Jihoon Yang

Red Figure Pottery

Name of the culture: Athens
Basic information about the culture you chose: Athens is one of the many city-states that
fathered the first concept of democracy. When it came to government, all free, land owning male
citizens were involved in a public forum style in which they voted on the issue at hand.
Location: Athens
Time: Between beginning of 6th century and end of 4th century
Population: Around 315,500
Major historical events:
Context in the world: At this time, Athens was the leading city-state in Ancient Greece and was
looked upon as a city of sophistication and high cultural achievements. It was a highly
prosperous city that benefitted from trade with other countries around the world.
Context in history: Even now, Athens is regarded as a culture that was highly sophisticated for
its time tand well renowned for its cultural and artistic achievements. In fact, modern
democracy was founded based on the philosophies of Athens. Before contemporary times,
Athens was still looked on as a model of art and philosophy in times such as the Renaissance in
Europe. When it was still prospering, it formed the Delian League with other city states to rid the
peninsula of the invading Persians. Since then, Athens constantly demanded taxes from the
other city states and used up a high percentage of the funds from the Delian League, which led
to a revolt by Sparta and the other city states.
Information about the ceramic artwork of the culture: Athens was renowned for its highly
advanced art style during the time period. Athens sculpture used stone, marble, limestone, and
clay and was often used to portray stories of the Greek Gods, heroes, creatures and culture.
Unfortunately, a lot of the ceramics created by clay have been difficult to recover due to their
brittle nature. However, the Athens artwork was admired by several other cultures. For example,
the Romans have copied several Greek statues, which have survived to this day.
Consider: function/use, building technique, decorating technique, etc.
Although black figure pottery came first, red figure pottery is essentially the inverse method of
the red figure pottery. Its typically found on vases and it distinguished by, as the name
suggests, its red figures on a black background. The function of the vases depended on the
shapes. Some were used to transport goods, for drawing water, for ritual use, for religious
importance and others. Basically, the black paint is smeared on top of the red-orange clay and
then the lines can be drawn out. This made it more realistic than black figure as lines could be
drawn instead of scraped out. Figures were usually in profile, but red-figure opened up
opportunities to allow frontal, back, and three-quarter views.

At least 5 color images of art associated with the cultureat least 3 of which are related to the ceramic work (cited below each image)
Cross-cultural information. Was the ceramic work of your culture influenced by any other
cultures or specific historical events? Did the ceramic work of your culture influence any other
cultures or historical events?
Although there is no clear ceramic work of other cultures or historical events that influenced redfigure pottery, red figure pottery did spread through out Ancient Greece, particularly influencing
Southern Italy. As the pots were diverse, they were not influenced by one historical event, but
rather influenced by any event chosen by the author.
A descriptive section that explains how you created your piece and how it relates to the culture.
Include: specific examples and drawings/sketches.
Works cited information for the information on your poster

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vase/hd_vase.htm
http://www.ancientgreekbattles.net/Pages/47932_Population.htm
http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Sculpture/
http://www.ancient.eu/Red-Figure_Pottery/
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac45