Chapter 4/5 Quiz
Cycladic "violin" figures
"Violin" figurine - an example of the schematic figurine: -Most are plain. -Incised pubic triangle (also seen on later Cycladic figures) -Head = long prong -Legs not apparent (similar to preceding Neolithic seated or squatting figures)
Polykleitos, "The Canon"
*"The Canon"* - ideal human figure - balance careful observation with generalizing idealization - system of ratios between a basic unit and the length of various body parts - guidelines for symmetry (relationship of body parts to one another) - also explored contrapposto
What did Polykleitos write, and what was it about
*"The Canon"* - ideal human figure - balance careful observation with generalizing idealization - system of ratios between a basic unit and the length of various body parts - guidelines for symmetry (relationship of body parts to one another) - also explored contrapposto
Name the three Greek architectural orders and tell how they are distinguished
*Doric* - shaft sits directly on stylobate (no base) - fluted/channeled, with sharp edges - height is 5.5-7X the diameter of the base - necking at top has transition to the capital itself with rounded echinus *Ionic* - more elongated proportions than Doric - height is about 9X the diameter of the base - flutes are deeper and separated by a flat surface (fillets) - capital has spiral scrolled volute *Corinthian* - a variant of the Ionic order - elaborate capitals sheathed with stylized acanthus leaves
Thera, Naxos, Paros
*Thera* - voclanic eruption here *Naxos and Paros* - white marble here
Who carved the first Greek statue of a female nude? In what art period?
- *Praxiteles* - Late Classical - set a new standard; may be related to the gradual merging of the Greek's concept of Aphrodite with some of the characteristic of the Phoenician goddess Astarte, who was nearly always shown nude in Near Eastern Art
Hellenistic
- 323-31/30 BCE - shift focus to the individual and specific - heroic -> everyday, gods -> mortals, aloof serenity -> individual emotion, decorous drama -> emotional melodrama - appeal to the senses, to our hears, and to our intellects - Corinthian order of architecture
Describe significant characteristics of Greek Geometric period artworks
- 900-700 BCE - declare ceramic vessels with linear motifs (spirals, diamonds, and cross-hatching) -ex: funerary vessels - use geometric shapes to depict human bodies - 2 dimensional figures - also made figurines of wood, ivory, clay, and cast bronze - dense linear decoration
How did the depiction of human figures look when they reappeared after the 200 year lapse?
- Approximately 5 centuries passed before figurative work reappeared in the arts, in the early Greek Geometric period we will study next.
What subject matter showed on Classical Greek cemetery stelai?
- Classical: place figures in personal or domestic contexts that often feature women and children - Contrasts to Archaic period- proud warriors or athletes
stele sculpture
- Classical: place figures in personal or domestic contexts that often feature women and children - Contrasts to Archaic period- proud warriors or athletes
Marine style
- Depict sea life - Ceramic style of the New Palace Minoan Period
city-states, representative government
- The Greek city-states never united and had no shared coinage nor calendar; their political systems varied (Aristotle listed about 157 different city constitutions). But they shared a spoken and written language, literature (dominated by writings of Homer), religion, and competitive nature.
What is the difference between black-figure and red-figure pottery?
- both involve happing slip to the pottery and manipulating the firing process in the kiln - *black-figure*: artists silhouetted the forms with slip; incised linear details in the shape with sharp tool to reveal unpainted clay beneath - *red-figure*: painted not the shapes of the forms but the background around forms (negative space); paint on details instead of engraving details; result is a black vessel with light-colored figures; more fluid
Pergamon
- capital of the breakaway state within the Selucid realm established in the early third century BCE - quickly became the leading center of the arts and the hub of an experimental sculptural style that had far-reaching influence thought the Hellenistic period - expressionism
Perikles
- charismatic leader of Athens from 495-429 BCE (during the High Classical Period) - cultural and intellectual brilliance of Athens during this time
faience
- colorfully glazed fine ceramic - fine opaque-glazed ceramic pottery.
shaft graves
- earliest type of burials in the Aegean Bronze Age - vertical pits 20-25 feet deep - gold objects/valuables placed around body to show status, wealth, and power - The earliest tombs were shaft graves, vertical pits 20-25 feet deep
Orientalizing Period
- favoring compositions built around large motifs -Decoration become less angular and more fluid, often designed around motifs that include animal and composite animal forms, as well as abstract plant and human forms. In sculpture, the Greeks were particularly impacted by the small portable ivory sculptures from Syria, although they adapted visual elements and forms to their own ends from all varieties of media used in the Near East, Asia Minor and Egypt.
