Ancient Greece Overview 900-600 BCE Geometric and Orientalizing 400- 323 BCE Late Classical ● Greek artists revive figure painting during the Geometric Period ● Praxiteles and other sculptors humanize the Greek gods and ● Eastern motifs enter Greek art during the Orientalizing goddesses period ● Corinthian capitals are introduced to Greek Architecture ● Lysippos is appointed the official court artist of Alexander 600-480 BCE Archaic the Great ● Greek Architects erect the first peripteral Doric and Ionic 323-30BCE Hellenistic temples ● Greek sculptors carve life size stone statues with Archaic ● Hellenistic kingdoms replace Athens as the leading cultural Smiles center ● Greek ceramicists perfect black and later red vase painting ● Artists explore new subjects in sculpture and painting ● Architects break the rules of classical orders 480-400 BCE Early and High Classical ● Sculptors introse contrapposto in Greek Statuary ● Polykleitos formulates his canon of proportions ● Pericles rebuilds the Athenian Acropolis after the Persian Sack Ancient Greece ● Ideas fostered in Ancient Greco civilizations formed the basis of western civilization up to the present day. ● Humanistic in approach, That Humans “are the measure of all things”, led to the concept of democracy, (Aristotle) cracy- greek government, rule. Demos people. Rule of the people. ● Groundbreaking innovations of writing, art and science. The first scientists came from greek civilization GODS ● Greeks and Romans shared gods and narratives, they were called by different names. ● Egyptian (except Akenaton, Test question??), Mesopotamian, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Civilizations believed in Polytheism, Poly-Many, Theism-belief in god(s). ● God's names were slightly different, but the same in narrative. ● Gods differed from mortal man only by being immortal, forming the notion of the Greek ideal, such as Heracles, he was a mortal that became a god ● The greek ideal projected the human form as idealized beauty, beautiful people. The portrayal of beautiful people became the focus of Greek artists. GODS ● MT Olympus was the palace of the Gods. ● Philosophers of note, Socrates (founder of western philosophy), Plato Ideal form of government was the republic (allegory of the cave) Aristotle Government (tutored Alexander the Great) ● Despite the rich culture, and talk of idealizing humanity, slavery still existed, democracy was only available to those who owned land. Geometric and Orientalizing Periods ● From Prehistoric Aegean Chapter. in 1200 BCE Mycenaean civilization was destroyed, leading to disintegration across the Aegean islands. ● Knowledge of processes were lost, such as how to cut stone, construct citadels, ● Depopulation, poverty, and total loss of contact with outside cultures created a Greco dark age. ● 800 BCE conditions improved, with population growth, Greek Olympic games were established, and Homer’s epic poems the Iliad and Odyssey were written heroizing the Greco prehistory. ● Ceramics and Bronze figurines made a comeback. Remember from Cycladic Pottery was renowned. as a traded commodity. Geometric and Orientalizing Periods ● Geometric Krater, from the Dipylon Cemetery, Athens 740 BCE. ● Earliest example of greek figure paintings were on Kraters. ● This Krater marked a grave, but were used for many things, collecting water, storage, wine, etc. ● at 3ft tall, this early example showed a technical achievement in its scale and detail. ● Geometric “meander” pattern at the rim of the crater, Ceramics of the period displayed abstract geometric motifs. Geometric and Orientalizing Periods ● Dipylon Painter, Geometric funerary amphora, 750 bce ● Dipylon painter was a 5 ft tall amphora. ● Amphora is a particular shaped pot. Used for transportation, or in this case decorative versions were used for ceremony. ● Note near absence of human figures used other than a geometric motif, similar to prehistoric aegean sculpture. Note Meander motif and lines. Geometric and Orientalizing Periods ● Hero and centaur, (Herakles and Nessos?) Bronze, 4.5” height, 750 BCE ● Bronze, small, Geometric ● Beginning of Polytheistic narrative of greek god figures, Herakles ● both figures are simplified geometric forms but display gender. ● Commemorates the Greek fable Herakles and Nessos, a religious story. ● Artist is trying to figure out how depict a centaur a half horse half man figure, he decided on a man in the front with legs and horse backside, a unconvincing first attempt. ● Geometric and Orientalizing Periods ● Mantiklos Apollo, Statuette of a youth dedicated by Mantiklos to Apollo, from Thebes, 700BCE ● By 7th century BCE, Trade and colonization accelerated. ● Trade meant Greeks were see artwork and culture from other surrounding civilizations. Eastern artworks, notably