Chapter 4: Art of the Aegean

Periods of Art Location Architecture: Date

Cycladic Cycladic Islands various burial mounds c. 2500BCEMinoan Island of Crete Palace of Knossos c. 1500 BCEMycenaean mainland Greece Citadel at Mycenae c. 1200 BCE

CYCLADIC ART

CYCLADIC ART Cue Card•Most what survives from Cycladic culture has ybeen found in grave sites on the Greek islands. •Figurines as small as two inches, were placed near the dead Women always carved

Male

placed near the dead. Women always carved standing nude, men are playing harps, both have back-tilted heads, rendered in simple geometric shapes, look very modern, small traces of paint have been found on them•Female: very thin hands, feet too small to support sculpture, meant to be placed on their straight backs lying down next to thestraight backs, lying down, next to the decease, Wedge shaped pelvis and body, emphasized the breasts and public area, archaeologists speculate where this is to represent a dead person, fertility figure, or a goddesses•Male: simple geometric shapes, head tilted back, not playing the harp so much as holding

4-2: Figurine of a woman, c. 2600-2300 BCE, marble, 1’6”

back, not playing the harp so much as holding it, he might be playing to the deceased in the afterlife although we unsure of their meaning

Cue CardCYCLADIC ART

Male

FemaleFemale

4-2: Figurine of a womanc. 2600-2300 BCE, marble, 1’6”

4-3: Male harp playerc. 2600-2300 BCEmarble, 9”

MINOAN ARTCue Card

4-4 to 4-7: Palace at KKnossosc. 1700-1400 BCECrete

•The home of King Minos, large rambling structure built against the upper slopes and across a the top of a low hill• All around were mansionsAll around were mansions and villas of Minoan elite

Cue Card

4 4 to 4 7: Palace at4-4 to 4-7: Palace at Knossosc. 1700-1400 BCEC tCrete

Compare to

•The central feature of the palace was it great rectangular court.•areas for official business storing food workroomsCompare to

Doric column•areas for official business, storing food, workrooms, and a theater like area – possible forerunner to the later Greek theater, it was complex with three stories high,

4-6: Stairwell of Palace at Knossos

•This was a place for official business, manufacturing, religion, trade, politics interior light and air wells the staircases, had an advanced drainage of rainwater, remarkably efficient system of terracotta (baked clay)remarkably efficient system of terracotta (baked clay) pipes under the building•The painted wooden columns have distinctive capitals and shafts, taper from a wide top to a narrower base, th it f b th E ti d l t G k lthe opposite of both Egyptian and later Greek columns

:

•Frescos - close relationship with their natural environment, many fl Th fl fi h dflowers, The many flowers, fish, and animals in Minoan paintings reveal a people who delighted in observing and recording the beauty of nature, g y ,didn’t paint soldiers or battles

Queens megaronQueens megaron

Buon (Wet) FrescoReconstructed drawing of Knossos throne room

St li d h

Cue Card

4-8: Bull-leaping

Stylized shapes

p gFrescoc. 1400-1370 BCE, 2’8”,

•Possibly a ritual (very difficult acrobatic maneuver) showing two women (fair skin) and a man (dark skin)(ancient convention) jumping over a bull, woman on left grabs the horns, the man is jumping over the bull the woman on the right has landedthe man is jumping over the bull, the woman on the right has landed, •As in Egyptian Art, males have darker skin than females, figures have extremely thin waists, stand in profile but otherwise reflect an Egyptian figure style, •figures have a floating quality with no ground line, sweeping curved lines, S-shaped

f b ll’ d id d t ilcurves of bull’s underside and tail, •in contrast to Egyptian wall paintings, the curving lines employed suggest the elasticity of living and moving beings.

4-9: Landscape with swallows (Spring Fresco)c. 1650-1625 BCE, Frescoc. 1650 1625 BCE, Fresco

Cue Card

•This is the largest and most complete pure landscape•Discovered in volumes of volcanic ash that was as much as 5 yards deep they believeDiscovered in volumes of volcanic ash that was as much as 5 yards deep, they believe that this eruption could have been the demise of the civilization, painted in wet fresco, the painter used vivid colors and undulating lines to capture the essence of nature, joyful patters, geometrically simplified swallows fly through the air

Cue Card

•The love of nature is manifested in the painted vases• Kamares Ware was named after the cave

4-10: Kamares Ware jarc. 1800-1700 BCE, 1’8”

on the slopes where they were discovered•the central motif is a great leaping fish•curvilinear abstract patterns including waves and spirals evoke life in the seaPolychromatic Curvilinear

abstract patterns

waves and spirals, evoke life in the sea both abstract and natural forms. •These are light figures on a dark background

4-11: Marine style octopus jarc. 1450 BCE, 11’

Cue Card

,

•Tentacles of the octopus reach out over the curing surfaces of the vesselthe curing surfaces of the vessel, embracing the piece and emphasizing its volume. •Masterful realization of the relationship between the vessel decoration its shape•Dark figures on a light vessel

4-12: Snake Goddess, c. 1600 BCE, 1’ 1 ½”

Faience – low-fired opaque glasslike silicate

Cue Card

•They believe mortal priestesses rather than a deity, large exposed breast symbollarge exposed breast – symbol of fertility, •snakes in hand-power over animal world,

Other Snake

•frontality of the figures is reminiscent of Egyptian and Mesopotamian statuary,•If this is a goddess it seems Other Snake

GoddessesIf this is a goddess, it seems

as another example of human beings fashion their gods in their own image., thin waists,

id d iwide-eyed expression •cat image on headdress

One of the most remarkable objects ever found on Crete, jhippopotamus-tusk ivory, god serpentine, and rock crystal, rendering minute details of muscles and veinsdetails of muscles and veins

4-13: Young god(?)

Cue Card

4-14: Harvester Vase1500-1450 BCE

•Finest surviving example of relief sculpture •Harvester vase - scenes showing sowing and1500 1450 BCE

Steatite with gold leaf•Harvester vase - scenes showing sowing and harvesting•repetition in composition bursting with energy, crowd singing and shouting, •One of the first instances showing a keen interest in underlying muscular and skeletal structure of the human body, Minoan artist’s studied the human anatomy

MYCENAEAN ARTCue Card

4-16:Citadel at Tiryns, Greece

4-16:Citadel at Tiryns, Greece

•This is a sharp contrast to Cretan palaces – clearly reveal their defensive character, •20 feet in thickness, piled the large irregular Cyclopean blocks in horizontal courses and then cantilevered them inward until the two walls met in a pointed arch • no mortar was used, •the vault is held in place only by the weight of the blocks by the smaller stones used as

Corbelled Gallery

the vault is held in place only by the weight of the blocks by the smaller stones used as wedges

in walls – used cyclopean Masonry (huge, roughly cut stone blocks forming the massive fortification walls)

Corbel vault

Three methods of spanning a passageway

Post and Lintel Corbeled Arch Arch

4-18A: Palace of Nester, PylosM Th l i h ll d h iMegaron – The large reception hall and throne room in

a Mycenaean palace, fronted by an open-two-columned porch This was the main feature of thecolumned porch – This was the main feature of the palace

Megaronega o

Corbeled ArchCue Card•Outer gateway- enemies

would have had to enter this 20-foot-wide channel and face Mycenaean

Relieving Triangleand face Mycenaean defenders above them, •the gate consists of two great upright monoliths g p gcapped with a huge lintel, the masonry formed a corbelled arch, •Filing this relieving triangle•Filing this relieving triangle is a great limestone slab with two lions in high relief facing a central Minoan-type column. • The whole design matches its triangular shape harmonizing dignityshape, harmonizing dignity, strength, and scale, lions heads were turned to face the observer,

N t ll 4-19: Lion Gate,Mycenae

• Narrow, tall passageway leading to gate, built for defensive purposes

Cue Card

Tholos TombDromos

4-20 & 4-21: Treasury of AtreusDromos: a long passageway

y

•Misnamed in the belief it was a repository for treasures; probably originally a tomb,Misnamed in the belief it was a repository for treasures; probably originally a tomb,•Elite families buried their dead outside the citadel walls in beehive-shaped tombs covered by enormous earthen mounds, •9 such tombs remain T f At i th b t d l (d ) l d t•Treasury of Atreus is the best preserved, a long passageway (dromos) leads to a

doorway

• The burial chamber, or tholos, consists of a series of stone co s sts o a se es o sto ecorbelled courses laid on a circular base to forma lofty dome.

