Greek Art 3

Overview of Greek Culture, Geometric Period, Orientalizing Period, and the Archaic Period

Credit to Gardner’s Art Through The Ages 12th Ed.

Greek Humanism

• Humanity mattered more than anything-it was the measure of all things

• This is what lead the Greeks to develop Democracy (rule by the “demos”: the people)

• Greek gods differed from humans only in that they were immortal

• Greeks made their gods into humans and their humans into gods

Greek Origins

• The Greeks referred to themselves as “Hellenes”

• Product of intermingling of Aegean people and Indo-European invaders (from Eurasia: Europe, Middle East, India, and more)

• Never formed a single nation• Instead, independent city-states (poleis,

singular=polis)

Greek Origins

• Dorians– North– Settled in Peloponnesos– Thought to have ended the Mycenaean civilization

• Ionians– Across the Aegean sea into Asia Minor (Turkey)– Some believe Ionians were forced out of mainland

Greece by northern invaders– Others believe they were a product of mixed settlers in

Turkey (from a variety of cultures)

Greek Origins

Dorians (Peloponnesos)

Ionians(Turkey, even though the Ionian Sea is on the otherside of Greece, and even though modernday “Ionia” is on the northwest corner ofGreece…)

Greek Culture OVERVIEW

• City-states were ruled first by Kings, then by nobles, then by tyrants who seized personal power

• At last in Athens, 2500 years ago (495 BCE), the tyrants were overthrown and democracy was established

Greek Culture OVERVIEW

• Even with the establishment of democracy, most states were dominated by wealthy men (not the “demos”: people)

• Most admired virtues were not wisdom and justice, but rather:– Military valor (we are SPARTA)

• War among the city-states was chronic and brutal– Fighting among themselves, the Greeks eventually fell

victim to Macedon’s autocracy and Rome’s Imperialism• Autocracy: government where one person has absolute power• Imperialism: extending a country’s power through diplomacy or

military force

Athens and Greek Culture

• Marketplace = agora• Gymnasiums = palaestras• Goal was to achieve balance of intellectual and physical

discipline humanistic education = “a sound mind in a sound body”

• Slavery and inequality of women are both portrayed in Greek art:– Slavery was considered natural and was a universal institution among

the ancient Greeks– Greek women were not equal to Greek men (played little roles in

public or political life)• Besides the famous female poet Sappho, there were only a handful of female

artists and none of their works survive

Geometric Period 900-700 BCE

• First Olympic Games 776 BCE (the first “Olympiad”)– Only in the Greek-speaking states (the Greeks considered

those who didn’t speak Greek “barbarians…)– Took place in Olympia– No women were allowed to compete

• Greek colonies established in Southern Italy & Sicily (in fact, the best preserved Greek temples are found in Italy, not Greece)

• Invention of Greek alphabet • Homeric poems recorded in writing (750-700)

Geometric Period 900-700 BCEART

• Most early Greek vases were decorated with abstract motifs

• Angular (Geometric)• Return of the human figure– Not in monumental statues/sculptures– Instead, humans were painted on the surfaces of

ceramic pots, which were still made in Mycenae even during the “Dark Age”

– Return of the art of STORYTELLING!

Geometric Period 900-700 BCEART

Krater (mixing bowl)

Used to mark the grave of an Athenian manaround 740 BCE

Well over 3 ft. tall (this man was RICH!)

The bottom is open so visitors could pour“libations” in honor of the dead, or maybe it was just to provide a drain for rainwater. Or both!

“Meander” = key pattern

Abstract, angular motifs in horizontal bands

Scenes depict the mourning for the deceased (upper band) and a chariot procession (lower band) in his honor. Upper band, shroud is raised to reveal the corpse, women are tearing their hair out with grief

Orientalizing Period 740-650 BCE

• First Messenian War – Sparta invades Messenia (730-710) and wins

• 20-year-long war• Most Messenian people left, but those who stayed were

turned into slaves/used for Sparta’s military

• Orientalizing Art:– Increased trade = more exposure to Eastern artwork

(Syrian, Egyptian)• Start to see artistic conventions of Syria and Egypt emerge

in Greek art, such as increased interest in portraying detailed human anatomy

Orientalizing Period 740-650 BCE

• Black-Figure Vase Painting– Ceramic technique invented by the Corinthians (Athenians soon

copied them!)– Figural and ornamental motifs were applied with a slip that

turned black during firing, while the background was left the color of the clay

– Details were added by incising (carving into) the black slip or by adding white and purple highlights with pigment mixed with clay

– Step 1 Firing: Oxidizing, air allowed into kiln, turning the whole vase the color of the clay

– Step 2 Firing: Green wood put into kiln to reduce Oxygen, causing the vase to turn black in the smoky environment

– Step 3 Firing: Oxygen reintroduced into kiln, the bare clay would turn orange and the slipped areas would stay black

Corinth

Orientalizing Period 740-650 BCE

Black-Figure Vase Painting

Corinthian style, but found in Rhodes

625-600 BCE

1’2” tall

Inspired by Egyptian Sphinx to portray Greek“Sirens” (part bird, part woman)

