1 chapter 5 gods, heroes, and athletes: the art of ancient greece gardner’s art through the ages,...
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Chapter 5Gods, Heroes, and Athletes:
The Art of Ancient Greece
Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 12e
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Goals
• Understand the diverse cultural influences on Greek artistic development
• Discuss the evolution of the human figure and how it is represented in Greek art
• Relate the development of temple architecture
• Cite architectural components and terminology
• Understand the impact of the conquest of the Greeks on their respective art forms
• Discuss individual artists and their respective styles
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Greek Humanism
• “For we are the lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes. And we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness. -- Pericles– Greek humanism led to democracy.
[demos=people]– Greek gods took human form &
exhibited human frailties – yet were immortal
– The perfect individual became the Greek ideal.
– The first “Olympic Games” were held in 776 BCE.
• Athens as the center of ancient Greek culture.– Carried out in the stoa, the agora and
palaestrus.– “Sound mind in sound body”
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The Greek GodsAphrodite: (Venus) Goddess of love and
beauty.Apollo: (Apollo) God of light and music. A
great archer.Artemis: (Diana) Goddess of the hunt and wild
animals.Athena: (Minerva) Goddess of wisdom and
warfare. Her city was Athens.Demeter: (Ceres) Goddess of grain and
agriculture.Dionysos: (Bacchus) God of wine.Hera: (Juno) Goddess of marriage.Herakles: (Hercules) Greatest Greek hero
who performed 12 great labors. According to legend, he established the Olympic games.
Hermes: (Mercury) Messenger of the gods, guide of travelers.
Laocöon: A character from the Aeneid: a Trojan priest who was strangled, along with his two sons, while sacrificing at an altar.
Medusa: A gorgon with a hideous face and snake hair, she turned anyone who gazed at her to stone.
Zeus: (Jupiter) King of the gods.
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Geometric, Orientalizing, and Archaic Art• Characteristics typical of vase decoration
from the Geometric period. – Almost exclusively covered in abstract
motifs.– Human figure is highly stylized.– No depth of space.
The 7th century was known as the “Orientalizing” period in Greek art because the Greeks borrowed many motifs from Egypt or Near Eastern art due to closer contact through trade.
New subject-matter• Egyptian monsters, like the Sphinx and
lamassu.• Black-figure painting.
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Geometric, Orientalizing, and Archaic Art
Found in a cemetery: 3 ft tall, open bottom, perhaps to pour libations in honor of the dead.
• The Krater was a vessel for mixing wine and water.
• A fine example of figure painting in Ancient Greece.
• Features a meander, a Greek “key” design around the rim of the vase.
• The scenes on the vase depict funerary practices.– 2 dimensional– Highly geometric patterns. – No sense of open space.– Figures are simple and composite.– Human figured reintroduced &
storytelling was revived. Diplyon krater– ca. 740 BCE
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Geometric Sculpture
• Schematic figures also existed: Bronze of a man and a centaur battling --ca 750-730 BCE– Example of a composite monster.– Theme may have come from the
Near East, but the Centaur is Greek. -- Note human legs in
the front! -- Size indicates possible
victor!
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The Human Figure in Early Greek Art
Apollo of Mantiklos – 700-680 BCE
• Inscription scratched into the though indicates this was an offering to the sun god Apollo.
• Indicates interest in human anatomy.
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Influences from the East
Amphora [2 handled storage jar] shows Eastern influence. This example: Proto-Corinthian. What are the Eastern influences? Also an example of the black-figure painting developed by the Corinthians. Painted figures in black. Then incised detail
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Plan of Temple A, Prinias, Crete, ca. 625 BCE.
The First Stone Temples
• Trading brought
Egyptian influences to Greece before 630 BCE• Including their monumental architecture. • Carved stone lintel – similar motifs as on the vases of the period.
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The Human Figure in Archaic Art• Early Greek statutes follow the Egyptian
model – the Kouros [young man] takes a very Egyptian pose.
Differences:•Liberated from the stone block – interested in motion rather than stability.• Are shown nude, with a perfect body.• Kouros & Kore were ideals.
ca. 600 BCE
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The Human Figure in Archaic Art
The Smiling Calf Bearer• A citizen bringing an offering Athena.• Perfect nudity, yet clothing indicated.• Love of pattern.• The “Archiac smile” appears.
• Probably used to indicate that the person is alive
560 BCE
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The Human Figure in Archaic Art
The Kroisos Kouros ca. 530 BCE
• A young hero slain in battle
• Body rendered in a more naturalistic manner.– Head in proportion &
face more rounded.– Hair falls naturally.– Traces of the original
paints remains
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The Human Figure in Archaic Art
Kore were stylistically similar to kouros
• Wearing a peplos• Buried for 2 millenia, thus
preserving the paint.• Extended arm a break from
Egypt.• More natural, wearing a
chiton & himation.• Folds are assymetrical. • Grasping & lifting chiton is
equivalent of “left foot forward in the Kore
Lady of Auxerre
Peplos Kore ca. 530 BCE
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Greek Architectural Development• Early ones made of wood and did not
survive. [One wooden column preserved at Olympia]
• Later made of limestone or marble.• Temple at Prianas - monumental with
sculptures. 625 BCE.– Began to follow the example of
Egyptian columnar halls– Altars were outside the temple at the
east end; worshippers gathered outside to worship.
– The temple housed the cult statue – Greek temples were houses for the
gods, not the followers.– Figural statues appeared early in order
to evoke human responses; temples built in high places. Acropolis = “high city”
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Greek Architectural Development
PLAN & PROPORTION• Close to the Mycenaen megaron in the
early days.– Order, compactness, symmetry.– Proportion of end to sides 1 : 3– Later approached 1 : 2, but not exactly.– Related to harmony in music.
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Plan (left) and restored cutaway view (right) of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina, Greece, ca. 500–490 BCE. Formed of single colonnades. Structure: Platform, Colonnade, Superstructure [entablature] Painted decoration was in the frieze area
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Greek Architectural Development• Example of early Doric: Decoration placed
in parts that had no structural function – the metope & pediments.
• Translation into stone of earlier timber architecture.
• The columns show entasis
Temple of Hera I, Paestum, ca. 550 BCE
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Pediment Sculptures• The artistic issue was the triangular shape.
Used figures that were standing, kneeling, leaning etc… n.b. Animals have one end taller than the other!
• Identifies the central character, but not a narrative.
• The narrative was in the smaller areas of the pediment.
w. pediment, Temple of Artemis, Corfu ca 600-580 BCE
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Caryatids & Giants• Ionic temples of the 6th cen. BCE on Aegean
Islands and Asia Minor [now Turkey] used human form for pillars. – Caryatids
Reconstruction of theSiphnian Treasury,
Delphi ca 530 BCE
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Frieze from Delphi
• Treasuries were for the safe storage of votive offerings
• Ionic friezes ran around the building continuously.
• Representations of giants• The caryatids were korai dressed in chiton
& himation
Pediment frieze from Siphnian Treasury-- Delphi ca 530 BCE
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SummaryGeometric statues & vases: Strong Asian
influence, stylized with geometric patterns.Archaic Sculpture: Starts with, but moves
away from Egptian influence.Temples: Influenced by near east. Move from
the simple Cretan megaron, through Doric to Ionic..
Doric IonicSeverely plain Highly ornamentalEchinus convex Echinus small and
supports and cushionlike bolster ending in scroll-
like spiralsFrieze subdivided into Frieze left open to
provide triglyphs and metopes continuous field for relief sculptures
Massive in appearance Light and airy in appearance