Greek Art Geometric to Hellenistic Style Geometric 900-700 BCE Archaic 700-480 BCE Classical 480-323 BCE Hellenistic 323-150 BCE

Precursors –Cycladic marble statues 2700-2500 BCE –beginning of long history of marble sculpture in Greece Woman’s head. Seated Lyre Player Abstract forms -modern

Minoan Marine Style Octopus Flask 1450 BCE Snake Goddess 1600 BCE

Lion Gate Mycenae 1300-1250 BCE

Geometric Era geometric shapes abstract motifs no unified conception of human small statues large black-figure vases

Geometric Statuette of a man and centaur, ca. 750 b. c Geometric Statuette of a man and centaur, ca. 750 b.c.E; Late Geometric

Dipylon Vase 740 BCE

detail

Areas of Greek Influence during Archaic Period

Archaic Early Archaic art is referred to as “Daedalic” after Daedulus –legendary artist Formal Stiff Influence of Egypt Monumental sculpture and architecture Korai “archaic smiles” stone temples Doric & Ionic orders, red-figure painting invented

Vase Painting-black figure, red-figure Art historians usually talk about the “pigment” a painter applied to clay surface as glaze, but black areas on Greek pots are not pigment or glaze but a slip (watery clay) firing process of both red- and black-figure vessels used three stages: first, oxidizing stage, air was allowed into the kiln, turning the whole vase the color of the clay second stage, green wood was introduced into the chamber and the oxygen supply was reduced, causing the object to turn black in the smoky environment. third stage, air was reintroduced into the kiln; the coarser material portions turned back to orange while the smoother slip areas remained black

Symposium 550 BCE

Terracotta hydria (water jar), ca. 510–500 B.C.E

Andokides Painter, Achilles and Ajax playing a dice game (Athenian bilingual amphora) from Oriveto, Italy ca.525-520 BCE, 1’9”

Euthymides, Three revelers (red figure amphora, 510 BCE 2’

Menkaure and Khamerernebty ca. 2490-2472 BCE

Lady of Auxerre ca.650-625 BCE Daedalic style –all great early sculpture attributed to legendary artist Daedalus before names of artists were recorded -bridge between geometric and archaic

Kouros 590-580 BCE

Side view

Calf-bearer 560BCE

Peplos Kore 530 BCE

Kroisos (540 BCE) “Stay and mourn beside the tomb of dead Kroisos, whom raging Ares destroyed one day, fighting in the foremost ranks.”

Classical style Order, clarity -proportion, symmetry Humanism Realism Idealism c. 450-400 BCE –classical or high classical period, corresponds to the high point or golden age of Greek culture

Kritios Boy from the Acropolis, Athens, c Kritios Boy from the Acropolis, Athens, c. 480 BCE Parian marble, 337/8 (86 cm) high, Acropolis Museum Athens

Blond Kouros 480 BCE

Proportion-comparative relationship or ratio of things to one another -used to represent what is considered ideal or beautiful Ancient Greeks tied their vision of ideal beauty to what they considered the proper proportions of the human body Polykleitos is credited with the derivation of a canon of proportions – a set of rules about body parts and their dimensions relative to one another that became the standard for creating the ideal figure. The physical manifestation of his canon was the Doryphorus. Every part of the body is either a specific fraction or multiple of every other part Ideally the head is one eighth of the total height of the body and the width from shoulder-to-shoulder should not exceed one-fourth of the body’s height.

Balance -distribution of weight of the actual or apparent weight of the elements of a composition Polykleitos Doryphoros 450 -440 BCE Roman copy after bronze Greek original, marble 6’6” Perhaps the first artist to observe the body’s shifting of weight in order to achieve balance and to develop a set of rules to apply this observation to representations of the figure. In Doryphoros, Polykleitos featured his weightshift principle. Observed that when the body is at rest, one leg bears the weight of the body and the other is relaxed. Further, in order for the body to balance itself, the upper torso shifts, as if corresponding to an S curve, so that the arm opposite the tensed leg is tensed and the one opposite the relaxed leg is relaxed. Thus with the weight shift principle, tension, tension and relaxation, and relaxation are read diagonally across the body. Overall balance is achieved.

 Polykleitos's "canon" of beauty: golden section analysis Two art historians, D.E. Gordon and F. deL. Cunningham, have constructed an elaborate analysis of a presumably accurate copy of Polykleitos's famous sculpture called the Diadoumenos, hoping to show how the artist may have conceived his otherwise mysterious rule for achieving beauty in the human figure. Their article appeared in The Art Quarterly 25 (1962): 128-42 under the title "Polykleitos' Diadoumenos -- Measurement and Animation."

Polycleitus, Doryphorus, roman copy after a bronze Greek original of ca.450-440 BCE [Beauty arises from] the commensurability [symmetria] of the parts such as that of finger to finger, and of all the fingers to the palm and the wrist and of these to the forearm, and of the forearm to the upper arm, and in fact, of everything to everything else, just as it is written in the Canon of Polykleitos…Polykeitos supported his treatise [by making] a statue according to the tenets of his treatise, and called the statue, like the work, the Canon.(Galen 2nd c.)

