Lecture by Dr. von Mach.

Dr. Edmund von Mach spoke in the Fogg Lecture Room last night on "Greek Pose--A Gesture Language."

Through natural poses and gestures the character of a person is often interpreted more clearly and accurately than through any other means; for emotions and feelings, which are to subtle for expression in words, may be shown in changes in the face and in the involuntary movements of the body. Certain poses and certain expressions are universally understood to interpret certain definite emotions, and, while the theory of the interpretation of character by pose is a subject, rather of philosophy than of art, it is nevertheless necessary that the artist and one who is to understand the work of the artist, must study the practical and actual relation of gestures and pose to the character expressed.

Practically all Greek sculpture may be divided into these two classes: First, statues of persons whose minds and bodies are both at rest; second, statues of persons of whom either the minds are active and the bodies at rest or else both the minds and bodies active together. In the great statues of the first class, the Greek sculptors revealed the spirit and character of their subjects solely by consummate skill in choosing the pose. In the gentle lines of the pose of the Venus of Milo, for instance, one reads the gentle and amorous nature of the Goddess of love, while in the more severe lines of the status of Hera in Rome Juno's sterner and more unyielding character is translated.

In dealing with subjects of the second general class, the Greek sculptors made use of grouping and of gestures to interpret the actions and the expressed emotions of their subjects. In this employment of gestures was shown some of the supremest skill of the Greek artists, for through the gestures of their subjects they suggest to the imagination of one who sees the statues, those outside causes which make the whole spirit of the statue and the gestures themselves intelligible.