ANCIENT GREEK ART

CONTEXT

• What kind of philosophy dominated Ancient Greece?

• What was the ideal for Greeks?• What type of religion did they have?• What is another term for the Greeks?• What are the different periods of Ancient

Greece?

CONTEXT

• Humanism = man as superior over everything in nature due to his intellectual capacity

• The ideal for man was perfection• Worship of many gods who had human traits• Greeks or Hellenes, as they call themselves=

intermingling of Aegean people and Indo-European invaders

Periods

• The Geometric Period- c. 1100 to 700 BC• The Archaic Period- c. 700 to 480 BC• The Classical Period- c. 480 to 323 BC

- The Transitional Period- Early Classical- Late Classical

• The Hellenistic Period- c. 323-30 BC

CONTENT/FORM

• What forms of art shows heavy Mycenean influence?

• How did design on functional objects evolve?• What are some techniques applied by the Greeks

in their ceramics and earthenware?• What are kouros/ kore?• What is distinct about its form?• How was paint used in Archaic sculpture?• What is the principle of weight-shifting?

GEOMETRIC & ARCHAIC PERIOD

• Pottery served as a link to the very late Mycenean age with Ancient Greece

• Continuity of this Mycenean influence in pottery until the 5th century

Proto-Geometric Amphora c.10th century BC

• Two handed jar for wine or oil

• Formative phase of the geometric style

• Curvilinear design

Dipylon Vase c. 8th century BC

• Covered with bands with Rectilinear shapes

• Diamond and wedge shapes appear as well

• Extremely abstract figures are arranged on the shoulder of the vessel

Geometric Dipylon kraterc. 8th century BC

• Geometric designs become secondary to the figures

• Lined with figures of warriors with shields and chariots

• figures portray a funeral procession

Eleusis, The Blinding of Polyphemos and Gorgons (proto-Attic amphora) c. 675-650 B.C.

• From the Orientalizing phase of the Archaic period

• Deviates from the Geometric style

• Mostly figures and curvilinear designs

• Polyphemos the one-eyed giant is being blinded by Odysseus

1. HYDRIA- water jar2. OINOCHOE- wine

jug3. KRATER- bowl for

mixing wine & water

4. AMPHORA- storage for wine, corn, and honey

5. KYLIX- drinking cup6. LEKYTHOS- oil flask

The Francois Vase (Attic black-figure krater) c.575 B.C.

• Decorated with over 200 figures representing the wedding of Peleus, with the gods in attendance

• An example of signed vases that appear in the early 7th century B.C.

Black-figure technique

• Design is made by incising the vessels with a sharp instrument to expose the reddish clay beneath

Exekias, Dionysos in a Sailboat(interior of a black-figure kylix)

c. 550-525 BC• Represents Dionysos

sailing over the sea carrying his gifts to mankind, accompanied by dolphins

• Boat’s sail is not symbolic, but filled with wind as it would appear in nature

Euthymides, Revelersc. 510-500 BC

• Red-figure technique• Use of foreshortening and

showing figures from different angles

• Represents drunk dancers, shows sense of comedy of the Greeks

• Portrayal of three-quarter back and front view indicate increasing awareness of 3 dimensional volume

Red-figure technique

• Interior markings are rendered with relief lines applied by syringe-like instrument that squeezes out the black glaze evenly

• A freer and easier style than the black-figure technique

Geometric bronze warriorlate 8th century BC

• Show simplifications of the geometric period

• Approx. 8 inches high• Solid cast bronze• Originally held a spear

and shield• Large eyes + broad

grimace = archaic smile

Mantiklos “Apollo”c. 680 BC

• Bronze figure of a youth from 680 BC, beginning of the Archaic period

• Forerunner of the Kouros figures

• Triangular torso, narrow waist, and bulging thighs

• Approx. 8 inches high

Hera of Samosc. 560 BC

• Example of monumental, free-standing sculpture

• 6 feet 4 inches• Cylindrical goddess

probably holding a symbol of authority

Kouros and Kore

• Similar to Egyptian statues in terms of the pose with left foot forward, broad shoulders, and rigid design

• Some are figures of youths who are dedicated to a god and are moving towards them

• Some are memorial statues that stand over graves of noblemen

• Men not gods; significant because it shows shift towards glorifying human beings

• Generally stiff and immobile in depiction• Korai (maidens)

Kouros from Teneac. 570 BC

• Face is simplified into flat planes and features are stylized

• Nude and half-striding• Proportion approaching

anatomical truth

Kroisos (Kouros from Anavysos)c.540-515

• A funerary monument of a youth who died in a hero’s battle

• More specific anatomy than the Tenea kouros

Peplos Korec.530 BC

• More expressive face (attention to chin, cheeks, and mouth corners )

