The Art of Ancient Greece

1. The Art of Ancient Greece 900 BCE – 31 BCE

2. The Greek World Humanity was what mattered to the Greeks. Humans were the “measure of all things”. This concept led the Greeks to create the concept of democracy – rule by the demos, the people). Even the gods of the Greeks in marked contrast to divinities of the Near East, assumed human forms and had human frailties. Greek deities differed only in that they were immortal. The perfect individual became the Greek ideal.

3. Greek Origins The Greeks appeared to have been the product of Aegean peoples and Indo-European invaders. They never formed a single nation but established independent city-states. Political development differed from city-state to city-state. Rule was first by kings, then by nobles and then by tyrants who seized personal power. Finally, in Athens 2,500 years ago, the tyrants were overthrown and democracy was established. In 776 BCE the separate Greek-speaking states held their first ceremonial games at Olympia. The later Greeks calculated their chronology from these first Olympic games – the first Olympiad. Although Greeks invented and passed on the concept and practice of democracy, most Greek states were dominated by well-born white males and the most admired virtues were not wisdom and justice but military valor. Fighting among themselves, the Greeks eventually fell victim to Macedon’s autocracy (one person possessing power) and Rome’s imperialism.

4. Geometric Period Disintegration of the Bronze Age social order led to the disappearance of powerful kings but also to the loss of knowledge of how to cut masonry, paint frescoes and sculpt in stone. In the 8th century BCE economic conditions improved and the population began to grow again. The human figure returned to Greek art in painted surfaces of ceramic pots. Most early Greek vases were decorated with abstract motifs – this formative period is called the Geometric Period. The figures are silhouettes made of triangles (frontal) with attached profile arms and heads and a large frontal eye following the age old convention (canon). Krater740 BCE

5. Schematic figures appeared but only on a very small scale. The small cast bronze sculpture of a hero, Hercules, battling a centaur. Here, at the very beginning of Greek figural art there is an instinct for the natural beauty of the human figure which will become increasingly important throughout the development of art. Man and Centaur750 BCE

6. Orientalizing Art700 – 600 BCE A masterwork of early seventh century BCE is this Mantiklos Apollo, a small bronze statuette dedicated to Apollo. The purpose of the votive (offering) is to honor the god. More important is the increased interest Greek artists had in reproducing details of human anatomy such as the long hair framing the elongated neck and the pectoral and abdominal muscles defining the triangular torso. Mantiklos Apollo statuette700-680 BCE

7. The Archaic Period600 – 490 BCE The first truly monumental stone statues followed the Egyptian canonical format of the figure. The life-size kouros (youth) emulates the stance of Egyptian statues. The figure is rigidly frontal with the left foot advanced. Greek kouros statues differed in two important ways, however. They were liberated from the stone block support and they were nude. Lady of Auxerre650-625 BCE Kouros 600 BCE

8. The statue of Kroisos with its distinctive “archaic smile” is of a young man who died a hero’s death in battle. It is not, however, a portrait but the sculptor rendered the body in a more naturalistic manner. All stone statues were painted and some of the original paint survived. In the Peplos Kore statue more paint was preserved due to the statue being buried for over 2000 years. Her extended arm is a break from the frontal compression of the Egyptian arms at the side and her softer female form is even more natural. Kroisos530 BCE Peplos Kore530 BCE

9. Greek temples differed in function from most later religious shrines. The Greek temple was the house of the god or goddess, not of his or her followers. The Greeks’ insistence on proportional order guided their effort to achieve ideal forms. In the Archaic period two basic systems evolved – the Doric order (formulated on the mainland) and the Ionic Order (the order of choice in the Aegean islands).

10. Artists’ signatures appear on Archaic painted vases. The acknowledged master of this “black-figure” technique was an Athenian named Exekias, whose work was widely exported and copied. He did not divide the surface into bands as was the earlier practice but placed figures of monumental stature in a single large framed panel. The two figures are playing a dice game. Out of the mouth of one, Achilles, comes the work tesara (four) while Ajax calls out tria (three). The figures are relaxed, the calm before the battle. Many of the old conventions are still present, regardless. Amphora, Achilles and Ajax Playing a board game540 BCE

11. Transition to the Classical Around 500 BCE was a time of dynamic transition in architecture and architectural sculpture. Some changes were evolutionary and others revolutionary. In the Temple of Aphaia the pediments (triangular area above the front entrance) were filled with life-sized statues using a range of body postures to allow for consistent size. The statue of Athena in the center is the largest showing her superhuman status. West pediment of the Temple of Aphaia 500-490 BCE

12. Dying warrior, from west pediment Temple of Aphaia500-490 BCE Most of the statues were in place around 490 BCE but the eastern end was damaged and replaced a decade or two later. In comparison, the earlier dying warrior (above) was conceived in the Archaic mode. His torso is rigidly frontal and he looks directly at the spectator, smiling, despite the arrow in his chest. The later statue (right) is radically different with a more natural posture, reacting to his pain. He also does not look out at the viewer. This stature belongs to the Classical world where statues move as humans would. Dying warrior, east pediment Temple of Aphaia490-480 BCE