Lysippos
- more detailed of his life are known - many copies of his sculptures are made - claimed to be entirely self-taught and that "nature" was his only model -> must have received some technical training - great admiration Polykleitos, but his figures reflect a different ideal and different proportions - Man Scraping Himself
mosaics, tesserae
- mosaics proud a permanent waterproof sure that the Romans used (in copies) for floors in important rooms - tesserae = small cups of colored stone or marble
Euphronios
- one of the best-known red-figure artists - Euphronios - master of red-figure painting. Both Euphronios and his contemporary, Euthymides, use foreshortening.
cyclopean
-masonry that uses largely unworked boulders - only a cyclops could have moved the stones
kore, korai, kouros, kouroi
Archaic period kore = female statue korai = female statues kouros = male statue kouroi = male statues - Kore (female), and Kouros (male): The female figures (kourai, pl. of kore) were always clothed, while the male kouroi (pl. of kouros) were nearly always nude. These commissioned sculptures were created to compliment the temple structure and its architectural sculpture, and were meant to serve a commemorative purpose. They served as grave and sanctuary markers, often lining pathways from the open air sanctuaries to the temple and shrine itself. - The earlier figures bear a striking resemblance to Egyptian sculpture in their rigidity and stylization but later kouroi and kourai become more naturalistic. The shapes are less stylized or simplified, and the forms softer and more voluminous. Greater attention to anatomical masses, musculature and skeletal structure can be perceived.
Archaic (and Archaic smile)
Archaic smile = closed-loop expression
Sappho, Aesop
In Archaic period.... - Sappho Worte inspired poetry on island of Lesbos - Aesop wrote his famous animal fables
polychromy (p.113)
many colors (on greek statue)
Helladic (Aegean Bronze Age on mainland Greece)
means the Aegean Bronze Age on mainland Greece from about 3000-1000 BCE
corbel vault
stones that are stacked moving inwards
foreshortening
technique of showing depth
contrapposto
the convention of presenting standing figures with opposing alternations of tension and relaxation sound a central axis that will dominate Classical art, slight turn of the head
expressionism
the deliberate attempt to evict a specific emotional response in the viewer -> became a characteristic of Hellenistic art
"Lion Gate"
the gate to the city of Mycenae
Mycenae
the home of Agamemnon
pediments, pediment sculpture
the top top of the column structure (roof?) ?
capstone
topmost stone that joins sides and completes structure
humanism, rationalism, idealism
values of the Early Classical Period
rhyton
vessels used for pouring liquids - Stone rhytons (vessels for pouring liquids) were for ritual use. These are both New Palace period items. - Bull's head rhyton shows the recurring Minoan bull theme; it is made from carefully sculpted stone, with fur details made by filling incised lines with white powder. Gilt wooden horns, a shell band at nostrils, and painted rock crystal and red jasper eyes complete the elegance of the vessel, which would be filled through an opening at its neck, and poured through its mouth. - Harvester rhyton: Note the expressive motion of the figures and the overlap of figures, generally uncharacteristic of either Near Eastern or Egyptian art.
Geometric Period
with shapes?
What is the difference between the meaning of the terms "Helladic" and "Hellenistic"?
*Helladic* = the Aegean Bronze Age on mainland Greece *Helladic Period* = about 3000-1000 BCE *Hellenistic* = the last period of Ancient Greek art -> 323-31/30 BCE - shift focus to the individual and specific; heroic -> everyday, gods -> mortals, aloof serenity -> individual emotion, decorous drama -> emotional melodrama; appeal to the senses, to our hears, and to our intellects; Corinthian order of architecture
What were the two types of ceramics produced by Minoans, when was each produced, and how were they different?
*Old Palace Period:* Kamares ware - extreme thinness - use of color - graceful, stylized, painted decorated - made using a potter's wheel *New Palace Period:* "Marine style" - depictions of sea life on the surface
Describe the Old and New Palaces at Knossos.
