Module 4

Idealization and the Human Head

In this Module we will explore the Idealized Head. Every culture forms a more perfect version of the human form, seeking to display what that culture deems beautiful. The most well known idealizations of the human figure come from the Greeks and most of us are familiar with this type of beauty as the basis of Western culture. We will look at the head of Aphrodite from Classical Greece and also, a modern version of an idealized woman by Dana Gibson, an American illustrator from the beginning of the 20th Century. These will inform our understanding of how our present culture creates its own idealized version of the human figure today.

Here are some sketches by John Singer Sargent of a sculpture of Apollo. Sargent used this idealized understanding of the human figure to inform his murals at the Museum of Fine Art Boston. They decorate the main entrance of the museum.