Step 4: Interpretation We hope this approach has The Berlin Painter, Greek, This vase appears to depict the enhanced your exploration and 5th century BCE beginning of the match when the Interpretation involves bringing enjoyment of this object. If you Panathenaic amphora athletes have tried to grab each other A Closer Look together your close observation, like, you can try this method with around the neck. The one on the analysis, and any additional other works of art. Simply ask About 480–470 BCE left was not quick enough and his information you have gathered yourself with each work: Terra cotta with slip decoration opponent has grasped his left arm about a work of art to try to Inscribed vertically: just below the elbow. To escape, he understand what it means. What do I see? TON ATHENETHEN ATHLON spins around, but his rival has raised (From the Games at Athens) There can be multiple interpre- (Close Observation) Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Winfield Smith, his right leg in an attempt to force tations of a work of art. The Class of 1918; C.959.53 the slower wrestler to the ground. best-informed ones are based What do I think? Greek artists preferred to show the on visual evidence and accurate (Analysis) moments before the climax of an research. This amphora, an ancient Greek vase event. Here, the figure on the right How can I learn more? with a large oval body, two handles, has the upper hand and will probably An interpretive question to (Research) and a narrow neck, served as a prize win. consider for this vase might be: at the Panathenaic games in Athens. The first- or second-place winner What might it mean? It is decorated with a representation of an event might receive as many as What does this amphora tell us (Interpretation) of Athena, warrior goddess and sixty of these vases, each containing about the culture and values of patron of Athens. Beginning in 566 ten gallons of olive oil from Athena’s the people of Athens in ancient How do I feel about it? BCE, games were held every four sacred grove, as a prize. The total Greece? (Critical Assessment and years as part of the great festival, value was equivalent to two years’ Response) or Panathenaia, in her honor. Prize pay for a skilled laborer. vases such as this usually contained In black-figure vases such as this oil from the olive trees sacred to one, the drawing is done in silhouette Step 5: Critical Assessment This brochure was written by Vivian Ladd, the goddess. with details indicated by means of Museum Educator, who adapted text and incised lines scraped into the black and Response research provided by Jenifer Neils, Elsie B. As on most of these vases, Smith Professor in the Liberal Arts, Depart- Athena stands between two Doric slip to reveal the red of the clay pot This final stage involves a judg- ment of Classics, Case Western Reserve columns surmounted by roosters. below, or added with red or white ment of the success of a work University, and Paul Christesen, Professor According to Greek mythology, slip. While all figures are rendered in of Classics, Dartmouth College. of art. Critical assessment deals Athena was born fully armed from black slip on black-figure vases (as with questions of value, and can The Hood Museum of Art thanks Judy the forehead of Zeus, and she the name implies), artists wanted to include more personal and sub- and Charles Hood, Class of 1951, for their appears here bearing a spear and distinguish gender, so they added a support of this brochure. jective responses to art. Critical shield. Her shield is adorned with layer of white slip on top to depict assessment can also change over © 2015 Trustees of Dartmouth College the head of the Gorgon Medusa. female flesh. Here, Athena’s skin and time. Perseus presented Medusa’s head to the Gorgon’s face are white because Athena in gratitude for her help in they are both female. This traditional Overall, do you think that the slaying this creature. Medusa’s head painting technique, long out of fash- artist who created this Greek vase has the power to turn all who look ion by the time this amphora was was successful in expressing its at it to stone. By mounting it on her produced, highlighted the antiquity purpose? Why or why not? shield, Athena created a formidable of the Panathenaic games. weapon. The vase seems to represent Do you like it? Does it speak to Panathenaic amphoras tradition- qualities the city of Athens wanted you in some way? ally represent Athena on one side, to project. The image of Athena, and on the reverse, the competi- fully armed and aggressively strid- How does this work of art relate tive event for which the vase was ing forward, suggests that Athens is to prizes made for athletic compe- awarded. The nude figures on the eager to challenge any foe. The con- titions today? reverse of this piece are probably tents of the vase proclaim Athens’s wrestlers, and the draped figure to importance as the original home and the left is most likely a judge. This source of olive oil, an essential agri- amphora is the work of the Berlin cultural product. The quality of the painter, one of the most accom- vase advertises the city’s significance HOOD MUSEUM OF ART plished vase painters of the period, as an artistic center, and depiction named for his magnificent red-figure of the games identifies Athens as a amphora in the collection of the cultural hub. DARTMOUTH COLLEGE Berlin Museum.

NUMBER TEN IN A SERIES Spend some time with this Step 2: Analysis A Closer Look side of the vase. What do you notice about Now think about all of this visual information. The Hood Museum of Art is a teaching museum. Our mission is to the figure? create an ideal learning environment that fosters transformative Who do you think the figure on the front of the vase might be? Why do The pose? encounters with works of art. One way we do this is through a method you think this figure’s skin color is different from the skin color of the called Learning to Look. This five-step approach to exploring works The color of the skin? figures on the back? of art is designed to empower visitors to observe carefully and think The hairstyle? critically about any work of art. What do the figures on the back seem to be doing? Who might the What the figure is wearing? figure with the long forked stick be? Simply follow the steps below to practice this technique. The objects the figure holds? How might the figures on the back relate to the figure on the front? The objects that surround the figure? What might this vase have been used for? What could it hold?

Step 1: Close Observation What materials do you think were used to create and decorate it? Now look at the back of Look carefully at this vase. the vase. What part of the world do you think this piece of pottery might What do you see? What do you notice about be from? these figures? Their poses? When do you think it might have been made?

The color of their skin? As you consider each of these questions, look to the vase for clues Their musculature? to support your ideas. What they are wearing? The objects they hold?

Step 3: Research

Now that you have had a chance to look carefully and begin forming What do you notice about the way in your own ideas about this work of art, feel free to read the text printed which light and dark colors are on the back of this brochure. It provides background information you arranged on the vase? How has the cannot get simply by looking at the object. artist created details in the dark areas? When you have finished reading, consider the following: Compare the figures on theback of the vase to the figure on the front of Does this information reinforce what you observed and deduced on the vase. your own? How are they the same? Did the text mention anything you did not see or think about How are they different? previously? If so, what? Do you have more questions?

How would your experience of this object have been different if you Consider the overall shape of this vase. What sorts of patterns had read the background information first? (The terms for the parts of a Greek pot are drawn from the human body.) appear on the vase? Where do they appear? How would you describe the vase’s foot? Its belly? How are all the decorative Its neck? elements, the designs and Its mouth? figures, arranged in relation Its handles? to the shape of the vase?

What do you notice about its overall proportions? Is it symmetrical? Finally, what do you notice about the overall condition of the vase? Asymmetrical? Its age?