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I'm sure how to express it, but this information could be disruptive in a fairly serious way. The whole purity of the white Greek statues sort of connects to the modern minimalist aesthetic. I think the way the statuary has been presented to us in popular culture and in general education in the US has given us a sense of the Greeks that is subtly changed by this realization that they weren't what we thought of them as. At least many of us.

Greek art may be less like the Miro in the Guggenheim and more like the mural in the barrio. And as the truth spreads that their art was in many ways closer to what white Americans think of as "immigrant" art, it will probably slightly help with multiculturism. And influence design.

And as StavrosK appropriately snarked, "Pity the ancients didn't share our fashion sense, eh." Yes, and I think there was/is a pretty strong myth that they did.




While I agree this will challenge a lot of popular assumptions about classical art, this information isn't exactly new. See for instance Alma-Tadema's representation of the Parthenon:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1868_Lawrence_Alma-Ta...




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