*Old Palace:* Architecture: - called palaces but may have been the residences and administrative centers of hereditary rulers - may have been ruled by a confederation of aristocrats or aristocratic families - sites of periodic religious ceremony or ritual - used dressed stone - Design: Multistoried, flat roofs, wooden columns, designed to allow for maximum air circulation and light infiltration (staggered levels, open stairwells, light/air shafts), suites of rooms around central courtyards, plastered interiors with murals and indoor, pressurized plumbing. - Centralized management of foods: large storerooms with many ceramic vessels - Sophisticated ceramic arts and metalwork Ceramic Arts: - developed elegant new types of ceramics *New Palace:* - new complex built after an earthquake - considered the highest point of Minoan civilization - reconstructed palace - large, central courtyards - workshops around the complexes made commercial centers - The New Palace was erected after the Old Palace was damaged by some sort of catastrophe, maybe an earthquake or a previous eruption at Thera (the devastating one happened 1650 - 1625 bce). The Old Palace served as a central core. Although the palaces were planned and constructed on a grid (in a double axe pattern), ensuing reconstruction after later earthquake damage resulted in a complex structure that became known as the Labyrinth. Labyrinth means "house of the double axes." Can you see the axe shapes in the plan? Labyrinth: - "House of the Double Axes" - because of the double-axe motifs in architectural decoration - complex organization of the new palace -> internal security system - organized around a large central courtyard
What Mycenaean arts were similar to the Minoans?
- "Mycenaen architecture developed in distinct ways from that of the Minoans"???
Akropolis
- "city on top of a hill" - Athens started as a Neolithic acropolis that later served as a fortress and sanctuary - became a religious and ceremonial center devoted primarily to the goddess Athena, the city's patron and protector - destroyed in 480 BCE, but ruins kept as a memorial and rebuilt to honor the gods - very expensive
tripod of Greek aesthetic (from lecture, not in text)
- Flexible form refers to imagery that is both normative and recognizable as part of the culture, but also reflects the individualism of artistic genius. - Artistic responsibility refers to the increased role of the individual artists, important enough to sign works. - Ocular realism resulted; but later other Greek values assert themselves too, in stylistic exaggeration.
Praxiteles (his innovations)
- Late Classical sculpture ( active in Athens from about 370-335 BCE or later) - set a new standard; may be related to the gradual merging of the Greek's concept of Aphrodite with some of the characteristic of the Phoenician goddess Astarte, who was nearly always shown nude in Near Eastern Art
anthropomorphism of gods (Term is not used in the book, but the concept is discussed.)
- The Greek pantheon was approached in polytheistic/henotheistic worship. The Gods take on human form since, for the Greeks, the gods represented embodied ideas. The Greeks viewed the gods as acting like characters on a stage, in the way that ideas (as forces) influence our actions in life. This helps to explain why the Greeks were generally quite comfortable with anthropomorphism, the notion of viewing the divine in human or earthly form, physical and intellectual. - the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object.
megaron
- a giant room - the destination in the mycenaean citadel - may be associated with royalty 1. Anteroom 2. Cella/Hall 3. Columns in Porch and Cella
metopes
- a part of the entablature that doesn't have patterns on it (in doric order) - square or rectangular panel that will be decorated with sculpture
tholos (beehive) tombs, Treasury of Atreus
- about 1600 BCE - elite class start to build large above-ground burial places -covered with earth and became a conical hill - Around 1600 BCE, rulers on mainland Greece had begun to build larger, above ground tombs known as tholos tombs. The most remarkable of these is the Treasury of Atreus from around 1300 - 1200 BCE. Its conical corbel vault was the largest uninterrupted interior space in Europe until the Pantheon was built in Rome more than a thousand years later; it is 43' high, 47'6" in diameter. The corbel vault rises like a cone, under a hill of earth, in courses (layers) of precisely cut stones called ashlar, topped by a capstone that joins all sides. Treasury of Atreus - 1300-1200 BCE
Parthenon
- around 490 BCE - a temple to Athena Parthenos - needed lots of math to make this - sense of harmony and balance due to attention to proportions (ratio 4:9) - aesthetic, political, idealogical
orthogonal city plan (grid)
- as early as the eighth century BCE, builders in some western Greek settlements bean to use a mathematical concept of urban development based on the orthogonal/grid plan - straight, evenly spaced parallel streets that intersected at right angles to create rectangular blocks - blocks subdivided into identical building plots
What ideas lay behind Greek culture?
