The Art of Ancient Greece The Art of Ancient Greece

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The Art of Ancient GreeceThe Art of Ancient
Greece
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MAP OF ANCIENT GREECE Sphere of Influence
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5 ASPECTS OF CULTURE

• Ideological
• Social
• Political
• Economic
• ARTISTIC

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DARK AGE1100-750 B.C.

• Dorians invade Achaeans in Greece
• Art writing largely forgotten
• Many flee to Asia Minor where they are exposed to
  Middle Eastern Egyptian civilizations through
  trade travel

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ARCHAIC PERIOD750-480 B.C.

• Post Dark Age
• Archaicold-fashioned
• Characterized by limited number of viewpoints

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Kouros 590-580 B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art
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• CHARACTERISTICS
• Kuorosyouth
• More than 100 survived
• All stand in same stiff posture
• Mixing human divine (Naturalism Idealism)

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• PURPOSE?
• Votive offerings in sanctuaries
• Funerary monuments

• ORIGINS?
• Olympia runner
• Idea of the naked soul rid of any earthly
  trappings

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Kritios Boy 480 B.C. Acropolis Museum
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Vs.
Kuoros
Kritios Boy
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KUOROS VS. KRITIOS BOY

• Stiff posture vs. more relaxed posture
• Empty facial expressions vs. animated face
• Symmetrical torso vs. more natural torso
• Both still are tributes to the beauty of the
  human body...

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Dipylon Krater 8th Century B.C.
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• WHAT DO YOU SEE?
• Funeral-carrying body
• Animals-probably for sacrifice
• Abstract shapes-men women
• Geometric patterns-organized

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PURPOSE?

• Served as grave markers
• Dipylon is a cemetary outside of Athens
• Had holes at the bottom to allow offerings of oil
  wine to seep through the ground

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Achilles Ajax Playing a Game by Exekias
540-530 B.C.
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CHARACTERISTICS

• Painting on an amphora (storage jar)
• Dramatic animated scene
• Balanced composition (placement of helmets)
• Inscriptions found on vase
• 1. Onetorides is beautiful.
• 2. Exekias painted me and made me.

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Statuette of a Man Centaur 750 B.C.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
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CHARACTERISTICS

• Metalworks was also an art
• Centaur (half man, half horse)uncivilized
• Mancivilized, superior
• Notice taller height of the man spear in
  centaurs left flankman is the victor in this
  battle

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CLASSICAL PERIOD480-323 B.C.

• Post Persian Wars-Athens emerges the leading
  power
  
• Flowering of artistic intellectual activity
• Classical-of a superior class/provided models
  of excellence
  
• Oddly enough, more Greek sculptures remain from
  the Archaic period
  
• Influenced Roman art architecture

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The Parthenon 447-438 B.C. Acropolis of Athens
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• THE PARTHENON
• Religious Doric temple built under Pericles
• Bold sophisticated yet not overpowering
• Glorified Athens honored gods
• Emphasis on exterior
• Notice optical illusions

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• THE PARTHENON
• A DORIC TEMPLE
• Origins are obscureprobably derived from
  carpentry (tapered column takes shape of tree
  trunk)
  
• Simplest form

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The Parthenon A Frieze of Poseidon, Apollo,
Artemis, Aphrodite, Eros
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The Parthenon Metope of Centaur
Seizing a Woman
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The Propylaea 437-432 B.C. Acropolis of Athens
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WHAT IS THE PROPYLAEA?

• Ceremonial entrance-way to the Parthenon was
  built next
  
• Never finished due to Peloponnesian War
• Doric Ionic columns

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• IONIC COLUMNS
• Taller more slender than Doric
• Has a base
• More decorative-scrolls on the capital
• Seen in The Propylaea, The Temple of Athena,
  The Erechtheum

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Temple of Athena Nike 427-424 B.C.
Acropolis of Athens
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The Erechtheum 421-405 B.C. Temple to Athena Po
seidon
Acropolis of Athens
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Another View of the Erechteheum
Acropolis of Athens
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View of the Acropolis of Athens
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The Charioteer 478-474 B.C. From the Sanctuary of
Apollo at Delphi
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THE BRONZE CHARIOTEER

• Part of pediment
• Was cast to record a victory in the athletic
  games
  
• Simple statue-represents nothing in
  excess(famous saying inscribed in the temple at
  Delphi)
  
• Notice the folds wrinkles in his tunic

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Statue of Apollo 468-460 B.C. From the Temple of
Zeus at Olympia
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Vs.
Charioteer
Apollo
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CHARIOTEER VS. APOLLO

• Reserve vs. boldness in posture
• Clothed vs. naked
• Three-dimensional vs. limited number of viewpoints

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NATURALISM

• the quality of seeming alive has the strongest
  visual appeal--Socrates
  
• However, Plato condemns this development towards
  naturalism

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Hermes Dionysus 340 B.C. Archeological Museum a
t Olympia
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Aphrodite of Cnidus 175-200 A.D. (Roman copy)
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PRAXITELES

• Believed to be the sculptor of both Hermes
  Dionysus and Aphrodite of Cnidus
  
• Aprhodite of Cnidus, however, is a Roman copy of
  the original Greek statue
  
• Notice the difference between the two statues
  (Aprhodite is shy/uncomfortable about her
  nakedness)