A Response to Why We Need to Start Seeing the Classical World in Color
By: Elsie Pierron
November 2022
The Article "Why We Need to Start Seeing the Classical World in Color" aims to inform readers about the skewed racial impressions resulting from the current state of ancient art. Over time, paint and coloration have worn off most ancient sculptures, leaving them to seem to only portray white people. The article touched on the idea of aesthetic disgust in anything with colors, gender roles, influence over white supremacists, and racism through anatomy. By comparing multiple journals on these topics, the author is able to gauge a general perspective of homogeneity. Ancient art has been used to create beauty standards and, to this day, influences the way historians and viewers consider it beautiful. Today, ancient sculptures are studied, measured, and compared to people of modern times and even animals. The measurements created ratios that “were later used by others to create the racist “cephalic index,” which categorized humans based on the width and length of their facial features. The Nazis drew on the index to support notions of Aryan superiority in Germany during the Third Reich.” When continuing to measure more and more faces, the science became less significant, and so then racial bias took control. The article goes on to explain how scholars have been suede to believe racist intentions and have gone as far as studying the idea of “whether race mixing” contributed to the decline of the Roman empire.” Articles are being written about the concept of white supremacy in the ancient world, and especially white males. Through many ancient sculptures, men were seen as higher beings than women, so those ideas are still floating around today and are used as evidence for male supremacists. The article concluded by offering suggestions on how to move forward and expand the information shared with the public. For example, featuring more reconstructions with the original indeed paintings and 3d simulations of what the art was intended to look like. Additionally, there is a need for more diversity within the art historian field to shine a light on the true past.
The topic of this article is directly relevant to our class, as we study art daily and often struggle to understand its intended appearance. The article can help us understand how modern ideas sprouted and the authenticity of these beliefs that surround us as young scholars. This article made me sad. It is unfair to the people of the ancient world to be portrayed as symbols that they are not. Their sculptures and works of art were made to portray their culture of the time, and without color, it can’t be shown as clearly. It made me consider every work of art I have seen in museums and in class, and try to visualize what they might look like all painted. Before reading this article, I knew a bit about the influence art has on white male supremacists and their beliefs on women and race, but I did not know about the facial ratios and beauty standards created from ancient sculptures. The concept of comparing human anatomy to animal anatomy was also familiar to me, but not to the extent of the “cephalic index,”. In terms of the article itself, it was well written and organized. Every point was backed up by facts and sources, making it easy to read and very informative. It touched on enough areas of homogeneity to drive the point through and persuade a need for change.
Overall. the article enlighted me into a new perspective of ancient art and how it can be viewed, studied, and taken out of context in the scholarly sense. It is unfortunate how such beautiful works of art made to resemble ancient culture are used as sources for white subsists and groups like the Nazis. The article has successfully informed readers about the skewed racial impressions resulting from the current state of ancient art.