- had focused and distinctive ideals of human beauty and architectural design -continually sought to change and improve existing artistic trends and fashions (stylistic evolution) -independently-goverened city-states
Cycladic Islands
- late Neolithic and early Bronze Age people developed a thriving culture -artifacts are our principal source of info on them because there aren't any written records - made sculptures with ceramic and marble
Aegean Bronze Age
- made exquisite object of bronze that were prized for export - manufacture of bronze tools and weapons became widespread
white-ground technique
- may echo the style of lost contemporary wall and panel painting - first apply white slip as the grand on which painted designs with liquid slip - became a specialty of Athenian potters - enhance date fired vessel with a full range of colors using paints made by mixing tints with white clay and also using tempera - the fragile decoration deteriorated easily - favored for funerary, votive, and other non-utilitarian vessels
architectural terms: peristyle, cella, abacus, entasis, pronaos (p. 108)
- peristyle = columns around the outside? - cella = the main room - abacus = flat slab on top of the capital - entasis = a column that swells in the middle and contracts again at the top - pronaos = enclosed vestibule
sanctuaries
- places that are sacred to the gods - in greece - Greeks maintained sanctuaries that were sacred places, often holding monuments and statues. Some had athletic training facilities. Olympia was home of Olympic contests every 4 years between representatives of city-states, and Delphi was home of the Pythian games 2 years before and 2 years after the Olympics. of
Describe Stone Age Cycladic sculptures.
- sleek, abstracted representations of human figures - shaped with scrapers - found almost exclusively in graves - overwhelming majority represent nude women and conform to a consistent representational convention - poses of strict symmetry with arms folded - long neck, head tilted back, face only has a elongated nose - body parts pared down to essentials - designed based on circles - used to be painted
architectural terms: stoa, caryatids, entablature, architrave, frieze, pediments (p. 107)
- stoa = a columned pavilion open on three sides - caryatids = columns carved in the form of clothed women in finely pleated, flowing garments, raised on pedestals and balancing capitals on their heads - entablature = a horizontal, continuous lintel on a classical building supported by columns or a wall, comprising (listed from bottom to top) the architrave, frieze, and cornice - architrave = ? - frieze = a broad horizontal band of sculpted (and/or painted) decoration - pediments = the entire triangular top of the temple
Describe the Greek view of their gods.
- the creation of the world involved a battle between the earth gods and sky gods - immoral and endowed with supernatural powers - visualized in human form and attribute to them human weaknesses and emotions
Define "contrapposto" and describe how its use developed through the Greek art periods.
- the diagonally counterbalanced relationship s between weight-bearing and relaxed legs and arms around a central axis - Kristos Boy - Polykleitos
Crete, Minoan civilization
- the largest of the Aegean islands - economically self-sufficient by the Bronze age - a wealthy sea power - a distinctive culture flourished on Crete - Old Palace and New Palace periods
capitals
- the top of a column - characteristic top of a column; this is the key to determining the architectural canon.
Theater at Epidauros
- theater a vehicle for the communal express of religious beliefs through music, poetry, and dance - uninterrupted sight lines - good acoustics - allowed of the entrance and exit of the 12,000 spectators
What qualities gave excellence to the Theater at Epidauros?
- uninterrupted sight lines - good acoustics - allowed of the entrance and exit of the 12,000 spectators
Describe the style of Minoan wall frescoes. (Compare them to Egyptian ones.)
- worked on a large scale, covering entire walls of rooms with geometric boarders, views of nature, and scenes of human activity - buon fresco: painted on a stil-wet plaster surface -> binds pigments to the wall, but have to work quickly - fresco secco: painted on a dry surface -> pigments tend to flake off over time, but don't have to hurry - elegant drawing - filled the linear contours with birth and unshaded fields of pure color (Like the Egyptians) - preferred profile or full-faced views - turned natural forms into decorative pattens through stylization - example: Bull Leaping - The frescos are quite stylized; the human figure is usually shown in profile or full face view. These figures don't have the same strict, twisted or multi-perspective angularity that we see in Egyptian painting. Minoan figures are much more curved and "elastic." Again, as we have seen in other cultures, stylization is used more to suggest a concept and less a perceptual or optical experience, but this occurs in varying degrees. Colors are applied flatly in outlines, similar to Egyptian work.
