Art of Ancient Greece

Greek Overview

- Ancient Greece is considered the birthplace of democracy and humanism. - Ancient Greeks were polytheistic, and they believed that each human god had a unique personality and looked like a perfect human.

Archaic Period

- During this period, Greek artwork was heavily influenced by contact with the Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures. - The previous geometric style of vase painting changed to a more naturalistic style. - Narrative depictions of well-known myths and legends painted n vases helped to pass these stories on to future generations. - The only paintings that survive from this period are found on vases - stiff and unnatural

Classic Period

- Greeks defeated the Persians - "golden age of athens" - first Democracy was created in Athens and the Athenian Acropolis was rebuilt under the direction of Pericles - empire had expanded to include Egypt, Persia, and parks of South Asia under Alexander the Great. - Classical sculpture exhibits unprecedented realism, primarily depicting idealized men. - devotion to exaggerated beauty and idealism in art

Hellenistic

- New style of art emerged after Alexander the Great conquered Persia in 334 BCE - depictions of people with less than perfect bodies - depictions of real human emotion intended to elicit a response from the viewer - depictions of everyday people and the underclass

Geometric Period

- geometric designs after the greek "dark age"

Red-Figure painting technique

ARCHAIC - Around 530 BCE, vase painters began to use the red-figure technique, a technique that is the opposite of the black-figure technique. - The negative spaces were painted with slip, leaving the figures the color of the clay. - The negative spaces turned black during the firing process.

Black-figure painting technique

ARCHAIC - around 6255 BCE, vase painters started using the black-figure painting technique. - The positive space in the painting was painted with slip, while the negative space remained the color of the clay. - During the firing process, the slip turned black.

Peplos Kore

ARCHAIC - kore is the female equivalent of the kouros. - clothed - Archaic smile

Statue of a Kouros

ARCHAIC (590 BCE) - figures like this were used as grave markers and are heavily influenced by Egyptian statuary. - While the stiff and stylized pose, with one leg forward and arms down at the sides, is clearly derived from Egyptian statuary, the nudity is uniquely greek.

Riace Warriors

ARCHAIC - bronze, 460 BCE - rare Greek bronze sculptures found near remains of shipwreck - stylized and exhibit exaggerations in the musculature - early example of contrapposto

Parthenon

CLASSICAL - 447 BCE - built on the Acropolis in Athens under the direction of Pericles - embodies the Greek idea of perfect proportions. - doric columns - Originally housed a very large statue of Athena - east pediment depicted Athena's birth - an inner Ionic colonnade supported an entablature with a 525-foot-long frieze depicting the Panathenaic procession.

Doryphoros

CLASSICAL - by Polykleitos - 450 BCE - was an illustration of his theories and quickly became the model for all Classical sculptures

Aphrodite of Knidos

CLASSICAL - marble, 350 BCE - sculpted by Paxiteles, a renowned sculptor of the late Classical period, who is known for the emotion portrayed in this sculptures - piece is the first life-sized sculpture of a nude female

Kritios Boy

CLASSICAL - marble, 480 BCE - often classified as LATE ARCHAIC or EARLY CLASSICAL and represents the great revolution in sculpture that occurred during the period - archaic smile has been replaced by a naturalistic face - muscles and pose are very realistic and reflect a true understanding of the human body

Funerary vase

GEOMETRIC - vases like this one were used as grave markers during the geometric period in greece. - the bottom of the vessel is open, allowing visitors to pour libations unto the deceased. - the decoration consists of geometric patterns including the famous Greek "key" or meander pattern, and a narrative depicting the deceased's funeral procession.

Seated boxer

HELLENISTIC - bronze - common theme of Greek Athlete - battered and aged athlete with a broken nose, cauliflower ears, and a scarred face - appears to be exhausted and looking up at unseen master or audience, evoking sympathy from the view rather than projecting the heroic image typical of the past

Laocoon and his sons

HELLENISTIC - marble - sculpture was excavated from the ruins of Titus's palace during the Renaissance and influenced many artists, including Michelangelo - depicts the Trojan priest who, along with his sons, was killed after her tried to warn of the Greeks treachery during the Trojan war. - depiction of powerful emotions - twisting bodies and exaggerated pose evoke a response in the viewer - depicts tragic subject matter