Ancient Greek Art

Mesopotamian = Worship

Egyptian = Afterlife

Greek = Humanism
Ancient Greek Art

Can be classified into the following categories:

Geometric Period ca. 900-700 B.C.E.

Orientalizing Period ca. 725-600 B.C.E.
Archaic Period ca. 625-480 B.C.E.
--- Greeks defeat Persians 480-479 BCE ---

Early Classical Period ca. 480-450 B.C.E.

High Classical Period ca. 450-400 B.C.E.
Late Classical Period ca. 400-330 B.C.E.
Hellenistic Period ca. 330-31 B.C.E.
 Ancient Greek Art
 Most of the ancient Greek art that is still
around today is in the forms of pottery,
sculpture and architecture.
 Most ancient Greek paintings have
deteriorated or been destroyed, except for
most paintings on pottery.
 Why are they gone?
 Greek painters worked mainly on wooden panels, which deteriorated over
time.
 One of the sad facts of ancient history is that when marble is burned, lime is
produced, and that was also the fate of the great bulk of Greek marble statuary
during the Middle Ages. Likewise, the shortage of metal during the Middle
Ages led to the majority of Greek bronze statues being melted down. Those
statues which had survived did so primarily because they had been buried and
forgotten, or as in the case of bronzes having been lost at sea.
 The great majority of Greek buildings have not survived to this day: either they
had been pillaged in war, had been looted for building materials or had been
destroyed in Greece’s many earthquakes. Only a handful of temples, such as
the Parthenon and the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, have been spared.
The Geometric Period Hero and Centaur ca. 750-730 BC

The image of the man is thought to

be Herakles battling the Centaur.

This image demonstrates the

Geometric artist not being limited to
depicting scenes from daily life.

The centaur is a purely Greek

invention that has obviously created
a problem for this artist, as no such
creature has ever been seen.

Even at the beginning of Greek

figural art, we can see the instinct
for the natural beauty of the human
figure . This concept is reflected in
the fact that Greek athletes
exercised without their clothes and
even competed nude in the Olympic
Games from very early times.
 Mantiklos Apollo
The Orientalizing Period Thebes, Greece ca. 700 - 680 BC

This is considered one of

the master works of the
early 7th century.

It is unsure whether statue

is of Apollo, or of the
creator of the statue. If the
broken hand had carried a
bow, we would certainly
know the depiction to be of
Apollo.

This figure represents the

increasing interest in
depicting human anatomy.
Notable is the abdomen
area, where the muscles
are beginning to find
definition.
 Kouros
The Archaic Period Greece ca. 600 BC

Male figures called

kouros meaning “yout
h” were always depicted
nude.

This particular kouros

figure was said to have
a funerary purpose, as
it once stood over a
grave in the countryside
near Athens.

Statues such as this

replaced the Geometric
vases as the preferred
form of grave marking.
Classical Period
Hellenistic Era: Greece
 Period between conquest of Persian
Empire by Alexander the Great to
establishment of Roman supremacy

 The word, Hellenistic, is derived from the

word, Hellene, which was the Greek word
for the Greeks.

 The Hellenistic age "hellenized" the world

through the spread of Greek culture and
language throughout Near East,
Mediterranean and Asia Minor

 Exported Greek culture: architecture,

politics, law, literature, philosophy,
religion, and art as models of perfection
Performing a libation, interior of a bowl by Makron, circa 480 BC. Paris:Louvre Procession of men, kylix by the Triptolemos Painter, circa 480 BC. Paris: Louvre

Ancient Greek Pottery

 Greek pots are important because they tell us so much about how life was in
ancient Greece.
 Ancient Greek pots were often beautifully decorated with scenes from daily life.
Sometimes these scenes reflected what the pot was used for.
 Shapes and Sizes
Psykteres were wine Oinochoai were Chytra
coolers. wine jugs. Used as cooking
pots.

Stamnoi were used for Lekythoi were oil Hydria

holding wine before bottles. Used to carry
mixing it with water water.

Alabastron Amphora Used for Chous

Small vases used by carrying and Used as jugs.
women for storing storing solids and
perfume or oil. liquids.

Kantharos Krater comes from Kylikes were

Used as drinking cups a word meaning special wine cups.
with two vertical 'mix'. Kraters were
handles used for mixing
wine with water.

The name for this large Lekanides were Pyxides were

vase means 'carrying to small, shallow small pots in which
the bath.' Loutrophoroi bowls used by women stored
were used to hold water women for storing their cosmetics,
for bathing or for jewellery and powder or
washing. trinkets. jewellery.
 
•Pots came in all sorts of shapes and sizes
depending on their purpose.
•The Ancient Greeks made pottery for
everyday use, not for display.
Greek Vase Painting
 There are two main stylistic periods in Greek vase painting, black-figure and red-figure.

 All stylistic periods of Ancient Greek pottery:

the Protogeometric from about 1050 BC;
the Geometric from about 900 BC;
the Late Geometric or Archaic from about 750 BC;
the Black Figure from the early 7th century BC;
and the Red Figure from about 530 BC.
 Black–Figure Technique

Scene from a black-figure amphora from Athens, 6th century BC, now in the Louvre, Paris

 Black-figure is called that because the people (the figures) are black, and the background is a reddish brown.
 Black-figure technique was likely developed around 700 B.C. in Corinth. As the name implies, figures
appeared, after the firing of the pot, as black silhouettes against the background of the light red or
yellowish clay of the pot.  Within the black figures, incised lines revealed the red clay beneath, allowing the
artist to trace the inner details of the figure. 
 Actually black figure is done all with one type of clay. The clay found near Athens has a lot of iron in it, so it
looks black when it is wet. But if you fire it in an kiln where there is plenty of air getting in, the clay rusts,
and turns red. This is because the iron mixes with the oxygen in the air. If you fire it in an kiln with no air
getting in, the iron can't mix with oxygen, and the pot stays black. So you can have either red or black pots.
 Red–Figure Technique

Red-figure scene on the Belly Amphora by the Andokides Painter (Munich 2301). Munich: Staatliche Antikensammlungen

 In red-figure the people are red and the background is black.

 The red-figure technique was invented in Athens c. 530 B.C.  The figures remained in the orange-red
color of the clay, and the surrounding background was turned to black by the firing of the pot.   With this, the
method of detailing the figures was changed dramatically.  Instead of using a sharp tool to incise lines, the
painters used a fine brush, pen or reed to apply lines of color for the inner details of the figures.  
 Sculpture
 Marble & Bronze
 Human form the most important subject
 Few sculptures have survived, mostly in
Roman copies
 Parthenon
 Acropolis
 Statue of Athena
 Columns
 marble
 Frieze
Greek Statuary

Nike, Winged
Goddess of Victory
Doric Columns
Ionic Columns
Corinthian Columns
 Theater
 Theater in every major Greek city
 First theatrical productions - Athens Dionysus festival 500 BC
 Initially a single actor accompanied by a chorus of singers

 All wore masks – allowed actors to play multiple roles

 All male cast – played female roles

 Plays sponsored by wealthy patrons

 Olympics
 Founded in 776 BC at Olympia
in southern Greece
 Contests every four years
 Contests- running, chariot
racing, boxing, wrestling,etc.
 Laurel wreath to the victor
 As many as 40,000 gather at
games from throughout Greece
 Greek Architecture - Delphi
 Dates to 1400 BC – one of oldest sites in Greece
 Phythia - Oracle of Apollo
 Gave advice on decisions from personal problems to fates of cities
 Visitors required to pay a fee based on the importance of the
question