• Mason had to use great precision to make the stones to conform to horizontal and vertical curvature of the wall (precision cutting of stones)

• This is 43 feet high, this dome at the time was the largest vaulted space without interior supports that had ever been b iltbuilt.

• Largest interior domed space until the Romans

4-22: Funerary mask1600-1500 BCE, 1’1600 1500 BCE, 1

• Repoussé - formed in relief by beating a metal plate from th b k l i ththe back, leaving the impression on the face

• It is one of the first attempts at lif i l tlife-size sculpture

• Gold work in repoussé, found in a royal shaft grave, mask l d th d d’ fplaced on the deceased’s face

like Egyptian burial practices (like King tut), curlicue ears, eyes rendered as slits haireyes rendered as slits, hair detailed with long, thin incised marks,

Cue Card

4-26: Warrior Vase (Krater), 1200 BCE, 1’4”

K t b l f

Cue Card

Krater – bowl formixing wine and water

Prominent frieze of soldiers marching off to war, woman bid farewell to the heavily g yarmed warriors , lacks a landscape, all the soldiers repeat the same pattern,

Key Idea• The Cycladic civilization of the Greek

islands produced stylized statuettes ofislands produced stylized statuettes of nude standing females and nude males playing musical instrumentsplaying musical instruments

• The Minoans from the island of Crete built mixed use palaces with complex groundmixed-use palaces with complex ground plansM ‘ f i l d G• Mycenaean‘s from mainland Greece were noted for massive citadels marked by

l d b ll d lticyclopean masonry and corbelled vaulting.

SUMMARYCycladic: island – Cycladic figurines

Minoan: islandArt: palaces – not fortified, nurturing, loved lifep , g,Vases: invented potter’s wheelWet FrescoSt li ti Ch t i ti t f dStylistic Characteristics: movement - use of curved line, nature (organic), polychrome Intent : reflection of life, no concern with afterlifeIntent : reflection of life, no concern with afterlife

Mycenaean: mainland Greece, warfareA t B hi t b 1 t d d hArt: megaron. Beehive tomb – 1st dome and arch (corbelled), relieving triangleMetal workers: gold mask sword cupsMetal workers: gold, mask, sword, cupsIntent of Art: protection, utilitarian objects, funerary

Innovations in ArchitectureInnovations in Architecture

• Cyclopean masonry – minimally cut blocksCyclopean masonry minimally cut blocks of stone atop one another to create walls and buildings without using mortarand buildings without using mortar

• Corbelled arch – a type of vaulted space which the blocks of stone are graduallywhich the blocks of stone are gradually placed closer together as building rises, forming an inverted V Shaped roofforming an inverted V-Shaped roof

Innovations in SculptureInnovations in Sculpture

• They were good at sculpting in repousséThey were good at sculpting in repoussé, a technique that involves fitting a sheet of think metal gold or bronze onto athink metal, gold, or bronze, onto a surface. The metal is shaped with small hammers from the backside of the platehammers from the backside of the plate.

• The opposite technique working the metal from the front is called chasingfrom the front is called chasing.

Innovations in PaintingInnovations in Painting

• Egypt used fresco secco (dry fresco) thisEgypt used fresco secco (dry fresco), this leads to chipped away surface, Aegean painting used buon fresco (true frescopainting used buon fresco (true fresco, wet fresco) which renders a more durable product by freshly applied layer of plasterproduct by freshly applied layer of plaster easily adheres to a coat of paint. This technique required quick brushworktechnique required quick brushwork