• Great eyes with originally painted lids

• Traces of paint

Paint on statues

• Greek stone statues were originally painted• Only important parts were painted such as

eyes, lips, hair, and edges of drapery• Purpose was to make the statue more lifelike

and convincing• Applied via encaustic technique wherein

pigment is mixed with wax and applied to the surface while hot

Kore from Chiosc. 510 BC

• More evident signs of painting

• Found used as rubble fill in the walls of the Acropolis

• Intricate folds of the gown show influence of Ionian fashion

• Female nude rarely appears in ancient sculpture

Kritios Boyc.480 BC

• Stands at rest but not in a stiff-legged pose, like the Kouros

• Principle of weight-shift, the shifting of position of the main parts of the body around the vertical but flexible axis of the spine

FORM/CONTENT

• How was architecture compared to sculpture?• What are the different parts of the Greek

temples?• What 3 elements that determine architectural

order?• What are the 3 orders?• What are the parts of a column and its capital?• What challenge did pediment sculpture pose?

Greek Architecture

• Significant buildings began as shrines for Greek gods

• Qualities of the gods embodied by the structures

• Figurative sculpture used as decoration and to tell stories about the structures

• The building itself was also seen as sculptural form, able to evoke human qualities

• Early wooden temples give way to limestone and marble structures

• Marble was expensive but largely available • Insistence on mathematical order

Architectural Order

• Combination of the relationship of three units:1) Column 2)Platform3)Superstructure/ Entablature

Doric

Ionic

Corinthian

Columns

• Rests on a platform• Provides immediate support to the entablature• 3 Parts:

a) shaft- marked with vertical channels called fluting, diameter decreases as it rises; one or several horizontal lines (necking) serve as transition to the capitalb) capital- divided into lower (echinus) and upper (abacus) elementsc) base- not present in the Doric

Entablature

• 3 parts:a) Architrave- main weight bearing/ distributing elementb) Frieze- provide a continuous field for reliefsc) Cornice- molded horizontal projection, that with two sloping/raking cornices form the pediment

Doric order

• Massive in appearance, sturdy columns planted on the stylobate

• Flutings meet in sharp ridges (arisses)• Severely plain capital• Attributed as masculine• Decorative sculpture applied in ‘voids’ in the

pediment

‘Basilica’ at Paestum, c. 550 BC

• Typical example of Archaic Doric style

• Called ‘the Basilica’ due to its resemblance to a Roman type building

• Heavy columns , closely spaced, with large pillow-like capitals

Ionic order

• Light and airy columns and much more decorative compared to Doric,

• Flat flutings• Ornamental capital• Attributed as feminine• Columns were occasionally replaced with caryatids (female

figures)• Décor applied in the entire frieze and sometimes columns

(aside from the pediment)

Treasury of the Siphnians at Delphic. 530 BC

• One of the earliest Ionic buildings

• Carved caryotids instead of Ionic columns

Corinthian

• Ornamental capital• Not developed until the 5th century BC• Appeared inside the temple• Not widely used until the Renaissance

Architectural Sculpture

• Applied on parts of architecture that had little or no function

• Challenge for artist to fit the artwork in the given space which usually had an odd shape

Archaic Temple of Artemisc.600-580 BC

• Shows a gorgon surrounded by panthers• Careless distribution of figures• Use of different scales for the different

characters

Temple of Aphaia at Aeginac.490 BC

Temple of Aphaia at Aeginac.490 BC

• Represents an episode in the Trojan war• Improvement in the skills of artists in

pedimental composition• Figures in different poses but same scale

• Figure of the fallen warrior in a difficult twisted pose; anatomy is close to life but with some mistakes (misplace navel, awkward transition from chest to pelvis)

FORM/CONTENT

• What characterized the Transitional Period?• What was the ideal for art?• What characteristics did this bring about?• What is the Delian league, Acropolis, and

Parthenon?• What shifts took place in terms of the forms of

sculpture during the Classical Period?

TRANSITIONAL PERIOD

• The heroic age of the Athenians and the Hellenes who fought against the Persian invaders

• “For art, the gods are the measure of men, and to achieve the ideal is to be “god-like”

Charioteer (from Delphi)c. 470 BC

• Part of a group in horse-drawn chariots

• Demonstrates the Greek search for ideal beauty and mastery of the human figure

• The rigid flow of the dress is somehow Archaic /column-like

• Skillfully modeled hands and feet

Myron, Discobolosc. 450 BC

• Survived only in Roman copies of the Greek original

• Represents an athlete throwing a discus

• Compositions in terms of two intersecting arcs/ impression of tightly stretched bow before release

Pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia468-460 BC

• Clearest representation of the “severe” early style

• Musculature swelling with life and power

The ‘Ideal’ Mask

• Because reason must always be in control of passions

• Expressionless faces, expected from gods and godlike men

• There should be no distortion of the face by any strain of emotion, even in the scenes of the most violent action.

