Art History Journal

The Greeks strived for the perfect human figure. In their scultures they shown perfect human forms, mostly of men. These sculptures were the ideal human figure. This is still continued to this day. The muscular male phsyique is still ideal. The female figure wasn't shown much in Greek sculptures. However, in present day the female body is more widely preferred in our society. People are still trying to achieve this perfect form to this day, shown in magazines and on tv.
The Greeks used mathematics as a way to show proportion with the golden ratio, or 1:1.618. This was used as a tool to find the most asthetically pleasing forms. They used this on the faces and as well as the bodies of the sculptures. This is still accepted today, I saw a study of hollywood people who we accept as attractive people and this golden ratio was applied to pictures of their faces and it was eerily close, they measure eyes, symmetry, noses and etc. This was a tool the Greeks used in their art. I find it very fascinating this is thousands of years old and it can still be applied to our times.
The Greeks achievement of the perfect human figure using the golden mean was also applied to their architecture. This is showing that the golden mean is asthetically pleasing no matter the form. The human body has not evolved since the time of the Greeks, so the sculptures they created are still a great example of the human figure.