Generalize how Greek art changed in style and concept from the Archaic to Classical to Hellenistic eras
-*Archaic*: undeveloped in comparison to the Classical, but still a time of great new achievement; doric and ionic orders developed; Also had free-standing sculpture (kore, kouros); Athens - pottery; Red/Black-figure pottery - *Classical*: humanism, rationalism, and idealis; valued human reason over human emotion; Early, High, and Late Classical periods; High Classical considered a pinnacle of artistic refinement; Late: changing political conditions dampened the Greeks' artistic creativity; artists experiment with new subjects and styles; maintained a Classical approach to composition and form, but relaxed conventions; supported by patrons; start to change/challenge the canon of sculpture - *Hellenistic*: shift focus to the individual and specific; heroic -> everyday, gods -> mortals, aloof serenity -> individual emotion, decorous drama -> emotional melodrama; appeal to the senses, to our hears, and to our intellects; Corinthian order of architecture
Classical, Classical phases (periods)
-Greek artists in the fifth century BCE sought create ideal images based strict mathematical proportions -> we call this "Classical" -cultures of ancient Greece and Rome - "in the style of anceient Greece and Rome" Periods: Early High Late
Minoan goldwork techniques, filigree, granulation, repoussé, niello, gilding
-filagree = delicate decoration with fine wires -granulation = minute granules or balls of precious metal fused to underlying forms -repoussé = gently push up relief forms for the back of a thin sheet of gold - niello = use powdered niegellum to make black lines on the metal - gilding= the application of gold to an object made of some other material
Exekias
-perhaps the most famous of all Athenian black-figure painters -both potter and painter
dressed stone
-used in the old palace period of Minoan civilization -cut and finished stone in architecture
What three Bronze Age cultures developed in the Aegean Sea region?
1. Cyclades 2. Minoan 3. Mycenaean (Helladic)
New Palace Period
1700-1450 BCE
Old Palace Period
1900-1700 BCE
Late Classical
400 - 323 BCE - changing political conditions dampened the Greeks' artistic creativity - artists experiment with new subjects and styles - maintained a Classical approach to composition and form, but relaxed conventions - supported by patrons - start to change/challenge the canon of sculpture
High Classical, Greek "Golden Age"
450-400 BCE - reflects the value judgements of art historians who have considered this period a pinnacle of artistic refinement, producing works that set a standard of unsurpassed excellence - Greece's "Golden Age"
Early Classical Period
480-450 BCE - humanism, rationalism, and idealism - valued human reason over human emotion - "the Canon" first introduced in this period
Mycenaean citadels
??
After the 200 years that followed the collapse of the Mycenaean culture, what art period saw the return of the human figure as a subject in artwork?
???????
What is the importance of the island of Thera to developments in the Aegean Bronze Age?
A huge volcanic eruption font he island - devastated civilization on Thera and Crete - use this as a tool to date things
grave circle
At the citadel at Mycenae
What city was the original center for the Orientalizing culture's pottery production?
Athens
Kamares ware
Kamares ware - extreme thinness - use of color - graceful, stylized, painted decorated - made using a potter's wheel
labyrinth at Knossos, "House of Double Axes," Minoan-type columns
Labyrinth: - "House of the Double Axes" - because of the double-axe motifs in architectural decoration - complex organization of the new palace -> internal security system - organized around a large central courtyard Columns - wooden columns that became standard in Aegean palace architecture - tree trunks were inverted for the columns so they tapered at the bottom (the top was wider a the top)
first landscape painting
Landscape ("Spring Fresco") - enjoy the painting just because it's nature - It is on Thera that we find the first "pure" landscape painting; nature is painted to be enjoyed as an end in itself. Continuing the stylistic artistic treatment of the human figure, the landscape also shows a stylized patterning of natural forms. Bright colors alternate with dark neutrals, possibly shadows, since these artists did not use value variation within a form to indicate shading.
Why is little known about the religion(s) and ceremonies of the earliest Bronze Age cultures in the Aegean islands?
Many sites await excavation - the history of the Aegean Bronze Age is still being written Its's hard to find dates for this period of history
Name the Aegean islands where a white marble for sculpting could be found.
The Cyclades - especially the islands of Naxos and Paros
Which culture was known to use this marble in artwork?
The Cycladic culture
How did Mycenaean architectural works differ from Minoans'?
The Mycenaeans were distinct from the Minoans in a number of ways: they built strong, fortified citadels which protected palaces designed on an axial plan that included a great audience hall called a megaron. They built vaulted tombs from cut stone, which employed similar methods to those used in megalithic architecture of Neolithic Northern Europe. They bear a remarkable resemblance in design to the Neolithic passage grave.
krater
a bowl for mixing water and wine, used both in feasts and as grave markers
slip (p. 118)
a mixture of clay and water
flying gallop
a non-naturalistic pose in which animals are depicted hovering above the ground with legs fully extended backwards and forwards to signify that they are running
hollow-casting (bronze technique)
a technique that allowed for the creation of more complex action poses with outstretched arms and legs
terra cotta
clay fired over low heat, sometimes unglazed)
courses
layers (in tholos)
symposium, symposia (pp. 124-126)
lively, elite male gatherings that forced on wine, music, games, and love making
ashlar
precisely cut blocks of stone (in tholos)
volute
the spiral scroll on the capital of an ionic order column
