1. ANCIENT GREEK ART

2. CONTEXT
• What kind of philosophy dominated Ancient
Greece?
• What was the ideal for Greeks?
• What type of religion did they have?
• What is another term for the Greeks?
• What are the different periods of Ancient
Greece?

3. CONTEXT
• Humanism = man as superior over everything
in nature due to his intellectual capacity
• The ideal for man was perfection
• Worship of many gods who had human traits
• Greeks or Hellenes, as they call themselves=
intermingling of Aegean people and Indo-
European invaders

4. Periods
• The Geometric Period- c. 1100 to 700 BC
• The Archaic Period- c. 700 to 480 BC
• The Classical Period- c. 480 to 323 BC
- The Transitional Period
- Early Classical
- Late Classical
• The Hellenistic Period- c. 323-30 BC

5. CONTENT/FORM
• What forms of art shows heavy Mycenean
influence?
• How did design on functional objects evolve?
• What are some techniques applied by the Greeks
in their ceramics and earthenware?
• What are kouros/ kore?
• What is distinct about its form?
• How was paint used in Archaic sculpture?
• What is the principle of weight-shifting?

6. GEOMETRIC & ARCHAIC PERIOD
• Pottery served as a link to the very late
Mycenean age with Ancient Greece
• Continuity of this Mycenean influence in
pottery until the 5th century

7. Proto-Geometric Amphora
c.10th century BC
• Two handed jar for wine
or oil
• Formative phase of the
geometric style
• Curvilinear design

8. Dipylon Vase
c. 8th century BC
• Covered with bands
with Rectilinear shapes
• Diamond and wedge
shapes appear as well
• Extremely abstract
figures are arranged on
the shoulder of the
vessel

10. Geometric Dipylon krater
c. 8th century BC
• Geometric designs
become secondary to
the figures
• Lined with figures of
warriors with shields
and chariots
• figures portray a funeral
procession

12. Eleusis, The Blinding of Polyphemos and
Gorgons (proto-Attic amphora) c. 675-650 B.C.
• From the Orientalizing
phase of the Archaic
period
• Deviates from the
Geometric style
• Mostly figures and
curvilinear designs
• Polyphemos the one-
eyed giant is being
blinded by Odysseus

14. 1. HYDRIA- water jar
2. OINOCHOE- wine
jug
3. KRATER- bowl for
mixing wine &
water
4. AMPHORA-
storage for wine,
corn, and honey
5. KYLIX- drinking cup
6. LEKYTHOS- oil flask

15. The Francois Vase
(Attic black-figure krater) c.575 B.C.
• Decorated with over
200 figures
representing the
wedding of Peleus, with
the gods in attendance
• An example of signed
vases that appear in the
early 7th century B.C.

17. Black-figure technique
• Design is made by incising the vessels with a
sharp instrument to expose the reddish clay
beneath

18. Exekias, Dionysos in a Sailboat
(interior of a black-figure kylix)
c. 550-525 BC
• Represents Dionysos
sailing over the sea
carrying his gifts to
mankind, accompanied
by dolphins
• Boat’s sail is not
symbolic, but filled with
wind as it would appear
in nature

19. Euthymides, Revelers
c. 510-500 BC
• Red-figure technique
• Use of foreshortening and
showing figures from
different angles
• Represents drunk
dancers, shows sense of
comedy of the Greeks
• Portrayal of three-quarter
back and front view
indicate increasing
awareness of 3
dimensional volume

20. Red-figure technique
• Interior markings are rendered with relief lines
applied by syringe-like instrument that
squeezes out the black glaze evenly
• A freer and easier style than the black-figure
technique

21. Geometric bronze warrior
late 8th century BC
• Show simplifications of
the geometric period
• Approx. 8 inches high
• Solid cast bronze
• Originally held a spear
and shield
• Large eyes + broad
grimace = archaic smile

22. Mantiklos “Apollo”
c. 680 BC
• Bronze figure of a youth
from 680 BC, beginning
of the Archaic period
• Forerunner of the
Kouros figures
• Triangular torso, narrow
waist, and bulging
thighs
• Approx. 8 inches high

23. Hera of Samos
c. 560 BC
• Example of
monumental, free-
standing sculpture
• 6 feet 4 inches
• Cylindrical goddess
probably holding a
symbol of authority

24. Kouros and Kore
• Similar to Egyptian statues in terms of the pose with
left foot forward, broad shoulders, and rigid design
• Some are figures of youths who are dedicated to a god
and are moving towards them
• Some are memorial statues that stand over graves of
noblemen
• Men not gods; significant because it shows shift
towards glorifying human beings
• Generally stiff and immobile in depiction
• Korai (maidens)

25. Kouros from Tenea
c. 570 BC
• Face is simplified into
flat planes and features
are stylized
• Nude and half-striding
• Proportion approaching
anatomical truth

27. Kroisos (Kouros from Anavysos)
c.540-515
• A funerary monument
of a youth who died in a
hero’s battle
• More specific anatomy
than the Tenea kouros

