Winged Victory

The Hellenistic Art period started in 323 BC marked by the death of Alexander the Great. During this period of time, art took a turn towards over dramatized renditions of emotional scenes. The artists of the Hellenistic times used sweeping lines and high contrast of light to create their art. The artists of this period practiced giving their pieces the ability to be viewed from all sides. Also, Some artists experimented with the use of transparency of clothing, and the flexibility of the poses. notable pieces over that time were Laocoon and His Son's, Venus de Milo, and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The similarity between all these pieces is the incredible amount of movement that is displayed in a motionless sculpture.

Not only was this time a great change for sculptures, but also potters, painters, and architects. Hellenistic artists took a lot of their influences from the classical period while renaissance artists got a lot of inspiration from the Hellenistic period. The biggest change in Hellenistic architecture was the way they set up the buildings, instead of carving out of a hillside, the builders would accommodate to the geometry of the environment.

The paintings and mosaics of this period also have a very distinct stylistic approach. Much like Hellenistic sculpture, the painters focused on describing motion using extreme contrast of light and dark along with the sweeping clothing. Artists began focusing more on the realistic representation of their model, and the composition as a whole. Not only did the painters style evolve, but during this period mosaic art became very popular. Mosaic art is the assembly of small colored glass pieces to create a pattern or picture.

The ceramics of this time period have their own distinct feel to them as well, they were very basic and uniform mostly black with a slight varnish to them. The potters typically decorated their pieces with flowers or motifs inspired by the traditional metal vases of the previous