greek art how does the art reflect the cultural values? how does art reflect the cultural epoch...
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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’