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Art as Expressive Symbolism: Civic Portraits in Classical Athens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Jeremy J. Tanner
Jeremy J. Tanner
Affiliation:
Queens’ CollegeCambridge CB3 9ET
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Extract

An analysis of art-historians' and archaeologists' characterizations of art reveals two paradigms. In the earlier paradigm, art-historical appreciation and archaeological explanation were mutually exclusive, if mutually implicated, endeavours. In the more recent paradigm, art-history and archaeology converge in the interpretation of material-culture texts and eschew the explanation of broader social processes. An alternative characterization of art as expressive symbolism is advocated, drawing upon the sociological theory of Talcott Parsons. A case study of classical Greek portraiture shows how aesthetic innovation may contribute to the growth of social systems.

Type
Articles
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , October 1992 , pp. 167 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 1992

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