The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-31
SPOKE ON GREEK ART
INTERESTING LECTURE BY DIR. ".
 B. sAFFOLD.
Large Audience at Girls High School Auditorium Heard Discourse on Sculpture of the
 Ancfents.

Dr. W. B. Saffold, Professor of Creek at the University of Alabama, address ed last night large audience com posed of the representative club mem bers, together with a number of the students of Montgomery schools. at the auditorium of the Girls High school
 pr, Saffold was introduced most hap oily by Mir. c A. Lanier, who said that for the treat In store for the audience, the indebtedness was to the Art Study Clubs, and though Montgomery was not University town. and therefore lacked the incentive and the impetus to the study of the subject of the lec- ture, yet, there were those here who were just as apprecIative and were pre- pared to enjoy to the fullest tho op- pertunity.
 pr. saffold's lecture was illustrated, most beautifully and effectively with stereopticon views, in fact the address was but an explanation or description of the many works of art of dead and almost forgotten people. as shown in e stereopticon views. He began with a birds eye view of ancient Athens ,the home of ancient Greek
 sculpture, and worked his way up through the centuries, describing the periods of transition of sculpture and art to the present day---the last view | seen by the tourist of today.
 Ills lecture embraced the age of Greek sculpture from tho formation period which corresponded with the sixth and fifth centuries before Christ on through the golden age" of that bsanch of art. about three hundred years before Christ. to the present Gre cean decline, In about the second cen tury before the Christian era.
 n.r. fzw zN a.frn .R 6Nar la n sculptors are now in existence. and of those known to have existed there are but few copies. Dr, Saffold spoke especially of the six greatest sculptors of that period. the greatest of whom was Phidias, saying that he was not only the greatest artist of antiquity, but possibly the greatest the world has ever known. Tn all the works of Phidias was a combination or perfect simplicity with perfect beau ty, and of him it ha sbeen said that he had "seen the real from the God and had rvealed them to men. Dr. Saffold's lecture included the showing of many perfect pieces of sculpture. and pointing out to his audience the strong, or most striking points, and characteristics in each piece of work, placing works. known and unknown. in the period to which they belonged, and accrediting to the artist to which they belonged, by means of the stamp or hall mark. borne by the work of the different artists Of | that time.
 A number of beautiful views of the Parthenon were shown from that of its perfection through the different stages Of ruin and decay. Sectional pieces of the elaborate frieze were shown and fully described. but for all its beauty. symmetry and grace, Dr. Saffold said that the sculpture on the Parthenon did not represent the best of Grecian art.
 Many critics believe that some of the principal figures of pediment of the Parthenon was the work of Phi dias. A few subsidiary ones are still in existence.
 A number of beautiful statutes were shown in the stereopticon views and in them all pr. Saffold said they were statues of types, rather than of fg- ures. The two most beautiful figures shown were those of Renus and Aphro- dyte, in which the technique was ex- ceilent and though lacking the sim plicity of the goddess, yet represented women of the most beautiful faces and graceful forms.
 pr. Saffold spoke of the very great influence of the work of the ancient sculptor in that of the work of later days, and drew very interesting com parisons of the work of the artists contemporaneous with the period of his lecture.