Early Cycladic Sculpture Early Cycladic Sculpture An Introduction Revised Edition Pat Getz-Preziosi The J. Paul Getty Museum Malibu, California © 1994 The J. Paul Getty Museum Cover: Early Spedos variety style 17985 Pacific Coast Highway harp player. Malibu, The J. Paul Malibu, California 90265-5799 Getty Museum 85.AA.103. See also plate ivb, figures 24, 25, 79. At the J. Paul Getty Museum: Christopher Hudson, Publisher Frontispiece: Female folded-arm Mark Greenberg, Managing Editor figure. Late Spedos/Dokathismata variety. A somewhat atypical work of the Schuster Master. EC II. Library of Congress Combining elegantly controlled Cataloging-in-Publication Data curving elements with a sharp angularity and tautness of line, the Getz-Preziosi, Pat. concept is one of boldness tem­ Early Cycladic sculpture : an introduction / pered by delicacy and precision. Pat Getz-Preziosi.—Rev. ed. Malibu, The J. Paul Getty Museum Includes bibliographical references. 90.AA.114. Pres. L. 40.6 cm. ISBN 0-89236-220-0 I. Sculpture, Cycladic. I. J. P. Getty Museum. II. Title. NB130.C78G4 1994 730 '.0939 '15-dc20 94-16753 CIP Contents vii Foreword x Preface xi Preface to First Edition 1 Introduction 6 Color Plates 17 The Stone Vases 18 The Figurative Sculpture 51 The Formulaic Tradition 59 The Individual Sculptor 64 The Karlsruhe/Woodner Master 66 The Goulandris Master 71 The Ashmolean Master 78 The Distribution of the Figures 79 Beyond the Cyclades 83 Major Collections of Early Cycladic Sculpture 84 Selected Bibliography 86 Photo Credits This page intentionally left blank Foreword The remarkable stone sculptures pro­ Richmond, Virginia, Fort Worth, duced in the Cyclades during the third Texas, and San Francisco, in 1987- millennium B.C. have both the advan­ 1988, and "Cycladic Culture: Naxos tage and disadvantage of immense in the Third Millennium," shown at popular appeal. Even the most casual the Goulandris Museum in Athens in observers can immediately appreciate 1990, and brought the tangible re­ the carefully sculpted forms of human mains of this Bronze Age civilization figures reduced to their essential out­ to the attention of a broader public lines and the vessels of sure and sim­ audience. Several major new publica­ ple contours with minimal decoration. tions also appeared, including Pat Our attraction to these objects should Getz-Preziosi's major study, Sculptors not be confused with understanding, of the Cyclades, and Colin Renfrew's however, for it belies the fact that we evocative The Cycladic Spirit. But per­ know almost nothing of the rituals haps most importantly, our knowl­ and beliefs of the society that pro­ edge of the culture of the Cyclades in duced them. the Bronze Age has been increased by The decade since the first edition continuing excavations and surveys of of this book appeared has witnessed Cycladic sites, particularly on the is­ a burgeoning interest in the study lands of Melos, Amorgos, Kea, Keros, of Cycladic art and civilization. In and Santorini, as well as related sites the same year, 1985, the Nicholas P. on mainland Greece and the island of Goulandris Foundation and Museum Crete. These remarkable works of art, of Cycladic Art, the first institution once valued more for the inspiration dedicated to "the dissemination and they provided to modern sculptors promotion of Cycladic art to a wider like Brancusi or Henry Moore than as scholarly community and the general the sophisticated achievements of public," opened in Athens. Signifi­ their own culture, can be better appre­ cant exhibitions followed, including ciated as we understand more about "Early Cycladic Sculpture in North the society that produced them. American Collections," shown in Pat Getz-Preziosi's contribution to vii the study of Cycladic stone sculpture, standardized formulae that seem to both idols and vessels, and of the art­ have been applied in the creation of ists who produced them, is surely the stone figures. While the idols ap­ unique. Although the basic chrono­ pear deceptively simple at first glance, logical development of the idol types the formulae she believes were used had been previously established, she for the planning and execution of was the first scholar to recognize the the images reveal their extraordinary stylistic relationships among different refinement of design. These formulae pieces and to attribute them on this may also help to explain the rather basis to individual hands or "mas­ unsettling impression of similarity ters." Like those of the creators of among figures of each type, in spite of most surviving ancient artifacts, the their variations in individual details. names of these craftsmen are unre­ Readers familiar with the origi­ corded, and the sculptors are now nal edition of this book will realize identified for convenience by the that a number of objects have changed names of the collections which in­ hands since its appearance. In 1988, clude or have included in the past one the Getty Museum acquired the Cy­ or more examples of the artist's