28. Peplos Kore
c.530 BC
• More expressive face
(attention to chin,
cheeks, and mouth
corners )
• Great eyes with
originally painted lids
• Traces of paint

29. Paint on statues
• Greek stone statues were originally painted
• Only important parts were painted such as
eyes, lips, hair, and edges of drapery
• Purpose was to make the statue more lifelike
and convincing
• Applied via encaustic technique wherein
pigment is mixed with wax and applied to the
surface while hot

30. Kore from Chios
c. 510 BC
• More evident signs of
painting
• Found used as rubble fill
in the walls of the
Acropolis
• Intricate folds of the
gown show influence of
Ionian fashion
• Female nude rarely
appears in ancient
sculpture

31. Kritios Boy
c.480 BC
• Stands at rest but not in
a stiff-legged pose, like
the Kouros
• Principle of weight-
shift, the shifting of
position of the main
parts of the body
around the vertical but
flexible axis of the spine

32. FORM/CONTENT
• How was architecture compared to sculpture?
• What are the different parts of the Greek
temples?
• What 3 elements that determine architectural
order?
• What are the 3 orders?
• What are the parts of a column and its capital?
• What challenge did pediment sculpture pose?

33. Greek Architecture
• Significant buildings began as shrines for
Greek gods
• Qualities of the gods embodied by the
structures
• Figurative sculpture used as decoration and to
tell stories about the structures
• The building itself was also seen as sculptural
form, able to evoke human qualities

34. • Early wooden temples give way to limestone
and marble structures
• Marble was expensive but largely available
• Insistence on mathematical order

36. Architectural Order
• Combination of the relationship of three units:
1) Column
2)Platform
3)Superstructure/ Entablature

38. Doric
Ionic
Corinthian

40. Columns
• Rests on a platform
• Provides immediate support to the entablature
• 3 Parts:
a) shaft- marked with vertical channels called
fluting, diameter decreases as it rises; one or
several horizontal lines (necking) serve as
transition to the capital
b) capital- divided into lower (echinus) and upper
(abacus) elements
c) base- not present in the Doric

41. Entablature
• 3 parts:
a) Architrave- main weight bearing/
distributing element
b) Frieze- provide a continuous field for reliefs
c) Cornice- molded horizontal projection, that
with two sloping/raking cornices form the
pediment

42. Doric order
• Massive in appearance, sturdy columns
planted on the stylobate
• Flutings meet in sharp ridges (arisses)
• Severely plain capital
• Attributed as masculine
• Decorative sculpture applied in ‘voids’ in the
pediment

43. ‘Basilica’ at Paestum, c. 550 BC

44. • Typical example of
Archaic Doric style
• Called ‘the Basilica’ due
to its resemblance to a
Roman type building
• Heavy columns , closely
spaced, with large
pillow-like capitals

45. Ionic order
• Light and airy columns and much more decorative
compared to Doric,
• Flat flutings
• Ornamental capital
• Attributed as feminine
• Columns were occasionally replaced with caryatids (female
figures)
• Décor applied in the entire frieze and sometimes columns
(aside from the pediment)

46. Treasury of the Siphnians at Delphi
c. 530 BC
• One of the
earliest Ionic
buildings
• Carved
caryotids
instead of Ionic
columns

47. Corinthian
• Ornamental capital
• Not developed until the 5th century BC
• Appeared inside the temple
• Not widely used until the Renaissance

48. Architectural Sculpture
• Applied on parts of architecture that had little
or no function
• Challenge for artist to fit the artwork in the
given space which usually had an odd shape

49. Archaic Temple of Artemis
c.600-580 BC
• Shows a gorgon surrounded by panthers
• Careless distribution of figures
• Use of different scales for the different
characters

50. Temple of Aphaia at Aegina
c.490 BC

51. Temple of Aphaia at Aegina
c.490 BC
• Represents an episode in the Trojan war
• Improvement in the skills of artists in
pedimental composition
• Figures in different poses but same scale

52. • Figure of the fallen warrior in a difficult
twisted pose; anatomy is close to life but with
some mistakes (misplace navel, awkward
transition from chest to pelvis)

53. FORM/CONTENT
• What characterized the Transitional Period?
• What was the ideal for art?
• What characteristics did this bring about?
• What is the Delian league, Acropolis, and
Parthenon?
• What shifts took place in terms of the forms of
sculpture during the Classical Period?

54. TRANSITIONAL PERIOD
• The heroic age of the Athenians and the
Hellenes who fought against the Persian
invaders
• “For art, the gods are the measure of men,
and to achieve the ideal is to be “god-like”

55. Charioteer (from Delphi)
c. 470 BC
• Part of a group in horse-
drawn chariots
• Demonstrates the Greek
search for ideal beauty
and mastery of the
human figure
• The rigid flow of the dress
is somehow Archaic
/column-like
• Skillfully modeled hands
and feet

56. Myron, Discobolos
c. 450 BC
• Survived only in Roman
copies of the Greek
original
• Represents an athlete
throwing a discus
• Compositions in terms
of two intersecting arcs/
impression of tightly
stretched bow before
release

57. Pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia
468-460 BC
• Clearest representation of the “severe” early
style
• Musculature swelling with life and power

58. The ‘Ideal’ Mask
• Because reason must always be in control of
passions
• Expressionless faces, expected from gods and
godlike men
• There should be no distortion of the face by
any strain of emotion, even in the scenes of
the most violent action.

