Tourist Guide

Bronze Dancer

This bronze statue was created in Greece during the Hellenistic Period and is dated to around the 2^nd or 3^rd century B.C. It depicts a veiled dancer in a dress in the middle of her performance. Several aspects of this statue caught my attention. First, I noticed many sculptures around the museum of both men and women in the nude. These impressed me in their attention to detail in the depiction of the most seemingly minor aspects of the human body, creating an image of a person who appears to be almost real. However, after seeing this statue, I realized that creating a clothed person out of whatever material is a lot more difficult, leading me to appreciate this work even more. Not only did the sculptor have to consider the precise details of the human body, but also how the material the woman’s dress was made of would rest on her body in accordance to her shape and posture. The sculptor also successfully captured all of the folds of the dress on the woman’s body, another incredible feat.