Hellenistic: Winged Victory (Nike) of Samothrace Video Lecture - Humanities/Arts

STEVEN ZUCKER:
We're in the Louvre
at the top of one of
the grand staircases.
And we're looking at the
"Nike of Samothrace,"
that dates to the second
century CE, or after Christ.
BETH HARRIS: So we're in
the Hellenistic period.
And the sculpture is nine feet
high, so it's really large.
STEVEN ZUCKER: It's called
the "Nike of Samothrace"
because it was found on
the island in the north
of the Aegean which
is called Samothrace.
It was found in a sanctuary in
the harbor that actually faces
in such a way the predominant
wind that blows off the coast
actually seems to be
enlivening her drapery.
BETH HARRIS: So she never stood
on the prow of a real boat.
STEVEN ZUCKER: No, she stood on
the prow of a stone ship that
was within a temple environment.
BETH HARRIS: So she's
the goddess of victory.
She's a messenger goddess who
spreads the news of victory.
STEVEN ZUCKER: In fact, there
are some reconstructions
of what the sculpture
would've originally looked
like that show her as
literally a herald with a horn.
This is an image that will
have an enormous impact
on Western art.
But you had mentioned
the Hellenistic before.
And so gone is all of that very
reserved, high classical style.
And in its place is a
kind of voluptuousness.
is a kind of windswept
energy that is full of motion
and full of emotion.
BETH HARRIS: I feel as though
she moves in several directions
at the same time.
She's grounded by her
legs but strides forward.
Her torso lifts up.
Her abdomen twists.
Her wings move back.
One can almost feel
the wind around her,
whipping her, pulling back
that drapery that flows out
behind her, swirling around
her abdomen, where it really
reminds us of, actually, the
sculptures of hundreds of years
earlier on the Parthenon frieze.
STEVEN ZUCKER: Yes, exactly.
But instead of the
quiet, relaxed attitude
of the gods on
Mount Olympus, you
have instead this
sense of energy
and a goddess that's
responding, in this case,
to actually natural forces.
BETH HARRIS: The environment.
STEVEN ZUCKER:
Absolutely, just as we
would stand there, very likely
having the wind whip around us.
BETH HARRIS: And that drapery
that clings to her body
and creates so many
creases and folds
that play against the light,
and the different texture
of her wings-- the
marble is really
made to do so many different
things in terms of texture.
STEVEN ZUCKER: So
here is a culture
that has studied the
body, celebrated the body,
and then is willing
then to use the body
for tremendous expressive force.