Segal's "Blue Woman in Black Chair" vs. Greek "Athena Lemnia"

Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateB, December 1996

download word file, 3 pages 4.5

Downloaded 133 times

average essay, did require much time nice job, needs more formal art elements mentioned

Segal's Blue Woman in Black Chair vs. Greek Athena Lemnia

George Segal's Blue Woman in Black Chair and the Greek

sculpture Athena Lemnia are freestanding sculptures created

in different cultures at different times and through

different sculpting procedures, but still have several

things in common. Segal's sculpture was created about 2500

years after the Greek sculpture and thus also has many

details that are distinct from the older Athena Lemnia

sculpture also.

Both of these sculptures have a few details in common.

First of all, both of them are freestanding or in-the-round.

They may be inspected from any direction, each offering a

different sight to the viewer. Also, they are both very

much lifelike in some respects. Both sculptures have human

details that are very much realistic. Segal's sculpture's

lifelikeness is in it's overall shape and size, the Greek

sculpture very detailed with human features.

They are both

obviously sculptures of women. This is evident in Segal's

sculpture because of the breasts on the body of the figure,

and in the Greek sculpture it is visible in the facial

features and the muscular build which is more typical of the

female sculptures from that era than the male sculptures.

Segal's sculpture has many aspects that are particular

to it and set it distinctly apart from the Greek sculpture.

First, the sculpture is life-size. This enables the viewer

to relate to it more personally. We interact with it on a

more equal basis seeing that it is not overpowering and also

we do not feel as though we are overshadowing it. One of

the more obvious details that sets it apart is the color.

The body of the woman is painted bright blue and has a...