Ancient Greek Art
The Influence of Ancient Greek Art:
• The arts of ancient Greece have influence on the culture of many
countries all over the world, particularly in the areas of sculpture and
architecture. In the West, the art of the Roman Empire was largely
derived from Greek models. In the East, Alexander the Great's
conquests initiated several centuries of exchange between Greek,
Central Asian and Indian cultures, resulting in Greco-Buddhist art,
with ramifications as far as Japan. Following the Renaissance in
Europe, the humanist aesthetic and the high technical standards of
Greek art inspired generations of European artists. Well into the 19th
century, the classical tradition derived from Greece dominated the art
of the western world.
• The art of Ancient Greece is usually divided stylistically into different
periods: the Geometric/Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic. The
Geometric age is usually dated from about 1000 BC, although in
reality little is known about art in Greece during the preceding 200
years (traditionally known as the Greek Dark Ages), the period of the
7th century BC witnessed the slow development of the Archaic style
as exemplified by the black-figure style of vase painting. The onset of
the Persian Wars (480 BC to 448 BC) is usually taken as the dividing
line between the Archaic and the Classical periods, and the reign
of Alexander the Great(336 BC to 323 BC) is taken as separating the
Classical from the Hellenistic periods.
• In reality, there was no sharp transition from one period to another.
Forms of art developed at different speeds in different parts of the
Greek world, and as in any age some artists worked in more
innovative styles than others where the styles may overlap.
Archaic Period:
• During the archaic period (c.660–480 B.C.) sculpture emerged as a principal form
of artistic expression. Dating from the beginning of this period are magnificent
statues of nude walking youths, the kouroi, which suggest Egyptian prototypes
but which are distinctive in stylization and tension of movement
(e.g., Kouros, Metropolitan Mus.). Draped female sculptures from the archaic
period suggest Middle Eastern influence (e.g., Hera of Samos, Louvre).
• Vase painters depicted mythological scenes and, toward the end of the archaic
period, many scenes from contemporary life. Outstanding was the Athenian
school of black-figured vase painting led by the painter Execias. The appearance
of the red-figured style of vase painting (c.525 B.C.) showed increased concern
with the rendering of three-dimensional space and naturalistic detail. Euthymides
and Euphronius were among the great early masters in this medium. About a
generation later masterpieces were produced by the painters Brygos and Duris.
Archaic:
Classical Period: (Early, Golden Age, Late)
• In the early classical, or transitional, period (c.480–450 B.C.) a new
humanism began to find its aesthetic expression in terms of a perfect
balance between verisimilitude and abstraction of form. The largest
surviving single group of sculpture is from the temple of Zeus at
Olympia. Although certain conventions in rendering hair and
draperies persist from the archaic period, the magnificent marble
figures from the pediments reveal a new kind of insight into the
structure of the human figure. Rare surviving works in bronze are the
famous Charioteer (museum, Delphi) and the Zeus or Poseidon found
in an ancient shipwreck off Cape Artemision (National Mus., Athens).
Early Classical:
Golden Age
• The height of the classical period, or Golden Age (c.450–400 B.C.), was the
time of Pericles and Thucydides, of the great dramatists Sophocles and
Euripides, and of the young Socrates. The aesthetic ideal based on the
representation of human character as an expression of a divine system
embodying a rational ethic and ordered reality was integral to the culture.
The sculptor Polykleitos sought to arrive at a rational norm for the
structure of the ideal human figure.
• The most magnificent original sculptures from this period are those from
the temples of the Athenian acropolis. Earliest of these are
the Parthenon sculptures including the frieze representing the Panathenaic
procession and the pedimental sculptures (see Elgin Marbles). The
Parthenon sculptors are anonymous, but Phidias is believed to have drawn
up the designs. Somewhat later in date are the sculptures of the
Hephaesteum, the Erechtheum, and the Nike Balustrade.
Golden Age:
Late Classical Period:
• n the late classical period (400–300 B.C.) there was increased emphasis on
the expression of emotion in art. Sculptural works attributed to Praxiteles
are characterized by elegance of proportion and graceful beauty. Powerful
emotional effects are typical of the sculpture in the style of Scopas, and a
new feeling for individualization and three-dimensional movement
appeared in the art of Lysippos. Other sculptors of the period between 500
and 300 B.C. were Myron, Kresilas, Timotheus, and Bryaxis; painters
included Polygnotus, Apollodorus, Zeuxis, Parrhasius, and Apelles. Aside
from literary references, little is known about the actual work of these
men. The style of the sculptors is adduced from fragments and Roman
copies. Even less is known about the painters. From the vase paintings
some reconstruction of the Greek school of mural painting is possible.
Late Classical:
Hellenistic Period:
• With the conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek art entered its last great phase, the
Hellenistic period (see Hellenistic civilization. The importance of Athens gradually
declined, and cultural centers rose at Pergamum, Rhodes, and Alexandria. Masterpieces
of this period include the Nike ( Victory ) of Samothrace and Aphrodite of Melos (both:
Louvre) and the Pergamum Frieze (Berlin Mus.). Especially charming among the minor
arts are terra-cotta figurines from Tanagra. Marked tendencies toward heightening
spatial illusionism are revealed in sculpture and, judging from Roman copies, prevailed
also in painting (e.g., Odyssey Landscapes, Vatican).
• From the 2d cent. B.C. onward copies of former masterpieces of sculpture, which only
approximate their prototypes, appear frequently along with vigorous group compositions
closely related to the Pergamene school (e.g., Laocoön and His Sons, Vatican). Greek and
Roman artists produced these copies of former masterpieces for private patrons or the
Roman state, and most of our knowledge of classical Greek art is derived from them.
Although the inventive originality of Greek culture declined at this time, its influence
remained of paramount importance during the Roman and Byzantine periods, and has
continued to be an inspiring force throughout the history of Western culture.
Hellenistic: