Library Digitised Collections
Author/s:
Smith, Bernard
Title:
The Emergence of Greek art
Date:
1957
Persistent Link:
http://hdl.handle.net/11343/56268
The Emergence of Greek Art
First term 1957, 3d Lecture
In the yeas between 1200 and 1000 B.C. the whole of the Eastern Mediterranean was
convulsed by wars, invasions, and the movement of large groups of people. The
period witnessed the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, and we may take
1,000B.C as a convenient date t which to begin our study of Greek art. But I must say
one or two words very briefly about the period before 1,000B.C.
Greece, had, of course, been populated before 1000B.C. The culture of mainland
Greece and the adjacent islands between 3,000 and 1,000 B.C. (the culture, that is, of
Bronze Age Greece, has been called the Helladic culture) and it has been divided into
early, middle and late Helladic, corresponding roughly in time with early, middle and
late Minoan. I cannot deal with Helladic art here, but I want to point out that in Late
Helladic times, that is, between 1,500 and 1,000B.B. a civilization known as the
Mycenaean flourished in Southern Greece and the adjacent islands. Great palaces
were built at Tiryns and Mycenae, and the Late Helladic period is also known as the
Mycenaean Age. Mycenaean art is closely affiliated with Minoan art, and the
Mycenaean ousted the Minoans as the main maritime and commercial nation of the
Eastern Mediterranean.
The connection between Mycenaean art and Minoan art will become clear if we study
a few slides. Here is a Mycenaean gold cup from Vaphio, showing the capture of
bulls.* Compare it with the Late Minoan Harvester Vase, that we saw last week.* Our
next slide shows a Mycenaean vase with an octopus design.* Compare it with the
Minoan Octopus vase from Palaikastro, that we saw last week.*
But during the 12 century, invaders from the north, unacquainted with the Mycenaean
and Minoan cultures of the Mediterranean descended upon the Mycenaean cities of
southern Greece. The two centuries of upheaval that followed saw the transition from
the Bronze to the Iron Age and the emergence in history of the Greek city states—city
states which maintained a very large measure of independence, though united by such
things as a common language, sacred oracles like the oracle of Delphi, and sacred
games, such as the games at Olympia.
Greek art is usually divided into five main periods:
1. The Geometric Period, 10th-8th cent.
2. The Orientalising Period, 7th and early 6th cent.
3. The Archaic Period, ca 650-480B.C.
4. The Classical Period ca 480-323B.C.
5. The Hellenistic Period, ca 323-146B.C.
Let us begin our study of the geometric period by examining some examples of
Geometric pottery. Greek geometric pottery is an art of formal, geometric patterning.
Early geometric is known as the Black Style. Here is an example.* There is little
decoration, beyond a horizontal band of rectilinear patterns, applied with a black glaze.
The Black Style was followed by a Middle Style. Here is an example.* The bands are
now broken into rectangular panels, which are often decorated with animals and birds.
Rows of birds and horses are also introduced. The third and last phase of the
Geometric style is known as the Dipylon Style, from the Dipylon cemetery near
Athens where many huge vases were used as grave monuments. Here is one.* The
design represents the prothesis, or laying out of the body. On the next we see a frieze
of animals, otherwise the decoration is geometric. Note the desire to cover the whole
surface of the vase with pattern.—a desire which continues even when figures are
introduced, as we see when we study a detail of the vase.* The figures are really
geometrically stylized silhouettes. Notice the way the head is reserved by an outline
and a dot placed in it for the eye. We may see, too, from this vase that the geometric
vase painters achieved striking decorative effects. Quite unlike the grace of the
organic designs of the best Minoan work, the Geometric vase painters achieved
decoration by diffuse surface patterning.
I shall turn now from Geometric vase painting to Geometric sculpture. The Geometric
sculptors produced no large, or as we might say, monumental sculpture in the round.
