Download Greek Art - Lee County Schools

What are characteristics that
make up Greek art?
Key Term:
Greece-a country in
southeastern Europe
consisting of 2
mainland peninsulas
and thousands of
islands throughout
the Aegean and
Ionian seas.
Key Term:
Greek-a native
or inhabitant
of modern
Greece, or a
person of
Greek
descent.

Most of the ancient Greek art
that is still around today is in
the forms of pottery,
sculpture and architecture.

Most ancient Greek paintings
have deteriorated or been
destroyed, except for most
paintings on pottery.

Greek painters worked mainly on wooden panels,
which deteriorated over time.

When marble is burned, lime is produced, and that
was also the fate of the great bulk of Greek marble
statuary during the Middle Ages. The shortage of
metal during the Middle Ages led to the majority of
Greek bronze statues being melted down. Those
statues which had survived did so primarily because
they had been buried and forgotten, or as in the case
of bronzes having been lost at sea.

The great majority of Greek buildings have not
survived to this day: either they had been pillaged in
war, had been looted for building materials or had
been destroyed in Greece’s many earthquakes.

Greek pots are important
because they tell us so much
about how life was in ancient
Greece.

Ancient Greek pots were often
beautifully decorated with
scenes from daily life.
Sometimes these scenes
reflected what the pot was used
for.
•
Pots came in all sorts of
shapes and sizes
depending on their
purpose.
•
The Ancient Greeks
made pottery for
everyday use, not for
display.
Psykteres were wine coolers.
Oinochoai were wine jugs.
Chytra Used as cooking
pots.
Stamnoi were used for holding
wine before mixing it with water
Lekythoi were oil bottles.
Hydria Used to carry water.
Alabastron Small vases used by
women for storing perfume or oil.
Amphora Used for carrying
and storing solids and
liquids.
Chous Used as jugs.
Kantharos Used as drinking cups
with two vertical handles
Krater comes from a word
meaning 'mix'. Kraters were
used for mixing wine with
water.
Lekanides were small,
shallow bowls used by
women for storing jewelry
and trinkets.
Kylikes were special wine
cups.
The name for this large vase
means 'carrying to the bath.'
Loutrophoroi were used to hold
water for bathing or for washing.
Pyxides were small pots in
which women stored their
cosmetics, powder or
jewelry.

There are two main stylistic periods in
Greek vase painting, black-figure and
red-figure.

Protogeometric- about 1050 BCE

Geometric- about 900 BCE

Late Geometric or Archaic- about 750
BCE

Black Figure- early 7th century BCE

Red Figure- about 530 BCE
Key Term:
Black Figure Paintingthe designating style of
vase painting developed in
Greece in the 7th and 6th
centuries B.C.
Characterized by
silhouetted figures painted
in black slip on a red clay
body.

Black-figure is called that because the
people (the figures) are black, and the
background is a reddish brown.

As the name implies, figures
appeared, after the firing of the pot,
as black silhouettes against the
background of the light red or
yellowish clay of the pot. Within the
black figures, carved lines revealed
the red clay beneath, allowing the
artist to trace the inner details of the
figure.
Key Term:
Red Figure Painting- the
designating style of vase
painting developed in
Athens around 530 B.C.
and remained in use until
the late 3rd century B.C. It
replaced the previously
dominant style of black-
figure vase painting within
a few decades.

In red-figure the people are red and the
background is black.

The red-figure technique was invented in
Athens 530 BCE. The figures remained in
the orange-red color of the clay, and the
surrounding background was turned to
black by the firing of the pot. With this,
the method of detailing the figures was
changed dramatically. Instead of using a
sharp tool to incise lines, the painters used
a fine brush, pen or reed to apply lines of
color for the inner details of the figures.
THEN - THE GREEK WORLD

Ancient Greek had City-States
NOW - THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD

Today we have countries
People

Society dominated by Men


Marriage

Wife's duty to bear legitimate
▪ Unveiling of the bride at wedding
children and manage the household.
Women were expected to remain
inside her home except for rare
occasions.

Children

Allowed to play until they were
seven. When they were seven boys
went to school and girl started
domestic chores.
Arranged by families based on dowry

Slavery

Property of their masters rather than
citizens of Greece
▪ domestic servants, factory workers,
shopkeepers,
mineworkers, farm
workers, ship's crewmembers police
force, clerks at the treasury office
Food

Bread, olives, figs, cheese,
vegetables, fruit, dried fish,
wine

Did not have sugar,
sweetened their food with
honey

Did have utensils, ate with
their hands.
Homes

Made of mudbrick and
pottery tiles.

Floor mosaic or plaster.

High windows so
thieves couldn’t break
in.

Greeks were the first
to use separate
symbols for each vowel
and consonant.

Used since about the
9th century BCE

The Vase - great artistic legacy

Pottery made for everyday use, not
for display - drinking & storage

Black Figure from the early 7th
century BC
 red and white details and incising
for outlines and details

Red Figure from about 530 BC
 pots being painted black & the
figures painted in red

Marble & Bronze

Human form the most
important subject .

Few sculptures have
survived, mostly in
Roman copies.
Key Term:
Parthenon- a
former temple
on the Athenian
Acropolis,
Greece,
dedicated to
the goddess
Athena.

Different cities worshipped
different deities/gods


Temples were home of the
deity/gods
Parthenon
• 20,000 tons of marble,
15 years to complete
• 40 foot high statue of
the Goddess Athena
inside
Key Term:
Greek Mythology- the
collection of myths and
teachings that belong to the
ancient Greeks, concerning
their gods and heroes, the
nature of the world, and the
origins and significance of
their own cult and ritual
practices. It was a part of the
religion in ancient Greece.
Key Term:
Delphi- In
ancient Greece,
Delphi was the
seat of the
famous oracle
that powerful
people consulted
for advice.

Dates to 1400 BC – one of oldest
sites in Greece

Pythia - Oracle of Apollo
 Gave advice on decisions
from personal problems to
fates of cities.
 Visitors required to pay a fee
based on the importance of
the question.
Three types of Columns in
Greek architecture:

Doric order

Ionic order

Corinthian order
Key Term:
Doric Order- The
oldest and simplest
of the three main
orders of classical
Greek architecture,
characterized by
heavy fluted
columns with plaint,
saucer-shaped
capitals and no base.
Key Term:
Ionic Order- One
of the three main
orders of
classical Greek
Architecture,
characterized by
two opposed
volutes in the
capital.
Key Term:
Corinthian Order- The
last and more ornate
of the three main
orders of classical
Greek architecture.
Characterized by a
slender fluted column
having an ornate
flared capital
decorated with
acanthus leaves.

Theater in every major Greek city

First theatrical productions - Athens
Dionysus festival 500 BC
 Initially a single actor
accompanied by a chorus of
singers
 All wore masks – allowed actors
to play multiple roles
 All male cast – played female
roles

Plays sponsored by wealthy patrons

Founded in 776 BCE at
Olympia in southern
Greece.

Contests every four years

Contests include running,
chariot racing, boxing,
wrestling, etc.

Laurel wreath to the victor
City-States were constantly at war with each
other

The Trojan War – c. 1250 BC

The Persian Wars 490 – 480 BC

Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC)
Strict rules of warfare - honor

War defined as challenge between two
armies

Quick decisive battles

Exchange of dead after battle

Winner seizes land
Key Term:
Paper Mache- layers
of paper glued and
pressed together,
molded when moist
to form various
articles, and
becoming hard and
strong when dry.
Video-Greek Art History-Goodbye Art Academy