Greek Art How does the art reflect the cultural values? How does art reflect the cultural epoch...

Greek Art How does the art reflect the cultural values?

How does art reflect the cultural epoch theory?What influences are shown in Greek Art

How does the Greek representation of the human form change from 700 BCE-150 BCE?

But First….Greek Art STILL influences us.

• Pre-Greece (background)–Minoan–Mycenaen

• Minoan civilization developed on the island of Crete from 2700 BCE to 1600 BCE.

• What we know of the society comes from fragments, pot shards, frescoes on villa walls, etc.

• They were relatively peaceful, mercantile and matriarchal (women held positions of authority, birthrights passed through mother’s lineage)

Minoan pot shard circa 2000-1700 BCE

Minoan Sprouted vessel (2100 BCE) Octopus vase (1600 BCE).

• Minoans controlled the sea trade routes the Aegean. Thus the Octopus.

• The Minoans had a thing for insect décor, too. There is a similar spider vase on display in the same museum.

Minoan art was colorful and fun. It celebrated nature and demonstrated their attachment to the earth.

Minoan priestess performing a Snake goddess ritual (2000-1800 BCE)

• Goddesses far outnumbered male deities. This

• Male supernatural figures often represented as bulls (breeding stock?)

• Mycenae, on the Greek peninsula, was settled around 2000 BCE by herdsmen and farmers. They interacted with the Minoans and were influenced by their art and architecture.

• Mycenaean influence eventually overtook Minoan but both societies lived relatively peacefully, side-by-side for about 600 years. Mycenae expanded its influence through warfare but never made open war against its near-neighbors

Dame de Mycenae 1250 BCE-Note Eastern Influence

Then the Dorians invaded, all but destroying the Minoan/Mycenaean cultures, thrusting Greece into the “dark ages.” Suddenly people had moreimportant things to do but make attractive pottery and frescos.

Greek Dark Age pottery 1150 BCE

This pitcher used pinch pot technique. It is asymmetrical, wobbly on the bottom and small (holds less than a liter)

Greek ArtGeometric Art 900-700 BCE

Orientalizing Art 700-600 BCEArchaic Art 600-480 BCE

Classical Art 400-320 BCELate Classical Art 400-320 BCE

Hellenistic Art 320-30 BCE

Key Ideas

• Greek art introduces the concept of classical art• Greek sculpture is charactersized by the idealizating of the human

form, the beauty of the nude body, and the ability of figures to express a great range of emotions

• Greek temples become extremely influential in the development of European architecture

• Painting on Greek pottery echoes the development of Greek sculpture and forms virtually all our knowledge about Greek painting

Protogeometric Greek Pottery 1100-1000 BCE

Simple geometric designs,

wide bands and concentric circles.

Geometric Art

Greek Pottery Characteristics

Earliest pots done during the Geometric period are largely composted of horizontal lines with minimal figures.

Geometric period mid 9th century BCE.

Meanders

Egyptian influence

Swastika (Persian)

Greek Pottery Characteristics In the next period

called Orientalizing the is much influence from Egyptian and Mesopotamin art, so eastern floral motifs and exotic animals take their place next to the geometric bands of ornament.

Archaic Sculpture What survives of Greek archaic

art is limited to grave monuments, such as kouros and kore figures, or sculpture from Greek temples. Marble is the stone of choice although Greek works survive in a variety of materials: bronze, limestone, terra cotta, wood, gold – even iron. Sculpture was often painted, especially if it was to be located high on the temple façade. Backgrounds were highlighted in red; lips, eyes, hair, and drapery were routinely painted. Sculpture often had metallic accessories: thunder bolts, harps, and various other attributes.

Greek Archaic Kouros, marble, New York Grave marker, replacing huge vases of the

Geometric period Not a real portrait, but a general

representation of the dead Rigidly frontal Emulates stance of Egyptian sculpture, but is

nude; arms and legs largely cut free from the stone

Freestanding and able to move, in contrast to many Egyptian works that are reliefs or are attached to stone

Hair is knotted and falls in neatly braided rows down the back

To give the figures a sense of life, most kouros and kore figures smile. ARCHAIC SMILE

Metropolitan Kouros 600BCE

Greek Archaic Peplos Kore, marble,

Acropolis Museum, Athens

Broken hand used to carry offering to Athena

Hand emerges into our own space, breaks out of the mold of static Archaic statues

Tightened waist Breasts revealed beneath

drapery So-called because she is

named for the peplos, the garment she is wearing

Rounded and naturalistic face

Much of the paint still remains, animating the face and hair

Greek Archaic Dying Warrior from

the Temple of Aphia, Aegina, marble, Glyptothek, Munich, Germany

Warrior dying, fits neatly into the corner of the pediment

Hair in rows of tight curls

Rigid musculature Pose of the crossed

legs is awkward and unnatural, especially given the life-and-death struggle the dying warrior is undergoing

Archaic smile

Greek Pottery Characteristics In Archaic period, artists

painted in a style called black figure, which emphasized large figures drawn in black on the red natural surface of the clay. Other colors would burn in the high temperature of the kiln, so after the pot had been fired, details were added in highlighting colors. The bright glazing of Greek pottery gives the surface a lustrous shine. At the end of the Archaic period, red figure vases were introduced; in effect, they are the reversal of black figure style pots. The backgrounds were painted in black, and the natural red of the clay detailed the forms.