The examples which have been recovered are mostly small bronzes, ivory and terracotta figurines, and bronze and ivory reliefs. Here in out next slide,* we have a
geometric bronze of a hero and a centaur. Note the way the interest is centred upon
the head and the limbs, to the comparative neglect of the torso, and note how closely
the sculptural form compares with the graphic form of the Dipylon vase, the thin
bodies and the bulbous legs, and so on. Here is a geometric bronze horse; compare it
with the horses drawn on our Dipylon amphora.
Our next slide shows a nude goddess carved in ivory, the hands are closely pressed to
the thighs, and she wears a cylindrical crown on her head. The structure of the body is
essentially Geometric—broad and angular shoulders, the slightly backward tilt of the
body, prominent buttocks, oval face, short straight nose, wide-open eyes.*
Toward the end of the eighth century influences from the East become increasing
apparent in Geometric vase painting and sculpture. By this time many Greek maritime
colonies had been established, particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean. Those on the
Asia Minor Coast were the first to feel the impact of eastern motifs from the
Mesopotamian region, through their contact with Phoenician and other eastern traders.
There followed a period of strong Eastern, or Orientalising influence, as it is called.
Orientalising Period, our second main division, covers the period from 800 to 620 BC.
It brought a change n the technique of vase painting. The geometric artist rendered the
bodies of animals and men in silhouette, the orientalising artist favoured a black
outline, using dark lines for details The space enclosed by the outline, known as the
‘reserved’ space, was coloured white to represent the flesh of women, brown for that
of men. We have already met this convention in Egypt and Crete. The old silhouette
technique was also retained. Geometric painting was a monochrome painting:
Orientalising painting contrasts light against dark, and one colour with another.
Geometric decoration divided its spaces into small areas and tended to repeat the same
motif. Orientalising decoration uses larger motifs in larger spaces. Unity of design is
thus achieved by subordinating more important motifs to less import motifs. (?) rather
than by diffusing the pattern over the whole area of the vase. The straight line is now
replaced by the curved. The lotus, the palm and other floral patterns from the east
appear. And new animals, the lions, the griffins and the sphinx, all from the east, now
make their appearance. The human form develops from the match-like figures of the
geometric period. The artist is no longer restricted to the frontal breast and profile legs
formula of drawing. He begins to master the element of perspective, new themes
appear, chariot races, combat groups with interlocking figures and representations of
the gods and heroes of Greek mythology.
We may see a good deal of these changes of we compare our geometric Dipylon
amphora, with a famous orientalising vase also from Attica, known as the Analatos
Hydria.
Note the carpet-like diffusion of the Pattern compared with the reduction of the
decorative units, providing more space for figures. Note the use of the outline
technique; the greater use of palmette motifs. The rectilinear forms of the geometric
decoration have become more curvilinear and more organic. This vase, however, still
retains many geometric features.* Our next slide shows a more developed form of the
Orientalizing style, known as the Nessos Amphora. Here we see the Centaur Nessos:
the drawing, if crude, is vigorous.* Note the use of the outline technique in drawing
the head, and the way detail has been indicated by incising a white line through the
black glaze.
There is a similar change in the sculpture. The upright, rectilinear forms of geometric
sculpture are replaced by curvilinear forms and the introduction of eastern motifs such
as the griffin. How different is this orientalising bronze, in our next slide, of a griffin,
with its strong curving forms, and the geometric bronze centaur and hero we saw
earlier. Another example of the orientalising style is this lion from Perachora. There is
concentration here, on the movement of the body and the head.*
There is one group of works belonging to the seventh century which was not
influenced by oriental motifs to any extent. This group is a most important one, for it
was the forerunner of Archaic Greek sculpture. It is generally called Daedalic, after
Daedalus, a sculptor of the late seventh century, known only through literary sources.
A particularly fine example of the Daedallic style in the Artemis of Nikadre from
Delos.* This female statue is the earliest extant Greek statue of heroic size. It is a
votive offering to Artemis, and an engraved inscription on one side rune. ‘Dedicated
to the far-shooting goddess who delighted in arrows, by Nikandra, sister of
Deinomenes, wife of Phraxos’. The body, you will note, resembles a plank, there is no
attempt to render drapery, nor much feeling for the form beneath. It dates to about 650.
