Greek civilization

Greek geography

Archaic Period

Temple of Hera II (Poseidon)• Doric temple at Paestum Italy (a Greek

colony south of Naples known as Poseidonia)

• One of three temples there, and the second chronologically. (See also the Temple of Hera I.)

• Preserved here is part of the interior colonnade with two rows of columns, including the superimposed upper level which supported the roof.

• It illustrates the standard Doric form--6 columns on the end and 14 columns on the side.

• Capitals/columns stunted; they overcompensated in construction

• Visual problems– Mathematically driven at first, messed up,

then compensated at end (they ran into measurement problems at end)

– Structure convex to counter illusion of dipping down (also don for rain run off)

– Entasis: illusion of swelling makes columns look figure like) Entasis: A slight convex curve in the shaft of a

column, introduced to correct the visual illusion of concavity produced by a straight shaft.

Dipylon Vase (amphora)Greek Geometric Style

potteryc. 600 B.C.

• Greeks exported olive oil and wine and the decoration of these containers helped to market their products.

• -Geometric Style (c. 900-700 BC) characterized by stylized motifs

• Pottery depicts funeral– Shows an offering

– Figurative motif

– Beginnings of recognizable subject matter in Greek art

Black Figure (c. 600-480 BC) black coated surface that was scratched into, example: Ajax Commiting Suicide by Exekias, 525 B.C.

• black coated surface that was scratched into

• example: Ajax Commiting Suicide by Exekias, 525 B.C.

• Red Figure (c. 530-450 BC) negative version of Black Figure

Orientalizing vase painting

• Hercules and the Amazons

• Oriental style: man struggling with mythical beasts; metaphor for life’s struggle in general.

• Persian/Egyptian influence; the were east of Greece and anything east of Greece was consider the Orient.

Kouros and Kore figurine statues

• Kouros funerary memorial sculpture (male figure)Greek Archaic limestone sculpturec. 600 B.C.

• more naturalistic/-w- physical proportions (more definition; skeletal/muscular, like skin was torn off)

• Open form; implies movement• Sculpted in the round• Kore funerary memorial sculpture (female figure)• Painted on hair • Females left clothed; males weren’t; reflects keen

athletic interest (perfect mind –w- perfect body)• limestone sculpture• c. 600 B.C.• -has open form and implies movement.• -archaic smile (sense of humanity; aliveness)• Hands not yet liberated from piece they were

carving

Athenian Acropolis

Athenian Acropolis

Athenian Acropolis

• Archaic period• Citadel (built for war;

defense)

• Parthenon on top• Mostly Doric• First public library

(right of Propylaea)• First Public Art

Gallery (left of Propylaea)

The Acropolis

• To fight against the Persians, the Delian League was formed between Sparta, Thebes, and Athens; these city-states combined their forces and wealth to further buy weapons and hire mercenaries. When the Persians were driven out, there was quite a bit of money left in which was used to rebuild the destroyed city of Athens. The Spartans were upset; this action led to the Pelopennesian War which hurt the Spartans. In its weakened state, Sparta was ramsacked by Thebes.

Plan of the Acropolis: 1) Temple of Athena Nike; 2) Propylaea; 3) Statue of Athena Promachus; 4) Erechtheum; 5) Old Temple of Athena; 6) Parthenon.

Propylaea to Athenian Acropolis(Classical Period; only entrance)

Temple of Athena

Temple of Athena

Floor plan: Temple of Athena

Parthenon• It’s construction undertaken by

Pericles (447-432 B.C.E.)• Designed by Ictinus and Callicrates• Marble• Dorian order• Dedicated to Athena Polias (house of

Athena); housed collosal statue of Athena by sculptor Phidias

• Convexed swelling columns.• Relief sculptures found in metopes;

Panathenaic Procession (designed by Phidias) sculpted in the frieze.

• End colums are closer together and heavier to overcome sky line against them that makes them look weaker.

• High priests and powerful statesmen were only ones to enter Parthenon where statue of Athena was; all events were held outside.

Column orders

Pictorial Drawing of Interior of Parthenon

Roman copy of statue of Athena

Metopes from south side of Parthenon

Almost five feet high; very deep relief sculpture

Whenever Greeks depicted an event, they would use allegories for themselves and their foes using mythological terms; Greeks were Lapiths and their foes were Centaurs.

Reconstruction of East Pediment

Reconstruction of West Pediment

“Three Fates”

“Three Fates” (Elgin Marbles)

• On eastern pediment of Parthenon (very corner of right side); represents birth of Athena from Zeus’s head; on other corner were gods who witnessed the birth of Athena.