EARLY CLASSICAL PERIOD

• Victory over the Persians made them the most powerful in the world

• Established a Sea Empire of democratic island states in the Aegean

• Alliance called the Delian League • The inequity of the distribution of funds in the

treasury caused internal conflicts• Triumph of drama, philosophy, and art in

Athens under the Statesman, Pericles

The Acropolis

The Acropolis

• A mass of rock that rises abruptly 150 m (500 feet) above the city.

• Crowned with a group of magnificent buildings that symbolized the glory of Athens (including the Parthenon)

• Huge stone statue of Athena on the Western edge which served as beacon to ships at sea

The Parthenon

The Parthenon

• The first and largest building in the Acropolis• Temple of Athena Parthenos• Architects: Ictinos & Callicrates, under the

direction of Phidias• Peripteral temple: short side less than half the

length of its long side• Contained the ivory & gold statue of Athena

and the treasury of the Delian League

The Parthenon

• Few straight lines• Stylobate is convex, curving imperceptively• Columns tilt slightly inward and are not

uniformly spaced• Deviations are intentional but interpretations

vary: functional (facilitate drainage); stability; etc.

Dionysos(from the east pediment of the Parthenon)

• Marks the shift from figurative archaic art to a more natural one

• Growing knowledge of human form and anatomy

Horsemen(from the West frieze of the Parthenon)

• Unique due its impression of the passage of time

• Effect is achieved through figures in seemingly sequential motion; audience must also be moving to achieve the affect

• Balance between: (a) the monumental and simple and (b) the ideal and the real = “the inner concord of opposites”

Three godesses

• Monumental in size, simple in pose, natural details

• Relaxed forms underneath their garments• Fluidity between the bodies & the garments

Porch of the Maidens

• Dominated by caryatids• Figures possess a balance between (a)rigidity of columns and (b)

flexibility of living bodies

Polykleitos, Doryphorosc.450-440 BC

• Viewed as the embodiment of proportional rationality for sculpture

• Broad shoulders, thick torso and muscular limbs of a Spartan warrior

• Slow forward walk stresses principle of weight-shift

• Complex and subtle organization of the human figure:-Function of the supporting leg is echoed by the straight hanging arm to provide stability for the flexed left side;- diagonal tension: right arm left leg relaxed, left leg right arm tensed

THE LATE CLASSICAL PERIOD

• Fall of Athens during the Peloponessian war, which ended in 404 BC.

• Sparta and Thebes took leadership from Greece, but were not very successful

• Greek states conquered by Philip of Macedon in the later half of the 4th century BC.

• Serene idealism of the Early Classical period was replaced with civil war and skepticism

• Proliferation of dramas depicting a wide range of human passions and crises

• Further reliance on individuals– turning away from gods, oracles, and irrational traditions

• Search for ‘knowledge of the real’

Praxiteles, Hermes and Dionysos c.340 BC

• Shift of weight from left arm to right leg,

• Fluid figure forming an s curve

• Eyes look out in space and mouth half smiling, give it a dreamy facial expression

• Can be contrasted with doryphoros:majestic strength/rationality vs. sensuality and beauty

Lysippos, Apoxyomenosc.330 BC.

• Young athlete scraping oil and mud from his body before taking a bath

• Marks 2 notable stylistic shifts:1) proportion: more slender,

supple, and tall2) The figure as moving in 3

instead of 2 dimensions; free spiral through space; work looks whole from a variety of angles not just one or two

Corinthian order (cont’d)

• Reached its full development in the Late Classical Period

• Capital design attributed to Callimachos who was inspired when he saw acanthus leaves growing around a votive basket on the grave of a maiden

FORM/CONTENT

• What is the Hellenistic period?• What aspect of human expression triumphed?• What other art forms influenced the visual

arts?• What characterized Hellenistic sculpture?

THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD

• Alexander the Great conquered Persia and the Near East, including Egypt

• Mingling of eastern and western cultures that came to be known as ‘Hellenistic’

Dying Gaulc.240 BC

• Monument to represent victory over the Gauls• Triumph of realism • Surrender of sculpture to the stage with its

images of human suffering, mortality, and bloodshed

• From action to stagecraft

Appolonius, Seated Boxerc. 50 BC

• Heavily battered gladiator with smashed face, broken nose, and deep scars

• The story of the once mighty fighter