Leonardo da Vinci Proportion of the Human Figure (after Vitruvius) c Leonardo da Vinci Proportion of the Human Figure (after Vitruvius) c.1485-1490 Pen and ink 13 ½” x 9 ¾ “ Symmetry –similarity of form or arrangement on either side of a dividing line or plane or to correspondence of parts in size, shape and position Pure formal symmetry here –exact correspondence between left and right

Diskobolos 470 BCE

Zeus or Poseidon 460BCE

Grave stele of a little girl ca. 450–440 B.C.E

Aphrodite of Knidos (Roman copy of original ca. 350-340 BCE)

The Golden Mean For ideal proportions in architecture Requires that a small part of a work should relate to a larger part of the work as the larger part relates to the whole To create the golden mean, a line is divided so that the ratio of the shorter segment AB is to the larger segment BC as the larger segment BC is to the whole AC. Line segment BC is 1.68 times the length of segment AB. Segment BC is the “mean” in the sense that its length lies between the smaller segment AB and the entire line AC. The Greeks considered segment BC to be “golden” in that its use created what they considered to be ideal proportions in architecture.

Golden rectangle –width of the rectangle is exactly 1 Golden rectangle –width of the rectangle is exactly 1.618 times its height. The triangle can be created by rotating the diagonal of the half square on the left to the base on the right point. This ideal rectangle became the basis for the floor plans of Greek temples and represented the artistic embodiment of the Greek maxim “moderation in all things”. Root five rectangle –length is 2.236 (square root of 5) times its width. Proportions of root 5 serve as frame for various works of art and architecture –Parthenon –façade is constructed of 8 columns. The four in the center fit within the central square of the root five rectangle.

Stoa

columns typical of the temples divided into 3 kinds: Doric, Ionian, Corinthian Doric order is simple and severe no base, directly on the stylobate, fluted shaft tapering to top, a capital which consisted of a curved member surmounted by a square block (abacus) upper end of shaft and the capital were cut in one block on top of capital - the entablature, the architrave (left plain except for small moulding at the top, decorated at regular intervals with a panel from which 6 little knobs (guttae) reached down, the frieze –consisted of triglyphs with vertical groovings alternating with metopes which could be plain or painted or sculptured, the cornice faced slightly down to protect the face of the building from rain water  Ionic originating in Asia Minor and Aegean islands more delicate and ornate; has a base in several tiers, volutes front and back Corinthian (ornate, capitals with acanthus leaves, on victory columns)  all three styles display a set of structural and decorative parts that stand in fixed relation to each other

Three Orders of Greek Architecture

Temple of Hera, Paestum, ca. 550 BCE -Archaic Doric Heavy, squat, massive

Parthenon. The most perfect building Parthenon. The most perfect building? (447-438 BCE) –temple dedicated to Athena (parthenos –maiden) commissioned by Pericles, designed by Ictinus & Kallicrates, embellished by Phidias harmonic proportion rectangle delimited on all four sides by colonnaded walkway 17 columns at sides, and 8 at ends  reflects classical reverence for clarity and symmetry two rooms –one with huge statue of Athena covered in gold, perhaps with ivory head, jewels for eyes; outside paintings, decorations were spectacularly coloured -not all white marble  the other room contained Athens’ treasury   temple is Doric but has some Ionic features classical ideal of life as harmonious balance between the counteracting forces of freedom and necessity no striving for the infinite as in Gothic architecture –perfection of limited form

Replica of Athena, Parthenos in Nashville

Influence of Classical Style…. Pantheon, Rome, ca Influence of Classical Style…. Pantheon, Rome, ca. 118-125 CE, Dome height 143 ft.

Michaelangelo, David, 1501-1504

Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, 1772

A.J. Davis and Ithiel Town, Federal Hall, 28 Wall Street, NYC, 1842 Greek Revival

Theatre Design

Polykleitos the Younger, theatre, Epidauros , Greece, ca. 350 BCE

Hellenistic - (323-31 BCE) -new subjects in sculpture and painting emotional active dynamic not so idealized naturalistic -often copied by and for Romans who loved the style Architects break the rules of classical orders

Laocoon (100-200 BCE) Laocoon (c. 100-200 BCE), Based on a story from Homer about the Trojan War. Laocoon was a Trojan priest who opposed accepting the Trojan Horse as a peace offering. The Greek gods sent serpents in the night to kill Laocoon and his sons for opposing the acceptance of the Horse. http://faculty.evansville.edu/rl29/art105/img/greek_laocoon.jpg

Winged Victory (Victory of Samothrace) 190 BCE, marble Flow, movement, drapery, naturalism and ideal beauty Set on base that would have represented the prow of a warship to crown the victors The upper basin of a fountain, so flowing water all around Expressions of humanity

Gallic Chieftain Killing Himself and his Wife 230-220BCE Enemies portrayed heroically

Old Market Woman, ca. 150-100 BCE, Marble, 4’1/2”, Metropolitan Not idealized

Defeated Boxer 100-50BCE Defeat –not shown in classical works