small portable objects like syrian ivory carvings ● 'Orientalizing' is a complex term that was coined in reference to the spread of Near Eastern and Egyptian ideas, motifs, and other cultural elements to Greece and to the rest of the Mediterranean. More important to the study of Greek vases, it suggests the adoption of those themes into Greek art. Geometric and Orientalizing Periods ● Mantiklos Apollo, Statuette of a youth dedicated by Mantiklos to Apollo, from Thebes, 700 BCE ● Small bronze statue dedicated to apollo. ● In the thigh, a message to the deity, (Mantiklos dedicated me as a tithe to the far shooting lord of the silver bow; you, Apollo, might give some pleasing favor in return.) ● Don’t know if this is apollo or Mantiklos, if the arm that's missing held a bow or arrow this was apollo. ● Greek artists at this time began thinking about the human form in sculpture. Geometric and Orientalizing Periods ● Corinthian black figure amphora with animal friezes, Rhodes Greece, 625 BCE ● Black Figure painting. a specific process that the greeks employed in their firing process turned the color. the Black portions were painted in a slip, or a finely sifted liquid clay that fired black. then glazed. ● The red color formed with a oxidation process by specifically firing the clay at a temperature for length of time. ● Research, and development of the process made these vases incredibly traded commodities. Object is left with a characteristic red and black pattern. Geometric and Orientalizing Periods ● Lady of Auxerre, Crete, 650 BCE ● Crete was a trading colony between Greece and Egypt. ● Greek Builders began to erect stone figures ● Stone figures were more natural than earlier geometric examples and mimicked some egyptian sculptural components, notably the face, rigid bodies. and stiff and hand gestures. ● Figure’s dress contained pure geometric formations rather than glyphics. Archaic Period ● The legend of Daedalus and Icarus, Daedalus worked in Egypt ● Egypt had a strong influence on Greek architecture and art during the Archaic Period and the Geometric and Orientalizing period, ● Daedalus used the same compositional patterns for his statues as the Egyptians Did. ● Kouros figures (Youth in Greek) Kouros from Attica, Greece 600bce. Metropolitan Museum New York. Archaic Period Calf bearer, Acropolis, Athens, 560 BCE. ● Found in fragments at the Acropolis and pieced back together. ● Smile is more pronounced than New York Kouros ● Bearer is bringing a calf to honor the gods. ● Left foot forward manner ● Bearded, Not a youth. So not a Kuros ● Pattern is recognizable in this sculpture, with the way the calves legs and bearer’s arms form a strong x form along the chest ● Sculptures of this period smile, even the figures in near death. This is known as an Archaic Smile. ● This portrayed the figure still being alive. Archaic Period Kroisos, from Anavysos, Greece, 530 bce. Kroisos was a young man who died in battle. ● His family erected a Kouros sculpture in his honor. ● Some of the paint is still on the figure ● On the base of the sculpture is inscribed “stay and mourn at the tomb of dead Kroisos, whom raging Ares destroyed one day as he fought in the foremost ranks,” ● Ares, God of War. ● Far more naturalistic than new york kouros and even that of Egyptian sculptures. Archaic Period Peplos Kore, From Acropolis, Athens, 530 bce Kore, sister Earlier Korai will have harder, more muscular bodies, here, these women were portrayed soft, draped in fabric with body hidden other than arms and head. These sculptures found at the Acropolis were knocked over by the invading persian empire, when they sacked athens in 480 bce. Archaic Period Kore in Ionian dress, from Acropolis, ca 510 bce. ● Dress changed with the style of the time ● Artist added variety by having the fabric on one side be clutched and separated by the arms. ● Kore figures were as fixed as the male Kouros counterparts Architecture ● The Greek Canon. ● Greek architects conceived of the building itself with its finely carved capitals and moldings as sculpture and able to evoke human responses. ● The usually erected their temples on elevated sites ● Acropolis means High City ● https://youtu.be/nrRJkzXl4a4 ● NOTE: WATCH THIS VIDEO FOR THE TEST. ITS THE BEST EXPLANATION OF THE GREEK ARCHITECTURAL ORDER. ● Archaic Architecture ● Temple of Hera I, Paestum, Italy, ca.550 bce. ● Temple of Hera 1&2 are not and greece but were Roman copies ● It was believed that both structures were Hera Temples. honoring her. ● Plan differed from Archaic temple plans that instead of a large timber being placed under the gable roof ridge, a row of columns supported the ridge. ● 1:2 ratio length to width. ● Doric Columns, seemed compressed, pancake like over the massive entablature which is now missing.