APAH: Greek Art - Pottery
Defined by the geometric patterns on pottery
Pottery as continuous source of information
Preserved / Uninterrupted / Known dates
Easy to see change
Geometric Period
Pottery used as grave markers
Dipylon Vase (c. 755 – 750 BC)
Dipylon cemetery in Athens
Schematized figures
Rectilinear
Tight patterns – no empty space
Meander pattern
Dipylon Krater (740 BC)
Krater – mixing water and wine
Moves to greater emphasis on people
Narrative – storytelling
Funeral procession
Carefully distinguished wheels
Archaic Period
Francois Vase (570 BC)
Black figure technique
Black glazing (engobe) process
Signed by artist/potter: Kleitias / Ergotimos
Individual artists
Found in Etruscan tomb (Italy)
200+ figures – most of Greek pantheon
Marriage of Peleus (father of Achilles)
Achilles and Ajax at Dice (540 – 530 BC)
Exekias – master of black figure technique
Exported / copied
Etruscan tomb – Italy
No bands – single image
Extraordinary detail – aesthetic sense
Dionysus in Sailboat (c. 530 BC)
Exekias
Details created by incising surface to reveal clay
Sail – drawn as it looks, wind-blown
Reality, concept of nature-man interaction
Low drinking cup
Achilles and Ajax at Dice (525 – 520 BC)
Andokides Painter (potter)
Bilingual painting
Development of red figure technique
Herakles Wrestling Antaios (c. 510 BC)
Complicated pose – rejects traditional composition
Red figure allows for delicate brushwork
Classical
Niobides Krater (c. 450 BC)
Two sided, but seemingly unconnected
Transition from Archaic to Classical in form
Based on wall painting – but none survive
Artemis and Apollo Slaying the Children of Niobe
Punishment of hubris
Violent action
Loss of ground line – illusion of landscape
Heracles surrounded by figures
Depth, occupying space
Perhaps a painting of a sculpture of Heracles
Soldiers coming to ask for his protection