Exekias Exekias, Ajax and Achilles

Playing Dice, Vatican Museums Rome

Concentration on two competing figures on a Greek amphora

Subdued emotions portrayed

Spears suggest depth; spears at the ready enemies will not catch them unaware

Legs mirror the reflective pose

Black figure style with decorative band of geometric designs

Left: Achilles wins by saying “four”; Right: Ajax says “three”; it is ironic that Ajax will live and bury his dead friend Achilles, who will eventually lose in a battle

Greek Classical Sculpture Classical sculpture is distinct from

Archaic in the use of contrapposto, that is, the fluid body movement and relaxed stance that was unknown in freestanding sculpture before this. In addition, forms became highly idealized. Even sculptures depicting older people have heroic bodies. In the fifth century BCE, this heroic form defined by Polykleitos, a sculptor whose canon of proportions of the human figure had far-reaching effects. Polykleitos wrote that the head should be one-seventh of the body. He also favored a heavy musculature with a body expressing alternating stances of relaxed and stressed muscles. Thus, on his Spear Bearer, the right arm and the left leg are flexed, and the left arm and right leg are relaxed.

Greek Classical Sculpture In the late classical period of

the fourth century BCE, gods were sculpted in a more humanized way. Praxiteles, the greatest sculptor of his age, carved figures with a sensuous and languorous appeal, and favored a lanky look to the bodies. Hallmarks of fourth-century work include heads that are one-eighth of the body and a sensuous S-curve to the frame.

Kritos Boy, marble, Acropolis Museum, Athens

Introduction of contrapposto, body standing naturally

Slight turn to the body, head not strictly frontal but a bit to one side

Transitional piece between Archaic and Classical Art

Greek Classical Sculpture

Greek Classical Sculpture Myron, The Discus

Thrower, marble copy from a bronze original, National Roman Museum, Rome

In-between motion, mid-swing

Impossible pose to throw the discus, but optically the pose works

Viewpoint mainly from the front

Expressionless face, or perhaps thinking

Use of negative space opens large areas in the sculpture

Idealized heroic body

Some argue the sculptures were painted….

Greek Helenistic Sculpture Hellenistic sculptors offer a wider range of realistic modeling and

a willingness to show more movement than their classical colleagues. Figures have a great variety of expression from sadness to joy. Themes untouched before, such a childhood, old age, despair, anger, and drunkenness, are common subjects in Hellenistic art. To be of human emotion. Moreover, sculptors carve with greater flexibility, employing negative space more freely. The viewer is meant to walk around a Hellenistic sculpture and see it from many sides; hence, the work is meant to be placed against a wall.

Greek Hellenistic Dying Gaul, from Pergamon, marble copy of a bronze original, Capitoline

Museum, Rome Trumpeter from Gaul collapsing on his instrument; blood oozing from his

wound; shows defeat of the Gauls Seen as a hero by the Greeks, which in turn glorifies

their conquest Represents a barbarian foe: hair kept in an

uncultivated manner Figure meant to be seen in the round Negative space Great emotion shown on face

Greek Hellenistic Nike of Samothrace, marble, Louvre, Paris Meant to sit on a fountain as a figurehead of a boat; the fountain would splash

water on the figure Wet drapery look imitates the water playing on the wet body Built to commemorate a naval victory in 191 BCE Dramatic twist and contrapposto of the torso Monumentality of the figure Her missing right arm may have raised a victory crown; perhaps she was

landing on the prow of a ship

Greek Hellenistic Rhodes Sculptors, Laocoon, 1 century, Vatican Museums, Rome Story from the Aeneid of the Trojan priest who tried to warn his

people of the dangers lurking inside the horse given to Troy by the Greeks; snakes were sent by the gods to prevent him from speaking

High drama; emotional Twisting, curving forms; the eye cannot rest, wanders around the

composition; viewing the composition from many angles is encouraged

Heightened musculature accentuates pathos of the moment Negative space

Let the drapery do the talking…. Archaic: Antenor kore(520-10)

CLASSICAL style - Increasingly subtle and complex use of drapery is very important in the development of the classical style1. Transparency of drapery 2. Modeling line - use of folds

to model and pick out limbs 3. Motion line - drapery can

suggest movement. 4. Catenary folds - "loops" of

drapery hanging in loose manner.

Three Goddesses, by Phidias

Hellenism: ‘Wet T-Shirt’