59. EARLY CLASSICAL PERIOD
• Victory over the Persians made them the most
powerful in the world
• Established a Sea Empire of democratic island
states in the Aegean
• Alliance called the Delian League
• The inequity of the distribution of funds in the
treasury caused internal conflicts
• Triumph of drama, philosophy, and art in
Athens under the Statesman, Pericles

60. The Acropolis

61. The Acropolis
• A mass of rock that rises abruptly 150 m (500
feet) above the city.
• Crowned with a group of magnificent
buildings that symbolized the glory of Athens
(including the Parthenon)
• Huge stone statue of Athena on the Western
edge which served as beacon to ships at sea

62. The Parthenon

64. The Parthenon
• The first and largest building in the Acropolis
• Temple of Athena Parthenos
• Architects: Ictinos & Callicrates, under the
direction of Phidias
• Peripteral temple: short side less than half the
length of its long side
• Contained the ivory & gold statue of Athena
and the treasury of the Delian League

65. The Parthenon
• Few straight lines
• Stylobate is convex, curving imperceptively
• Columns tilt slightly inward and are not
uniformly spaced
• Deviations are intentional but interpretations
vary: functional (facilitate drainage); stability;
etc.

66. Dionysos
(from the east pediment of the Parthenon)
• Marks the shift from figurative archaic art to a
more natural one
• Growing knowledge of human form and
anatomy

67. Horsemen
(from the West frieze of the Parthenon)
• Unique due its impression of the passage of
time
• Effect is achieved through figures in seemingly
sequential motion; audience must also be
moving to achieve the affect
• Balance between: (a) the monumental and
simple and (b) the ideal and the real = “the
inner concord of opposites”

68. Three godesses
• Monumental in size, simple in pose, natural
details
• Relaxed forms underneath their garments
• Fluidity between the bodies & the garments

69. Porch of the Maidens
• Dominated by caryatids
• Figures possess a balance between (a)rigidity of
columns and (b) flexibility of living bodies

70. Polykleitos,
Doryphoros
c.450-440 BC
• Viewed as the
embodiment of
proportional rationality
for sculpture
• Broad shoulders, thick
torso and muscular
limbs of a Spartan
warrior
• Slow forward walk
stresses principle of
weight-shift

71. • Complex and subtle organization of the
human figure:
-Function of the supporting leg is echoed by
the straight hanging arm to provide stability
for the flexed left side;
- diagonal tension: right arm left leg relaxed,
left leg right arm tensed

72. THE LATE CLASSICAL PERIOD
• Fall of Athens during the Peloponessian war,
which ended in 404 BC.
• Sparta and Thebes took leadership from
Greece, but were not very successful
• Greek states conquered by Philip of Macedon
in the later half of the 4th century BC.
• Serene idealism of the Early Classical period
was replaced with civil war and skepticism

73. • Proliferation of dramas depicting a wide range
of human passions and crises
• Further reliance on individuals– turning away
from gods, oracles, and irrational traditions
• Search for ‘knowledge of the real’

74. Praxiteles,
Hermes and Dionysos c.340 BC
• Shift of weight from left arm
to right leg,
• Fluid figure forming an s
curve
• Eyes look out in space and
mouth half smiling, give it a
dreamy facial expression
• Can be contrasted with
doryphoros:
majestic strength/rationality
vs. sensuality and beauty

75. Lysippos, Apoxyomenos
c.330 BC.
• Young athlete scraping oil and
mud from his body before
taking a bath
• Marks 2 notable stylistic shifts:
1) proportion: more slender,
supple, and tall
2) The figure as moving in 3
instead of 2 dimensions; free
spiral through space; work
looks whole from a variety of
angles not just one or two

76. Corinthian order (cont’d)
• Reached its full
development in the Late
Classical Period
• Capital design attributed
to Callimachos who was
inspired when he saw
acanthus leaves growing
around a votive basket
on the grave of a maiden

77. FORM/CONTENT
• What is the Hellenistic period?
• What aspect of human expression triumphed?
• What other art forms influenced the visual
arts?
• What characterized Hellenistic sculpture?

78. THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD
• Alexander the Great conquered Persia and the
Near East, including Egypt
• Mingling of eastern and western cultures that
came to be known as ‘Hellenistic’

79. Dying Gaul
c.240 BC

80. • Monument to represent victory over the Gauls
• Triumph of realism
• Surrender of sculpture to the stage with its
images of human suffering, mortality, and
bloodshed
• From action to stagecraft

81. Appolonius, Seated Boxer
c. 50 BC
• Heavily battered
gladiator with smashed
face, broken nose, and
deep scars
• The story of the once
mighty fighter