검은 피부의 사티로스(Satyros): 고대 그리스미술 속 흑인의 이미지 연구 (Blacks in Ancient Greek Art: Stereotyping, Humorizing and Assimilating the Images)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 서양미술사학회
· 수록지 정보 : 서양미술사학회 논문집 / 39호 / 7 ~ 36페이지
· 저자명 : 김혜진

초록

The blacks (or Aethiopes) who inhabited in the south of Egypt were depicted in large numbers in ancient Greek art, though it is thought that very few lived on the Greek mainland(Table 1). One of the reasons that Greek sculptors and potters were likely to depict blacks was the visual impressions that Greeks experienced when they encountered blacks for the first time in Greece as part of the army of Xerxes during the Persian Wars. This is supported by comparisons in Greek plastic arts, in which blacks portrayed alone (or as heads only) in contrast to Scythians, Persians and Galatians depicted with their specific attributes in narrative contexts (Table 2). Therefore, the representations of blacks in Greek art were identified by their physical features (e.g., short and curly hair, flat noses, and thick lips) and by the dark skin color instead of their clothes or arms. The large number of depictions of blacks in Attic art dated from the late Archaic period to the fifth century BCE is thought to be due to the absence of any related negative experience in Greek history. This history between Greeks and blacks was crucial in that Greek artists could treat and adapt images of blacks in various types of art without any political or social restrictions.
In the Attic art of the Classical period, the physical features of blacks stood in contrast to those of non-blacks. These features were stereotyped by Attic potters, as witnessed in Attic janiform head vases. Furthermore, the physical distinctions of blacks by Greeks, thought to be far from the Greek norm of beauty, were humorized, as noted in an Attic double-head vase found in Akanthos (Fig. 5). The ‘KALOS’ inscription on the head of the black was interpreted ironically as humorizing the black’s physical features and the portrayal of the teeth between the lips was interpreted as a sign of non-heroic and unrespectable figures. These Greek perceptions of the blacks’ physical features were applied to the images of blacks to parody renowned statues and drawings (Figs. 10 & 11). In terms of humoring the images of blacks, blacks and satyrs share some facial feature, such as a flat nose and thick lips (Fig. 17).
During the Hellenistic period, the similarity in the features between blacks and satyrs were extended as well as to their behaviors and personalities: some bronze statuettes of black dancers (Fig. 18) recall the “satyric leap” (Heliodorus, Aethiopica, 9.19). Moreover, the ‘Physiognomika’ written in the third century BCE accelerates the blacks’ assimilation to the satyrs. The physiognomical aspects, for instance the blackness of the skin, hair and eyes, interpreted as a sign of sexual indulgence and the thick lips as an allusion to gluttony, work to intensify the assimilation of the two groups, branding them as those on the social fringe in later antiquity.
Essentially, Greek artists humorized the figures of blacks from the viewpoint of ethnocentrism to reflect Greek superiority over non-Greeks. The attitude toward blacks in ancient Greece began by the portraying blacks and differentiating the blacks’ physical features from those of the Greeks. The exotic curiosity and the neutral historic experience with blacks formed the basis for Greeks to adapt and apply their figures to various types of art to a great extent through out ancient Greece.

영어초록

The blacks (or Aethiopes) who inhabited in the south of Egypt were depicted in large numbers in ancient Greek art, though it is thought that very few lived on the Greek mainland(Table 1). One of the reasons that Greek sculptors and potters were likely to depict blacks was the visual impressions that Greeks experienced when they encountered blacks for the first time in Greece as part of the army of Xerxes during the Persian Wars. This is supported by comparisons in Greek plastic arts, in which blacks portrayed alone (or as heads only) in contrast to Scythians, Persians and Galatians depicted with their specific attributes in narrative contexts (Table 2). Therefore, the representations of blacks in Greek art were identified by their physical features (e.g., short and curly hair, flat noses, and thick lips) and by the dark skin color instead of their clothes or arms. The large number of depictions of blacks in Attic art dated from the late Archaic period to the fifth century BCE is thought to be due to the absence of any related negative experience in Greek history. This history between Greeks and blacks was crucial in that Greek artists could treat and adapt images of blacks in various types of art without any political or social restrictions.
In the Attic art of the Classical period, the physical features of blacks stood in contrast to those of non-blacks. These features were stereotyped by Attic potters, as witnessed in Attic janiform head vases. Furthermore, the physical distinctions of blacks by Greeks, thought to be far from the Greek norm of beauty, were humorized, as noted in an Attic double-head vase found in Akanthos (Fig. 5). The ‘KALOS’ inscription on the head of the black was interpreted ironically as humorizing the black’s physical features and the portrayal of the teeth between the lips was interpreted as a sign of non-heroic and unrespectable figures. These Greek perceptions of the blacks’ physical features were applied to the images of blacks to parody renowned statues and drawings (Figs. 10 & 11). In terms of humoring the images of blacks, blacks and satyrs share some facial feature, such as a flat nose and thick lips (Fig. 17).
During the Hellenistic period, the similarity in the features between blacks and satyrs were extended as well as to their behaviors and personalities: some bronze statuettes of black dancers (Fig. 18) recall the “satyric leap” (Heliodorus, Aethiopica, 9.19). Moreover, the ‘Physiognomika’ written in the third century BCE accelerates the blacks’ assimilation to the satyrs. The physiognomical aspects, for instance the blackness of the skin, hair and eyes, interpreted as a sign of sexual indulgence and the thick lips as an allusion to gluttony, work to intensify the assimilation of the two groups, branding them as those on the social fringe in later antiquity.
Essentially, Greek artists humorized the figures of blacks from the viewpoint of ethnocentrism to reflect Greek superiority over non-Greeks. The attitude toward blacks in ancient Greece began by the portraying blacks and differentiating the blacks’ physical features from those of the Greeks. The exotic curiosity and the neutral historic experience with blacks formed the basis for Greeks to adapt and apply their figures to various types of art to a great extent through out ancient Greece.

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