• Sculpted 5th century• “Goddesses of Wisdom and Crafts”; Hestia: goddess of family and the civic hearth, Diane: Zeus’ wife before Hera, Aphrodite: goddess of sexual love

and beauty• Flows very well• Wet Drapery effect: effect for chiflon type material with exaggerated folds on statues to show wet drapery look; shows body proportions while still being

clothed (very hard to do)• Laying to sitting to show transition of figures and drapery and to fit in pediment• Lord Elgin was British ambassador to Ottomans in Constantinople; he took the marbles off the Parthenon to England; when Greece asked for them

back, they couldn’t get them.

East pediment of Parthenon

Panathenaic Procession

• On frieze of Parthenon

Erechtheum

• Last building built; represented depletion of money in Delian League• Named after Erectheon• Erechtheon (ionic order) Parthenon (doric order)• Also spot where Poseidon and Athena engaged over sponsorship; whoever

could give best gift to Athenians would be given sponsorship: Poseidon: Saltwater spring, Athena: Olive Tree

“Maidens of the Porch,” “Water Bearers,” “Caryatids”

Transitional Period

Kristios Boy

• Contrapposto  in the fine arts, a device used in the representation of a figure, in which one part of the body is posed in opposition to another.

• For example, the upper part of the body is turned, but the lower part is in a frontal position.

• Contrapposto animates the rhythm of the figure, conveying a sense of movement or tension. It emphasizes the three-dimensionality of the figure without disturbing the equilibrium of form.

The Kritios boy belongs to the Late Archaic period and is considered the precursor to the later classical sculptures of athletes.

With the Kritios Boy the Greek artist has mastered a complete understanding of how the different parts of the body act as a system. The statue supports its body on one leg, the left, whiles the right one is bent at the knee in a relaxing state. This stance forces a chain of anatomical events as the pelvis is pushed diagonally upwards on the left side, the right buttock relaxes, the spine acquires an “S” curve, and the shoulder line dips on the left to counteract the action of the pelvis (contra-posto).

PoseidonPOSEIDON was the god of the sea, the sources of fresh water, horses and earthquakes. He was widely worshipped in ancient Greece, with numerous temples and shrines.

Poseidon was represented as a mature, muscular bearded god in Greek sculpture. He was virtually identical to Zeus in appearance apart from his attributes: Poseidon was often depicted standing beside a dolphin, and holding a trident, whereas Zeus had thunderbolt and eagle.

Bronze statue

Hellenistic Period

Nike of Samothrace (“Winged Victory”)

Venus de Milo• aka Aphrodite of Melos (named after the Greek island on

which it was discovered in 1820) Her naked torso enabled her to be identified as Aphrodite, the Roman Venus, goddess of love and beauty, born out of the foam of the sea. With her, Greek art gave birth to all Western art’s female nudes. Certain stylistic details indicate a dating of around 100 BC. Her elongated silhouette, position in space, and very sensual, realistic nudity link this work to the Hellenistic period (323–31 BC), the last great era in Greek history. Her neutral, impassive face, however, forms a stark contrast, rather like a mask that has been added on. Timeless/ emotionless, it is comprised of a play on proportions: it is three times as long as the nose, which is a continuation of the forehead in this “Greek profile” — which the Greeks, of course, did not actually have! What the sculptor was seeking to depict was divine beauty, that of Plato’s ideals, not worldly reality. She provides a fine answer to the eternal quest for Beauty; in short, it is a timeless masterpiece.

Old Market Woman

Dying Gaul

formerly known as the Dying Gladiator, is an ancient Roman marble copy of a lost Hellenistic sculpture that is thought to have been executed in bronze commissioned some time between 230 BC and 220 BC by Attalus I of Pergamon to celebrate his victory over the Celtic Galatians in Anatolia. The present base was added after its rediscovery. The identity of the sculptor of the original is unknown, but it has been suggested that Epigonus, the court sculptor of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon, may have been its sculptor.The statue depicts a dying Celt with remarkable realism, particularly in the face, and may have been painted.. He is represented as a Gallic warrior with a typically Gallic hairstyle and moustache. The figure is naked save for a neck torc. He lies on his fallen shield while his sword and other objects lie beside him.The statue was most commonly known as the Dying Gladiator until the twentieth century,[on the assumption that it depicted a wounded gladiator in the Roman amphitheatre. Scholars had identified it as a Gaul by the mid nineteenth century, but it took many decades for the new label become the norm.

Boy Strangling Goose

Pieta