A statue of slightly later date is the Auerre statuette in the Louvre.* The two arms are
no longer beside the body, the right arm being bent across the breast, as we have
noted in much Egyptian work. There is more modelling of the figure and the hair has
been mapped out in simple geometric shapes.
Somewhat later is this bronze standing figure from Delphi, dating to about 630. Note
that the youth is nude, stands with his hands by his side, with the left foot forward.
With these two examples of Daedalic sculpture we may bring our consideration of the
Geometric and Orientalising Periods to an end, and turn to the Archaic Period, which
dates from 620 to 480 B.C. These two standing figures become the two principal
types of sculpture, whereby sculptors of the succeeding Archaic period were to solve
the problems of rendering human anatomy and human proportions in a naturalistic
manner. The male standing figure is called a kouros. He is nude, broad-shouldered,
narrow-waisted and stands rigidly in a frontal pose, firmly on both feet, the left being
advanced to give the figure itself more security not to suggest movement, the hands
hang by the sides, the fists clenched. The female figure is called a Kore. At first the
legs are pressed close together, later the left foot takes a short stop forward. He right
arm is usually bent forward at right angles and it usually holds a votive offering, such
as a pomegranate in an outstretched hand.
The Archaic Period was a great period of development both in sculpture and painting.
Sculptor tended to specialise upon a narrow range of types, such as the kouros and the
kore. This helped them to master the rendering of anatomy, human proportion, and of
drapery. In relief sculpture they studied the problems of perspective and spatial
arrangement.
Let us turn first to the Archaic sculpture, and begin by studying the development of
the kouros type. Over 200 kouroi have been found throughout the Greek world. They
have been divided by Richter and Young in the book Kouroi, into six group, which
follow one another chronologically and show the development toward a naturalistic
style.
I want to show you now examples of the following kouroi:
(1) The New York Kouros ca 600
(2) The Orchomenos Kouros ca 580
(3) The Tenea Kouros
ca 560
(4) The Melos Kouros
(5) The Anavysos Kouros
(6) The Strangford Kouros
ca 540
ca 520
ca 500
First the New York Kouros.* The form is conceived in an abstract, geometrical
manner. The front, back and side planes converge rather sharply, the figure retaining,
in short, something of the quadrangular block from which it was cit. Anatomical
details are indicated by grooves and ridges, proportions deviate considerably from
nature, and anatomy is only partially understood. The aim is not realism: but a solid
harmonious structure in which the essential parts of the body are reduced to
expressive patterns: note the effective contrasting of the masses, the almond shaped
eyes, the stylised eyebrows and patterned hair.
The Orchomenos Kouros (ca. 580) lacks the impressive bearing and monumental
quality of the New York Kouros. But there has been a movement towards naturalism.
Bodies are les plank-like, details are seen in the round The proportions are more
normal, but the heads are often very large.
In the Tenea Kouros (ca 560) the figure is more rounded, more essentially corporeal,
forms are modelled instead of being shown in ridges and grooves, there is an interest
and emphasis upon individual bones and muscles. Instead of linear patterns being
correlated across the axial line of symmetry of the body it is now in volumes, muscles
being shown against muscle, shoulder against shoulder, and so on.
The Kouros from Melos (ca 540)* reveals slender, graceful proportions. The
conception of the body is simpler, the muscles are no longer emphasized. Forms are
more true to nature and a flowing contour has been achieved which is now much more
graceful, thou it lacks the majestic quality of earlier kouroi, sch as the New York
Kouros with which we began.
The Anavysos Kouros (ca 520) represents a period of considerable development.
Forms are rendered with greater freedom, the stance is less rigid, and the whole figure
is conceived in the round. Note for instance the interest which the sculptor has taken
in relating the muscles of the knee to the thigh.
The Strangford Kouros represents the last stage in the development of the Kouros type.
The sculptor has attained a full knowledge of the structure of the human figure. Over
a period of 125 years the archaic Greek sculptors studied both the details of the
anatomy, and the problems of relating them into a harmonious and well-proportioned
whole. What they accomplished was without doubt one of the greatest artistic
triumphs in the whole history of art, and the achievement was assisted by their
concentration upon a single problem: the problem of rendering a nude standing figure.
