, is to show
"that sculptural styles are not casual
mannerisms,such as an artist might at
any time invent and popularize, but
are strictly conditionedby evolutionary
laws which are in turn dependent upon
the unchangeabledictates of the mechanism of human vision." His exposition is thus anchored at one end to
science, which is expected to explain
the unchanging dictates of human vision but does so through Protean
mutations of the English language.
The theory of vision that Carpenter
uses is so up to date that he is constantly forced to apologize for the
jargon in which the scientists have
couchedit. He summarizesit concisely,
however, and his main point is valid
and important: that sculpture, even
though its works exist in three dimensions,is always a visual, never literally
a "tactile" art.

The evolution of Greek sculpture
from the beginning of monumental
sculpture in the seventh century B.C.
to the end of the Hellenistic period is
examined by analyses, admirably*expressed, of important works. Classical
sculpture is what Carpenter loves most
and explains best (emotions are supposed to have no place in the work,
but it would be much less interesting
than it is if the author had followed
his own prescription). The section on
the beginnings is most valuable for
its foreshadowingsof what is to come.
The historical beginnings of Greek
sculpture from many branching roots
are too complicated for Carpenter's
taste; he schematizesthem arbitrarily.
When he actually admires an Archaic
work, he sometimessees it more Classical than it is. He tells us that the
ground of the stele of Aristion, "once
colored a deep blue, gave an illusion
of continuous extension beyond and
behind the warrior, much as the sky is
sensed to lie behind as well as beyond
any figures seen against it." It may be
that blue is the right color for this
purpose and was preferred for this
reason by Classical artists, but the
background of Aristion is red. Small
points such as this frequently force
the reader to check his own memory
against reference books, conveniently
collected by Carpenter in an excellent
bibliography. One finds occasionally

BOOKS
that the author is mistaken, more often
that one has oneself simply failed to
observean important detail.
If there is any point on which the
reviewer is tempted to take issue, it is
the overriding importance given by
Carpenter to technical procedures, especially to the distinction between
glyptic and plastic. Connected with
this is his rather unconvincingpicture
of early bronze-casting,which may be
correctedor at least modifiedwhen the
results of the study now being made of
the Piraeus bronze kouros become
known.
Evelyn B. Harrison
Columbia University
ROMAN
THEATER-TEMPLES,
by JOHN ARTHURHanson. 112 pages, 55 figures.
Princeton University Press, Princeton
1959 (Princeton Monographs in Art
and Archaeology,33) $7.50
In this very interesting book Mr.
Hanson examines the neglected and
often denied religious aspect of the
Roman theater. That the Roman theater had from its beginningsprofound
religious connections and maintained
these as long as it and paganism were
a going concern, he demonstrates in a
succinct first chapter. Three chapters
are devoted to the problems of Roman
theater architecture in conjunction
with temples and one to the cere-

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219

Archaeology Magazine - September 1961

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - September 1961