Bodies and looksDidactic unit for 3º ESO-PALE

virgi.pla IES Serpis

Content objectives:•Aspects, features and sphere of Aphrodite through the Western iconography:

-birth: Uranus’s castration, born of the sea-foam.

-lovers: Mars, Adonis.

-descendants: Cupid.

•The names of the Greek gods and goddesses.

•The erotism in the plastic Arts.Different schools of art.

Language objectives:•Body vocabulary.

•Present continuous.

•Superlatives.

•Expressing similarities, differences and comparisons:

Key vocabulary and structures:•Olympic gods: APHRODITE/VENUS, Ares/Mars, Zeus/Jupiter, Apollo, Artemis/Diana, Athena/Minerva, Hephaestus/Vulcan, Hermes/Mercury, Demeter/Ceres, Hera/Juno, Poseidon/Neptune and Hestia/Vesta.

•Other Greek gods: Dionyssos/Bacchus and Hades/Pluto.

•Some external parts of the body: head, hair, face, forehead, eye, (glance), nose, neck, shoulder, chest, thorax, hand, breast, belly, navel, back, buttock, female genitals, flesh, skin, muscle, leg, hand...

•Different styles of art: the Classicism, the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Impressionism, the Fauvism...

•Similarities:

A is like B; A and B are very similar; there is a similarity between A and B; A and B both have....; A and B have a lot in common; Neither has....;

•Differences:

A is very different from B; A is quite unlike B; A and B have nothing in common; A and B are completely different;

•Comparisons:

If we compare A with B... ; A is very ... in comparison with B; A is ... compared with/to B;

•Sentences with present continous

•Superlatives: A is the most ...of them; A is the most ... in ...;

•Questions: who; what; where; why; which one...

...Uranos came longing for love and lay on Gaia spreading himself upon her. Then Chronus, their son, when Uranos was nor aware, took with his right hand a sharp sickle from inside his mother Gaia and with the left his father’s genitals and cut off them with speed and decision and threw them away landing on the sea.

The male member was swept far away a long time and a white foam rose around it. From the mix of the immortal flesh and the foam-sea arose a marvellous maiden, Aphrodite. Then she headed to Kythera and from there to Kypros where grass grew up wheresoever she stepped.

For all that she was called Aphrogeneia, born from the foam; Eustephanos, well crowned; Kythereia, because she reached Kythera; Kyprogenes, because she was born near Cypros, and Philommedes, because she sprang from the genitals...

-She is a WOMAN. It is a SCULPTURE

-She is NAKED but covering some parts of her body.She is a CHASTE woman.

-Next to her there is a vase and a litle CUPID

-Classic beauty-cannon : proportioned body

What are you seeing?

She is a Greek goddess:she is the goddess of LOVE and

CHARM

BEAUTY

SEXUALITY

SEDUCTION

ATRACTION

JEALOUSY

RESENTFUL

PASIONYOUTH

APHRODITE

DESIRE

What do they have in common?

1 2

3

4 5

6

•All the pictures are sculptures

•Female body: naked or semi-naked or covered with transparencies

•Always showing but insinuating, not provoking but seducing, captivating

•Body position: frontal, bending one leg, squatting, never looking at forward, chaste expression

•Beauty cannon: well-proportioned body, balanced, hair on the top, serene and calm face, beauty idealization

What do they suggest to you?1879

1863

1485

1636

1520

1

2

3

4

5

•All the pictures are paintings

•The sea, the shell, she is accompanied by marine figures, she is arriving to the coast, she is on the surface: HER BIRTH

•Litle cupids in movement around her

•She is naked

•She is up or she is lie-down

•She is arranging her long hair

•Is she shy showing her body?

•Is she aware of our look?

But now?

1 2

34

5

6

•order the pictures from the oldest to the most recent. Do they represent the classical-cannon beauty? Which one?

What is different in these women-Aphrodites?

-provocative, seductive, challenger, aware of our

presence, defiant

-in her bedroom, on her bed, with robes and cloths, wearing jewelry

-she is contemplating her body and showing it

-little Cupids/ maids/ a dog/ a cat

-she is looking at us

•where is she?

•what is she doing?

•who is she with?

•who is she looking at?

•what about her glance?

They are VENUS:

•the eroticism is in her glance (2), the brightness of her body (3), the exaltation of the flesh(6).

•Renaissance: (2) /Baroque (3,6)

They are not VENUS:

•the mithological subject is an excuse to paint a courtesan (5) or an anonymous woman (1,4) without prejudices.

•the eroticism is in her provocation (5), in their lines and colors (1,4).

•Impressionism (5)/Fauvism (1,4)

2 6

3

5 4

1

1 2

3

4

5

With company

Aphrodite accompanied by .....

•Which one is the most sensual? Why?

-Litle cupids and Mars.

-Helmet, shield, lance

-Love scene

The position of the bodies and their looks.

•Who is with Aphrodite?

•Why do we know he is Mars? Look at the objects in all the pictures.

•What are they doing?

•Which picture do you think is the oldest? (1)

Instructional activities:1-Describe these pictures, try to identify the period and the artistic styles:

2-Make sentences using similarities and differences expressions.

3-Look up synonyms and antonyms for: beauty, young, charm...

4-Complete the chart:

pasion

desire

seduction

atraction

adjectiveverbnoun

EXTRA INFORMATION

•7th slide:

1-Venus of Capua

2-Aphrodite calipigia

3-Venus genetrix

4-Venus squating

5-Venus of Milos

6-Venus of Cyrene

•9th slide:

1-Venus’ birth. Cabanel, 1863

2-Venus rising from the sea, “Venus Anadyomene”. Titian, 1520

3-Venus’ birth. Bouguereau, 1879

4-Venus’ birth. Boticelli, 1485

5-Venus’ birth. Cornelis de vos, 1636

(All the pictures are from Internet)

EXTRA INFORMATION•11th slide:

1-Red nude. Modigliani, 1917

2-Venus of Urbin. Titian, 1538

3-Venus at the mirror. Velázquez, 1648

4-The blue nude. Matisse, 1907

-Olimpia. Manet, 1863

-Venus at the mirror. Rubens, 1613

•14th slide:

1-Venus and Mars. Fresco painting from Pompeya. s I

2-Angels, Venus and Mars. Carlo Saraceni, 1615

3-Venus and Mars linked by Cupid. Veronés, 1580

4-Venus and Mars. Botticelli, 1482

-Mars, Venus and Cupid. Titian, s XVI

(All the pictures are from Internet)