Archaic Period 700-480 BCE

• Second Messenian War– Uprising of Messenian slaves in Sparta– Sparta eventually conquers them again (making them back into

slaves and extra military)– Another 20 year long war

• Pythagoras born in Samos 569 BCE– Ionian Greek philosopher/mathematician

• Solon (Athenian statesmen) starts shaking up the Draconian law in Athens and lays the foundation for Democracy 594 BCE – Draconian = harsh legal punishments for all legal offenses– He introduced to Athens the first coinage and a system of weights

and measures

Archaic Period 700-480 BCE

• Pisistratus becomes tyrant of Athens 546 BCE– Champions the lower class of Athens and takes

many privileges away from the wealthy– Kind of like Robin Hood…

• Pisistratus Dies. His sons become tyrants of Athens 527 BCE

• Red-Figure Pottery develops in Athens 525 BCE (black-figure is still used as well)

Archaic Period 700-480 BCE

• Red-Figure Pottery (red figures on a black background)– Possibly developed by Andokides – Gradually replaced black-figure technique (black

figures on a red background)– Artists could draw the forms with a brush instead

of carving them• Better suited to representing people, garments and

emotions with more precision

– Fired the same way as black-figure pottery

Red-Figure and Black-Figure Pottery(on the same Amphora!)

Ajax and Achilles playing a dice game, by the Andokides painter, found in Orvieto, Italy, 525-520 BCE1’9” tall

Andokides painter: his workwas unsigned, it was namedafter the potter for whom he worked. He is believed to be the inventor of the red-style of vase painting

Exekias: Athenian master of black-figure vase painting; thought to be the teacher of the Andokides painter

Achilles and AjaxPlaying a dice game,from Vulci, Italy, 540-530 BCE2 feet tall

Archaic Period 700-480 BCE

• Pottery in general was created in specific shapes for specific daily uses:– Amphora: storing and transporting wine and food– Hydria: pouring water– Kantharos or kylix: drinking wine or water– Lekythos: pouring libations in rituals/ceremonies– Loutrophoros: carrying water for bridal bath– The imagery on pottery provided insight into many

aspects of Athenian life

Amphora: storing and transporting wine and food

Hydria: pouring water

Kantharos or kylix: drinking wine or water

Lekythos: pouring libations in rituals/ceremonies

Loutrophoros: carrying water for bridal bath

Archaic Style

• In painting, tend to portray dramatic scenes from well-known stories (except for Achilles and Ajax playing dice…which isn’t super dramatic!)

• In painting, little depth is achieved, portrayal of humans is more informational than accurate (i.e. showing all of both legs even though one may be more hidden based on body position)– Euphronios was a red-figure painter who started portraying people

more accurately in perspective, showing depth• Archaic smile: sculptor’s way of indicating that the person

portrayed is alive– Which is why sculptures are sometimes smiling in inappropriate

situations (like a dying warrior with an arrow through his chest)

Euphronios, Red-Figure Krater, 515-510 BCE, h. 18”

Shows perspective and depth by putting one leg in front of the other

Dying warrior, from the West pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina, Greece, 500-490 BCE, Marble, 5 feet long

Archaic Style

• Daedalic style (Daedalus was believed to be the master of all arts)– Literally, “The Skillful One”– Labyrinth in Crete, a temple in Memphis, Egypt, and

many other great achievements in sculpture and architecture before artists signed their work are attributed to him

– Believed to have worked in Egypt– STYLE: Triangular shape of head and hair, flat face,

seem to smile!

Lady of Auxerre, Kore, 650-625 BCE, Daedalic/Archaic Style, Limestone, 2 feet tall

Archaic Period 700-480 BCE SCULPTURE

• Kouros = Male/youth, plural = “Kouroi”• Kore = Female

– Larger-scale statues– Emulate the stance of Egyptian statues– Figure is rigid, frontal view, left foot advanced, arms beside

body, fists clenched, thumbs forward– These statues became the preferred grave markers instead

of the vases (used previously) during the 6th Century BCE– Could also be used as votive offerings (an offering made in

fulfillment of a religious vow)– Typically nude

Kore from the Acropolis, Athens, 520-510 BCE, Marble

Here we start to see Archaic sculptors’ love of sculpting patterns, especially in fabric

Doric vs. Ionic Temples

Doric vs. Ionic Columns

Temple Design Style

• Prostyle: columns across front of temple• Phiprostyle: columns across both front and

back of temple• Peristyle: columns around entire temple• Peripteral colonnades: single row of columns

(these were the norm)• Dipteral colonnades: double rows of columns

Archaic Period 700-480 BCE

• Alcmaeonid family and Spartans free Athens from tyranny. 510 BCE

• Introduction of Democracy in Athens• Kleisthenes begins reforming Athenian code

of laws, and establishes a democratic constitution 508 BCE

End of the Archaic Period• Ionian revolt 499 BCE

– Ionian revolt defeated by Persians 494 BCE– Revolted because Persians had invaded and appointed tyrants to rule Ionian city-states

after Persian Cyrus the Great conquered Ionia• Persian Wars 497-479 BCE

– Darius the Great wanted to conquer the Greek islands AND mainland, but died in 486 BCE– Succeeded by his son, Xerxes, who led the second Persian invasion of Greece with one of

the largest ancient armies ever assembled– Victory over Greece in the famous Battle of Thermopylae (think the movie, “300” with

Spartan King Leonidas)– Greek Army finally defeated the Persians in the Battle of Plataea, ending the Persian

Invasion• Silver mines discovered near Athens. Athens begins building naval fleet 483

BCE• Athenian commander Themistocles defeated the Persian navy off the island of

Salamis (southwest of Athens) and forced them to retreat to Asia