Their achievement made it possible for the Greek sculptors of the classical period to
pass on to the problems of rendering the human figure in action, and of making it a
vehicle for the expression of mood and emotion.
Let us turn now to the development of the Kore, the female standing figure, which
parallels the male standing figure in sculptural development during the Archaic period.
We will trace this in the following figures:
(1) The Berline Standing Maiden
(2) The Hera of Cheramyes, from Samos,
(3) The Aphrodite of Lyons,
(4) The Peplos Kore
(5) Kore 674 in Acropolis, Athens.
(6) Head of Kore 643, Athens.
ca. 575
ca 575
ca 550
ca 540
The forerunners, or as we will call them, the prototypes of the korai, are to be found in
Daedalic works such as the Artemis of Nikandre and Auxerre statuette which we have
already seen. For the korai, however, there are two rather distinct streams of
development. There is (1) a mainland development represented b our first example,
the Berlin Standing Maiden, and there is (2) an island development, represented by
our second example, the Hera of Cheramyes, and a considerable difference in style is
to be observed between the mainland and the Greek Islands and Ionia.
The Berlin Standing Maiden, which we see in our next slide, may be compared with
such early kouroi as the New York Kouros. But it is clothed, is rigidly symmetrical,
the feet are together, and has something of their monumental power and clarity.* Here
in our next slide is a side view, and here,* in our next slide, a detail of the head. Not
the almond eyes, the upturned lips which is known as the archaic smile, and the firmly
symmetrical organisation of the face.
Our second* example the Hera of Cheramyes from Samos is rather different. The
lower part of the body is columnar in form, and may, perhaps, be explained as a
simple development from the tree-trunk of primitive images. The image is lifelike
despite its apparent rigidity: note the increasing interest in drapery. The figure wears
the Ionic costume: the woollen cloak, known as a himation, thrown over the long
linen chiton.
Our third* example is the Aphrodite of Lyons (ca 550) about 25 years later than the
Hera of Cheramyes. This is one of a series of Korai dedicated on the Acropolis as
votive offering to the goddess Athena. After the Persian wars the Greeks levelled the
Acropolis and used many of these early statues in the foundation of the new buildings
built during classical times. Now this is a mainland piece of sculpture like the Berline
Standing Maiden, but it reveals the change from the Doric to the Ionic costume. The
old Doric dress was symmetrical, horizontal-vertical system. The Kore of Lyons
shows the diagonally draped woollen himation, thrown across the right shoulder over
the linen chiton. Moreover, the linen chiton was of thin material and this encouraged
the tendency to study the forms of he body beneath the dress.
Our fourth* example the Peplos Kore is ten years later (ca 540) than the Aphrodite of
Lyons, but it still shows the earlier Attic costume. The Dorian peplos, drawn in by a
girdle at the waist is worn over a sleeved himation. The dress is extremely simple but
the statue has a great sense of vitality. This may be seen even more clearly when we
examine the head. The almond shaped eyes, and the smile of the early archaic statues
are still present, but the features are finely modelled and treatment of the hair
becoming more lifelike.
Our fifth* example, Kore 674, dates considerably later to ca 500BC. The body is now
being conceived as a whole, the treatment of drapery is more naturalistic, and when
we tun to the head,* we note how subtly the planes of the face have been cut, with the
eyes set firmly in the skull, and the contours of the face splendidly suggested.
The achievement of the Archaic sculpture in the attainment of naturalism may be
summed up I the very fine head of Kore 643, in which the suppleness of flesh and the
solidity of the bony structure of the skull is at once suggested. This is, in its way, on
of the great works of Attic sculpture, but it is a mistake to see it purely as a triumph of
naturalism—the even brows, the almond eyes, and the archaic smile, betray the
geometric genesis of the archaic style even in its most naturalistic forms.
