The Art of Ancient Greece
900 BCE – 31 BCE
The Greek World
Humanity was what mattered to the Greeks. Humans were the
“measure of all things”. This concept led the Greeks to create the concept of
democracy – rule by the demos, the people).
Even the gods of the Greeks in marked contrast to divinities of the
Near East, assumed human forms and had human frailties. Greek deities
differed only in that they were immortal.
The perfect individual became the Greek ideal.
Greek Origins
The Greeks appeared to have been the product of Aegean peoples
and Indo-European invaders. They never formed a single nation but
established independent city-states. Political development differed from citystate to city-state. Rule was first by kings, then by nobles and then by tyrants
who seized personal power. Finally, in Athens 2,500 years ago, the tyrants
were overthrown and democracy was established.
In 776 BCE the separate Greek-speaking states held their first
ceremonial games at Olympia. The later Greeks calculated their chronology
from these first Olympic games – the first Olympiad.
Although Greeks invented and passed on the concept and practice of
democracy, most Greek states were dominated by well-born white males and
the most admired virtues were not wisdom and justice but military valor.
Fighting among themselves, the Greeks eventually fell victim to
Macedon’s autocracy (one person possessing power) and Rome’s
imperialism.
Geometric Period
Disintegration of the Bronze Age social
order led to the disappearance of
powerful kings but also to the loss of
knowledge of how to cut masonry, paint
frescoes and sculpt in stone. In the 8th
century BCE economic conditions
improved and the population began to
grow again.
The human figure returned to Greek art
in painted surfaces of ceramic pots.
Most early Greek vases were decorated
with abstract motifs – this formative
period is called the Geometric Period.
Krater
740 BCE
The figures are silhouettes made of
triangles (frontal) with attached profile
arms and heads and a large frontal eye
following the age old convention
(canon).
Schematic figures appeared but only on
a very small scale. The small cast
bronze sculpture of a hero, Hercules,
battling a centaur.
Here, at the very beginning of Greek
figural art there is an instinct for the
natural beauty of the human figure
which will become increasingly
important throughout the development
of art.
Man and Centaur
750 BCE
Orientalizing Art
700 – 600 BCE
A masterwork of early seventh century BCE is this
Mantiklos Apollo, a small bronze statuette
dedicated to Apollo. The purpose of the votive
(offering) is to honor the god.
More important is the increased interest Greek
artists had in reproducing details of human
anatomy such as the long hair framing the
elongated neck and the pectoral and abdominal
muscles defining the triangular torso.
Mantiklos Apollo statuette
700-680 BCE
The Archaic Period
600 – 490 BCE
The first truly monumental
stone statues followed the
Egyptian canonical format of
the figure. The life-size kouros
(youth) emulates the stance of
Egyptian statues. The figure is
rigidly frontal with the left foot
advanced.
Greek kouros statues differed in
two important ways, however.
They were liberated from the
stone block support and they
were nude.
Lady of Auxerre
650-625 BCE
Kouros
600 BCE
The statue of Kroisos with
its distinctive “archaic
smile” is of a young man
who died a hero’s death in
battle. It is not, however, a
portrait but the sculptor
rendered the body in a
more naturalistic manner.
Kroisos
530 BCE
All stone statues were
painted and some of the
original paint survived. In
the Peplos Kore statue
more paint was preserved
due to the statue being
buried for over 2000 years.
Her extended arm is a
break from the frontal
compression of the
Egyptian arms at the side
and her softer female form
is even more natural.
Peplos Kore
530 BCE
Greek temples differed in function from most later religious shrines. The Greek
temple was the house of the god or goddess, not of his or her followers. The
Greeks’ insistence on proportional order guided their effort to achieve ideal forms.
In the Archaic period two basic systems evolved – the Doric order (formulated on
the mainland) and the Ionic Order (the order of choice in the Aegean islands).
Artists’ signatures appear on Archaic
painted vases. The acknowledged
master of this “black-figure” technique
was an Athenian named Exekias,
whose work was widely exported and
copied. He did not divide the surface
into bands as was the earlier practice
but placed figures of monumental
stature in a single large framed panel.
The two figures are playing a dice
game. Out of the mouth of one,
Achilles, comes the work tesara (four)
while Ajax calls out tria (three). The
figures are relaxed, the calm before
the battle. Many of the old
conventions are still present,
regardless.
Amphora, Achilles and Ajax
Playing a board game
540 BCE
Transition to the Classical
Around 500 BCE was a time of dynamic transition in architecture and architectural
sculpture. Some changes were evolutionary and others revolutionary. In the
Temple of Aphaia the pediments (triangular area above the front entrance) were
filled with life-sized statues using a range of body postures to allow for consistent
size. The statue of Athena in the center is the largest showing her superhuman
status.
West pediment of the Temple of Aphaia 500-490 BCE
Dying warrior, from west pediment
Temple of Aphaia
500-490 BCE
Most of the statues were in place around 490 BCE but the eastern end was
damaged and replaced a decade or two later. In comparison, the earlier dying
warrior (above) was conceived in the Archaic mode. His torso is rigidly frontal and
he looks directly at the spectator, smiling, despite the arrow in his chest.