work. cladic collection of Paul and Marianne It is unlikely that we shall ever know Steiner, including the name-piece of more about these sculptors, but Dr. the Steiner Master. The Woodner Getz-Preziosi's examination of groups Family Collection was sold in 1991 of works by different hands and her and is now in a New York private consideration of the changes and var­ collection. iations in key stylistic features among Kenneth Hamma, Associate Cura­ members of each group provide us tor of Antiquities, has overseen the with considerable insight into the production of this revised edition, at­ distinct artistic personalities that cre­ tending to myriad details with charac­ ated them. teristic care and patience. The text was Dr. Getz-Preziosi was also the first edited by Cynthia Newman Bohn, and to offer a convincing analysis of the Ellen Rosenbery provided new photo- viii graphs of the Steiner pieces. This volume is intended as a gen­ eral introduction to a complex and intriguing subject that is constantly enhanced by new discoveries. We may only hope that the excavations and research activities of the next decade will further elucidate the original cul­ tural significance of these artifacts, which have lost none of their imme­ diacy and appeal more than four mil­ lennia after their creation. Marion True Curator of Antiquities ix Preface Since the initial publication of Early Although there have been a number Cycladic Sculpture: An Introduction, of additions to the literature in the the J. Paul Getty Museum, under the years since this book first appeared, fine eye of its present Curator of our understanding of the fundamen­ Antiquities, Marion True, has contin­ tals of Early Cycladic sculpture remains ued to build and broaden its collection basically unaltered. As a reflection of of prehistoric stone sculpture with the this situation, the text of the present acquisition of a number of impressive edition, although improved in places, works. Coincidentally, the original has not been substantially modified. edition went out of print just as the Museum was in the process of acquir­ Pat Getz-Preziosi ing a piece from the hand of one of April 1994 the preeminent sculptors of the Early Bronze Age Cyclades (see frontis.). That addition and the Museum's re­ cent acquisition of the Steiner Col­ lection of Cycladic figures and vases, half of which were not included in the earlier edition, as well as four addi­ tional Cycladic marble vessels and a rare complete figurative image from Anatolia have made a revised edition appropriate at this time. In the new edition several of these recent acqui­ sitions by the Museum and two impor­ tant works from other collections have replaced several objects illustrated in the original version (see pi. la-c and figs. 16, 17, 20, 28, and 85-84). X Preface to First Edition This book was written at the sugges­ Bloomington), John Coffey (Bowdoin tion of Jin Frel following a seminar College Art Museum, Brunswick), J. lecture given by the writer at the J. Gy. Szilagyi (Musee des Beaux-Arts, Paul Getty Museum in the spring of Budapest), Jane Biers (Museum of Art 1983. A revised version of that lecture, and Archaeology, University of Mis­ it also incorporates many elements of souri, Columbia), Giselle Eberhard a larger study called Sculptors of the (Musee Barbier-Muller, Geneva), Cyclades: Individual and Tradition in Dominique de Menil (Menil Founda­ the rThirdMillennium B.C., which will tion, Houston), Uri Avida (Israel Mu­ soon be published jointly by the Uni­ seum, Jerusalem), Michael Maass and versity of Michigan Press and the J. Jiirgen Thimme (Badisches Landes- Paul Getty Trust. Illustrated wher­ museum, Karlsruhe), J. Lesley Fitton ever possible with objects from the (British Museum, London), Tina Getty's collection or with objects in Oldknow (Los Angeles County Mu­ other American museums and private seum of Art), Jifi Frel and Marion collections, Early Cycladic Sculpture True (J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu), is intended to survey the develop­ The Guennol Collection (New York), ment of Cycladic sculpture and to Joan Mertens (Metropolitan Museum offer a particular approach to the of Art, New York), Alexandra Staf­ anonymous artists who worked in the ford (New York), Paul and Marianne Aegean islands some forty-five hun­ Steiner (New York), Ian Woodner dred years ago. (New York), Michael Vickers and For graciously allowing me to repro­ Ann Brown (Ashmolean Museum, duce objects from their collections Oxford), Sara Campbell (Norton and for providing photographs and Simon Museum, Pasadena), Frances information, I am most grateful to the Follin Jones (The Art Museum, following museums, museum author­ Princeton University), Renee Beller ities, and private owners: Dolly Gou­ Dreyfus (The Fine Arts Museums of landris (Athens), Adriana Calinescu San Francisco), Paula Thurman (Seat­ (Indiana University Art Museum, tle Art Museum), Saburoh Hasegawa xi (The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo), Mr.