In vase-painting, as in sculpture, the archaic period is a time when Greek artists are
seeking to master the representation of the human figure and its drapery, in all its
details. The rows of animals so common to the orientalising period is now replaced b
scenes from mythology, the deeds of Heracles and other heroes become very popular.
Changes are to be noticed to in painting technique. During the seventh century the
black figure technique developed and was adopted and generally used b the Athenian
potters, who achieved something of a monopoly of the potting trade, until the
invention of the red-figure technique about 530 BC.
We may study the black-figure technique by examining a detail from an early blackfigure vase by the Nessos painter.* We see Heracles attacking the centaur Nessos.
Herakles has thrust his foot into the small of the centaur’s back, and holds him by the
hair, preparing to make the fatal plunge. Note the way the painter has cut through the
black glaze to bring out anatomical details, and how the space filling ornaments
inherited from geometric times still linger. But the interest is now upon action
anatomy, and narrative.
The middle period of the Attic Black figure is well illustrated by the Francois vase.* It
bears the signature of the maker and the painter The vase is decorated by a series of
parallel banks like the Dipylon amphora of the Geometric period. But each band now
contains scenes from Greek mythology, and the deeds of heroes. At the top for
instance, we see the hunt for the Calydonian boar, the funeral games of Patrokolos,
and so on. The whole surface of the vae is covered, but everywhere there is an interest
in the anatomy of men and animals at rest and in movement, and a desire to represent
the deeds of heroes.
The great master of black-figure painting, who continues the tradition of the Nessos
painting and Klitias, was Exetias. Here is his masterpiece the Vatican Amphora. On
one side we see Achilles and Ajax playing draughts to while away the weary hours of
the long Trojan campaign. On the other side we see Castor and Polydeuces with their
parents. Castor is about to mount his horse. Polydeuces has retuned and is greeting the
dog while a small slave brings in some clean clothing and a flask of oil on his hand.
The costume of Leda, may be compared with the costume of the Peplos Kore. Exekias
also painted cups occasionally, and in one large kylix he painted the legend of
Dioysus and the pirates whom he turned into dolphins. It is a delightful conception,
for the boat itself is a fish, and the masts blossom into a grape vine with magnificent
bunches, and as a design it is, surely, quite masterly.
The transition from black figure to red figure painting took place about 530. The
figures were no longer painted in black on the clay, the background was painted black,
the figures left in red the colour of the clay. This enabled the painter to paint in fine
detail upon the figures. It made much finer drawing possible, greater detail and
flexibility. Here is a painting by Euthymidies, one of the early red-figure masters.* It
shows Hector arming. Note the detail in the treatment of the drapery now possible by
means of the red-figure technique. This may be compared with the development of the
sculptural treatment of the drapery in the korai, and note the foreshortening of
Hector’s foot.
One of the finest of the early red-figure painters was he Berlin painter. Here is his
painting of Hermes and a Silen.* Notice the subtle and delicate play of the flowing
line. There is a fine sense of design and a superbly controlled draughtsmanship
displayed and a sure sense of grace.
And here, in our next slide, is a more homely little scene.* Painted at the bottom of a
wine cup, it served as a gentle warning on the value of temperate habits—apart I
suppose from being a little tribute to the kindly natures of Athenian women.
The Archaic period was a period of great creative achievement in Greek art. It not
only marks great achievement n the rendering of anatomy, drapery, perspective and
spatial relationship, it produced a greater freedom in drawing and design and
produced masterpieces in its own right, both in its early and its later phases. One of
these early masterpieces was the Moscophpros (dating to ca 570). It is a kouros type.
The calf bearer is bringing his sacrifice to the gods. How wonderfully are animal and
man related! The volumes o the design are broadly and simply conceived, yet there is
no sense of awkwardness, only a sure sense of control. And there is a refreshing
vigour in the carving, youthful energy in the conception which is the hallmark of
Greek art of the Archaic period. In later year Greek art was to become more
knowledgeable and to move in disturbing and profound depths, but in the archaic
period Greek art is optimistic, vigorous, experimental—in the bloom of its youth and
ready to achieve anything.