The later statue (right) is
radically different with a more
natural posture, reacting to his
pain. He also does not look
out at the viewer. This stature
belongs to the Classical world
where statues move as
humans would.
Dying warrior, east pediment
Temple of Aphaia490-480 BCE
Early Classical Period
490 – 450 BCE
Early Classical sculptors were the first to break
away from the rigid and unnatural Egyptianinspired pose of the Archaic kouroi.
One of the most important works of Greek
sculpture is known as Kritios Boy, thought to have
been carved by the sculptor Kritios. Never before
had a sculptor been concerned with portraying
how a human being actually stands.
The youth shows an indication of a weight shift
onto his left leg, his right leg bent, at ease. This
weight shift is called contrapposto or
counterbalance and is what separates Classical
from Archaic. Its innovation became the hallmark
of a new vision in art.
Kritios Boy
480 BCE
The renowned Diskobolos or
Discus Thrower by Myron is
equally innovative. It is an action
statue suggesting the tension of a
coiled spring. Myron froze the
action yet kept the athlete’s face
expressionless, turning it away
from the viewer to concentrate on
the task at hand.
Myron, Diskobolos
450 BCE
A work that epitomizes the
intellectual rigor of Classical
statuary design is Doryphoros
(Spear Bearer) by Polykleitos. It
is the sculptor’s vision of the ideal
statue of a nude male athlete.
This is the culmination of the
evolution in Greek statues with his
aim to impose order on human
movement and to define
perfection– it was called chiastic
or cross-balance.
Polykleitos,
Doryphoros
450-440 BCE
High Classical Period
450 – 400 BCE
The greatest Athenian architects and sculptors of the Classical period focused
their attention on the construction and decoration of the Acropolis, a great building
program of the leader Pericles.
Just as the Spear Bearer was seen as the culmination of searching for the ideal
proportions of the human body, so too was the Parthenon viewed as the ideal
solution to the Greek architect’s quest for perfect proportions in Doric temple
design.
The temple is actually quite irregular in
shape. With end columns leaning
inward and thicker and the “header”
actually domed upward to obscure the
weight of the roof, the adjustments
were supposedly made to compensate
for optical illusions.
Parthenon, Athens
447-438 BCE
One of the most beautiful of reliefs shows the goddess
Nike adjusting her sandal – an awkward position
rendered elegant and graceful. The garments on the
figure cling so tightly they seem almost transparent.
This is a far cry from the stiff Archaic figures of not long
before.
Nike adjusting her sandal
410 BCE
Three Goddesses, east pediment sculptures of Parthenon 447-438 BCE
Late Classical Period
400 – 323 BCE
The chaos of the fourth century had a profound impact
on the art Greeks created. The Peloponnesian War
brought an end to the serene idealism of the fifth
century. Greek thought and art began to focus on the
individual and the real world of appearances rather than
on the community and the ideal world of perfect beings
and perfect buildings.
The new approach to art is apparent in the work of
Praxiteles. His gods and goddesses retained their
superhuman beauty but lost some of their solemn
grandeur. His Aphrodite caused a sensation because
the sculptor represented the goddess of love completely
nude – a rarity in early Greek art.
Praxitiles
Aphrodite of Knidos
350-340 BCE
The Corinthian capital was an
innovation of the second half of the fifth
century BCE. It consists of a double
row of acanthus leaves from which
tendrils and flowers emerge, wrapped
around a bell-shaped top. This column
did not become popular until the
Hellenistic Period in Greek art.
Corinthian capital
from the Tholos
350 BCE
Hellenistic Period
323-31 BCE
Altar of Zeus, 175 BCE
Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Near East and Egypt began a new cultural
age that art historians call Hellenistic. it lasted nearly three decades until 31 BCE
when Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and Mark Antony were defeated. An
international culture united the period and its language was Greek. The world of
the small, austere and heroic city-state passed away, as well as the power and
prestige of its center Athens. A cosmopolitan (meaning “citizen of the world”)
civilization replaced it.
The altar of Zeus shows the victory over the Gauls
presented in mythological disguise. These two
statues show the sculptor studied and actually
reproduced distinctive features. These images with
expressive faces and twisted posture show an
emotional intensity is a hallmark of the Hellenistic
period.
Gallic chieftain
killing himself and his wife
230-220 BCE
Dying Gaul
230-220 BCE
Art and nature were
combined in Nike of
Samothrace as she interacts
with the environment and
appears as a living, breathing
and intensely emotive
presence. Her wings still
beat and the wind sweeps
the drapery surrounding her
body. Water from the
fountain reflected below,
accentuating the lightness
and movement.
Venus de Milo explored the
eroticism of the nude female
form – the sculptor
intentionally teasing the
viewer.
Nike of Samothrace
190 BCE
Venus de Milo
150-125 BCE
In the opening years of the
second century BCE Rome
defeated the Macedonian army
and Greece became a Roman
province in 146 BCE. Athens
politically became just another
city in the ever-expanding
Roman Empire. Greek artists
continued to be in great
demand.
The sculpture group of Laocoon
shows agony in spectacular
fashion – the serpent-entwined
bodies struggling to free
themselves from their fate.
Laocoon and his sons, early 1st century
Greeks invented the European
spirit and changed the face of
art. Rome became heir and
passed it on to the modern
world.