13. Early Classical Period490 – 450 BCE Early Classical sculptors were the first to break away from the rigid and unnatural Egyptian-inspired pose of the Archaic kouroi. One of the most important works of Greek sculpture is known as Kritios Boy, thought to have been carved by the sculptor Kritios. Never before had a sculptor been concerned with portraying how a human being actually stands. The youth shows an indication of a weight shift onto his left leg, his right leg bent, at ease. This weight shift is called contrapposto or counterbalance and is what separates Classical from Archaic. Its innovation became the hallmark of a new vision in art. Kritios Boy480 BCE

14. The renowned Diskobolos or Discus Thrower by Myron is equally innovative. It is an action statue suggesting the tension of a coiled spring. Myron froze the action yet kept the athlete’s face expressionless, turning it away from the viewer to concentrate on the task at hand. A work that epitomizes the intellectual rigor of Classical statuary design is Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) by Polykleitos. It is the sculptor’s vision of the ideal statue of a nude male athlete. This is the culmination of the evolution in Greek statues with his aim to impose order on human movement and to define perfection– it was called chiastic or cross-balance. Myron, Diskobolos450 BCE Polykleitos, Doryphoros 450-440 BCE

15. High Classical Period450 – 400 BCE The greatest Athenian architects and sculptors of the Classical period focused their attention on the construction and decoration of the Acropolis, a great building program of the leader Pericles. Just as the Spear Bearer was seen as the culmination of searching for the ideal proportions of the human body, so too was the Parthenon viewed as the ideal solution to the Greek architect’s quest for perfect proportions in Doric temple design. The temple is actually quite irregular in shape. With end columns leaning inward and thicker and the “header” actually domed upward to obscure the weight of the roof, the adjustments were supposedly made to compensate for optical illusions. Parthenon, Athens 447-438 BCE

16. One of the most beautiful of reliefs shows the goddess Nike adjusting her sandal – an awkward position rendered elegant and graceful. The garments on the figure cling so tightly they seem almost transparent. This is a far cry from the stiff Archaic figures of not long before. Nike adjusting her sandal410 BCE Three Goddesses, east pediment sculptures of Parthenon 447-438 BCE

17. Late Classical Period400 – 323 BCE The chaos of the fourth century had a profound impact on the art Greeks created. The Peloponnesian War brought an end to the serene idealism of the fifth century. Greek thought and art began to focus on the individual and the real world of appearances rather than on the community and the ideal world of perfect beings and perfect buildings. The new approach to art is apparent in the work of Praxiteles. His gods and goddesses retained their superhuman beauty but lost some of their solemn grandeur. His Aphrodite caused a sensation because the sculptor represented the goddess of love completely nude – a rarity in early Greek art. Praxitiles Aphrodite of Knidos350-340 BCE

18. The Corinthian capital was an innovation of the second half of the fifth century BCE. It consists of a double row of acanthus leaves from which tendrils and flowers emerge, wrapped around a bell-shaped top. This column did not become popular until the Hellenistic Period in Greek art. Corinthian capital from the Tholos350 BCE

19. Hellenistic Period 323-31 BCE Altar of Zeus, 175 BCE Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Near East and Egypt began a new cultural age that art historians call Hellenistic. it lasted nearly three decades until 31 BCE when Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and Mark Antony were defeated. An international culture united the period and its language was Greek. The world of the small, austere and heroic city-state passed away, as well as the power and prestige of its center Athens. A cosmopolitan (meaning “citizen of the world”) civilization replaced it.

20. The altar of Zeus shows the victory over the Gauls presented in mythological disguise. These two statues show the sculptor studied and actually reproduced distinctive features. These images with expressive faces and twisted posture show an emotional intensity is a hallmark of the Hellenistic period. Gallic chieftain killing himself and his wife230-220 BCE Dying Gaul230-220 BCE

21. Art and nature were combined in Nike of Samothrace as she interacts with the environment and appears as a living, breathing and intensely emotive presence. Her wings still beat and the wind sweeps the drapery surrounding her body. Water from the fountain reflected below, accentuating the lightness and movement. Venus de Milo explored the eroticism of the nude female form – the sculptor intentionally teasing the viewer. Nike of Samothrace190 BCE Venus de Milo150-125 BCE

22. In the opening years of the second century BCE Rome defeated the Macedonian army and Greece became a Roman province in 146 BCE. Athens politically became just another city in the ever-expanding Roman Empire. Greek artists continued to be in great demand. The sculpture group of Laocoon shows agony in spectacular fashion – the serpent-entwined bodies struggling to free themselves from their fate. Greeks invented the European spirit and changed the face of art. Rome became heir and passed it on to the modern world. Laocoon and his sons, early 1st century