Art and Architecture
Dark Ages through the Archaic Period
The Dark Age
c. 1000 - 750 BCE
Proto-Geometic Pottery
c. 1000 - 800 BCE
Terra-Cotta Centaur
c. 950
Proto-Geometic Krater
c. 950
Proto-Geometic Amphora
c. 950
Geometric Pottery
c. 800 - 700 BCE
The “Dipylon Krater
c. 750 BCE
Detail of the krater
The “Theban
Krater”
c. 700 BCE
The Archaic Period
c. 750 - 479 CE
Pottery of the Archaic
Period
c. 700 - 479 BCE
The Oriental Phase
c. 700 - 600 BCE
There are three clearly distinguishing
features of the Orientalized period:
1. Extravagant ornamentation
2. Floral motif
3. mythological animals
“Analotos Amphora”
c. 675
The “Animal Pitcher”
c. 650
Proto-Corinthian
Aryballos
c. 650
Corinthian Olpe
c. 600
“The Blinding of
Polyphemus” amphora
c. 650
Though the Greeks would copy their
eastern neighbors during the late phase
of the Dark Age, they would become
suspicious of extravagance in the Archaic
Period. Realism and balance would come
to dominate what would be distinctively
Greek art.
Archaic Pottery
c. 600 - 479 BCE
Black Figure Pottery
“Black Figure” pottery derives its name
from the method of glazing the clay. Rudimentary
shapes would be glazed
(in black) and detail would be added by etching
lines into the glaze after firing.
“The Achillies”
amphora
c. 530
“The Suicide of
Ajax”
c. 540
“Dionysus”
kylix
c. 540
“Heracles and
the Nemean Lion”
amphora
c. 525
“Heracles” detail
In each of these examples we see black
figures crated by the glaze and etching .
So, “Black Figure” pottery is easy to
identify by its black figures!
Red Figure Pottery
Greek potters later learned that even
more detail could be produced by
reversing the glazing process producing a
“negative effect.” This style came to be
know as “Red Figure” since the figures are
the color of the clay, highlighted by the
glaze.
Note how the
black glaze
causes the
figures to
stand out in
more detail.
On this amphora
we see both styles
combined for
added effect (c. 540)
Black Figure
Red Figure
Archaic Architecture
Not only does the Archaic Period see
dramatic innovation in pottery, it is also
the period when distinctively Greek
Architecture begins to appear.
Greek architecture is divided into three
distinct phases:
1. Doric
2. Ionic
3. Corinthian
The Doric style, with its thick unadorned
columns, dominates the Archaic period.
The Ionic and Corinthian orders will emerge
in the Classical period.
Major parts of Doric Temples
Basilica, Paestum Italy
c. 550 BCE
Column Detail
Temple of Hera
Paestum, Italy
c. 460 BCE
Temple of Aphaia
Aegina, Greece c. 500 BCE
Plan and Reconstruction of
Temple of Aphaia
Temple of Concordia
Agrigento, Italy
c. 430 BCE
Archaic Sculputre
Votive Figures
Stone statuary of the Archaic Period is
dominated by two different types of art
with two different functions: Pedimentery
sculpture as decoration on public buildings
and votive figurines used for religious
purposes in temples.
Votive sculpture most often represents
male and female youth and are thus
categorized as Kouros (young male)
and Kore (young female) statues.
Kore (maidens) Figures
“The Lady of Auxerre”
limestone kore, c. 650
(Strong Egyptian influence)
Marble Kore, c. 570
from a cemetery in
Attica.
(Strong near-eastern
influence.)
The “Peplos Kore”
Athenian Acropolis
marble kore, c. 530
(distinctive Greek style)
c. 650
c. 570
c. 530
Kouros Figures
Marble Kouros
c. 600
Attic marble kouros
c. 525
Pedimentary Sculpture
Pedimentary sculpture was used, as its
name suggests, to adorn the pediments of
public buildings (particularly temples).
Though different in function, the style is
still distinctively Archaic. One notable
feature of this period of sculpture is the
“archaic grin.”
The “Rampin Rider”
marble, c. 560
Note in this statue, the “Fallen Warrior”
c. 490 from the east pediment of the
Temple of Aphaia, how the realism of
the dying man is betrayed by the grin.
It is theorized that sculptors from this
period had not yet mastered facial
musculature
Bronze
As with stone sculpture of the Archaic
Period, bronze sculpture was undergoing
significant development. While crude in
comparison with the bronze work of the
later Classical Period, the bronzes of the
Archaic period demonstrate the
emergence of a distinctively Greek style.
Early Archaic bronze
c. 750
(possibly Heracles)
The “Mantiklos Apollo”
Theban bronze
c. 700
The “Horseman of
Grumentum”
c. 560
“Zeus”
bronze, c. 500
The Archaic Period (c. 750 - 479 BCE)
is tremendously important in that it
represents the period when the Greeks
found themselves. Though they begin
under the influence of the old cultures of
Egypt and Mesopotamia, they quickly
developed a unique cultural style.