Aegean Art
Cycladic Art 3200 – 1050 BC,
Minoan Art 3000 – 1100 BC
and
Mycenaean Art 1600 – 1100 BC
Cyclades Islands
The Cycladic culture,
active on the Cyclades, a
cluster of islands in central
Aegean, between 3200
and 2000 B.C., may now
be studied only by its
archaeological remains.
Seated harp player, ca. 2800–2700 B.C.;
Early Cycladic I–II
Cycladic; Grotta-Pelos culture
Marble; H. with harp 11 1/2 in. (29.2 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1947 (47.100.1)
This marble figure is one of the earliest known
representations of musicians from the Early
Cycladic period. It shows a man playing a harp
while seated on a chair with an elaborate
backrest. The musician tilts back his head and
draws his lips forward as he sings. He holds the
front of the harp with both hands, resting the
weight of the instrument against his right leg
and shoulder. His right thumb is raised as he
sounds a note and listens with large hollowed
ears to the resonating string. The muscles of his
arms and his carefully articulated elbow joints,
fingers, and ears are modeled with uncommon
sensitivity.
The back of this musician's head was once
painted, perhaps indicating a close-fitting cap.
A belt, which may be understood as part of a
penis sheath, encircles his waist. On the top of
the harp is an ornament carved in the shape of
the head of a waterfowl.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/02/eus/hod_47.100.1.htm
Cycladic Women
http://www.cycladic-m.gr/
The
majority of
Cycladic
Figurines show women, nude
with the arms folded over the
belly. We do not know whether
they were meant to show
mortals or deities, or even
whether the Islanders venerated
a number of deities, like the
later-period Greeks, or simply
worshipped
one
'Mother
Goddess'. In this case, the
figurines
may
have
been
conceived as representations of
the Goddess, or companions to
her.
Although male
figurines were
the anomaly,
this figure is
thought to be a
male making a
toast.
Cycladic Pottery
Cycladic pots come in different types, and this
seems to suggest a variety of functions, some of
which may have been ritual. Symbolism is always
difficult to discern when texts or other
corroboratory information is lacking, so Cycladic
scholarship is often a matter of educated
speculation.
Objects like the clay 'frying pans', of which the
Museum of Cycladic Art exhibits a representative
selection, are mysterious to us. They are finely
made and decorated, and do not seem to have
been functional (definitely not kitchen utensils, as
their nick-name might suggest). They may have
been associated to sea-faring, but we possess no
positive evidence to support that interpretation.
http://www.cycladic-m.gr/
Minoan and Myceneaen Art
Minoan art is art that comes
from the island of Crete
where as Mycenaean Art
comes from the Greek
mainland.
The Mycenaeans and the
Minoans actively traded and
there styles were closely tied
Myceneaens were known as
fierce warriors and it is
thought that they eventually
caused the downfall of the
Minoans.
Minoan Pottery
Pyxis, ca. 1400–1100 B.C.;
Late Minoan IIIB
Minoan; Greece, Crete
Terracotta; Diam. 10 1/4 in.
(26 cm)
Gift of Alexander and
Helene Abraham, in honor
of Carlos A. Picón, 1999
(1999.423
Cretan exports consisted of timber,
foodstuffs, cloth, and, most likely, olive
oil, as well as finely crafted luxury goods.
In exchange, the Minoans imported tin,
copper, gold, silver, emery, fine stones,
ivory, and some manufactured objects.
For their basic needs, however, the
Minoans on Crete were self-sufficient.
During this period, great strides were
made in metalworking and pottery—
exquisite filigree, granulated jewelry, and
carved seal stones reveal an
extraordinary sensitivity to materials and
dynamic forms. These characteristics are
equally apparent in a variety of media,
including clay, gold, stone, ivory, and
bronze.
Minoan Fresco
Like their Egyptian contemporaries
living 500 miles southeast of
them, the Minoans illustrated
figures with legs standing in profile
and eyes, in profiled faces, staring
at the viewer. So, the Minoans
were not entirely revolutionary
painters. Minoan artists did,
however, figure out how to show
torsos in profile. They drew bodies
as working wholes, not as figures
awkwardly twisted in the middle.
More importantly, the outlines of
their figures are rounded and
lively. By comparison, the figures
in Egyptian scenes appear stiff and
uncomfortable.
“The Fisherboy” was excavated
from a house preserved beautifully
by volcanic ash.
Metalwork and
Decoration
pendent with bees,
1800-1700 b.C. gold,
lenght 0,05 m
Hiraklion, Hiraklion
Museum
Palace of Minos at Knossos, just south
of Iraklion. This was the largest and
most important of the Minoan palaces
in Crete, and has been partially
reconstructed, chiefly by the original
excavator, Sir Arthur Evans. The name
“Minoan,” derived from the mythical
king Minos, was used by Evans to
designate the Bronze Age civilization of
Crete (3000-1000 b.c.).
This fresco, Three Minoan Women, looks
so fresh that it could almost be a modern
painting instead of a 3500-year -old artifact.
The Minoans executed paintings
in a technique called "fresco,"
which may have contributed to
the liveliness of their works.
Derived from the Italian word
for "fresh," fresco describes
paintings made by applying
water-based paints to wet
plaster. When dry, the plaster
bonds with the color, making
the painting extremely durable.
The colors are vivid: red, blue,
yellow, and green, as well as
black and white. They are
applied without shading, in flat,
bright designs that are easily
identifiable, even from a
distance.
Toreador fresco
Minoan
fresco
1600-1400 B.C
The Mycenaean octopus vase is highly
stylized,
unlike the more naturalistic Minoan vase.
The Minoan octopus vase, known as the
Dendra Vase, is a famous example of the
naturalistic, fluid, style that characterizes
Minoan painting.
Mycenaean is the term
applied to the art and
culture of Greece from ca.
1600 to 1100 B.C. The
name derives from the
site of Mycenae in the
Peloponnese, where once
stood a great Mycenaean
fortified palace. Mycenae
is celebrated by Homer as
the seat of King
Agamemnon, who led the
Greeks in the Trojan War.
Lion’s Gate Fortress
Mask of Agamemnon
Mycenean
golden death mask
1350 B.C.
An example of repousee. A process
that involves hammering metal.
Wall Painting
(from the
Palace of
Nestor)
Depicting a
Mycenaean
Warrior
Lyre Player
(also from the Palace of Nestor)
Ivory pyxis (jewel box) from
a tomb at Thebes,
Mycenaean period, 13th
century BC
Goldwork
Vaphio Cup, c. 1500 B.C
Royal Tomb (Tholos) socalled Treasury of
Atreus, c. 1300-1250.
A Prelude to Classical Greek Art?
The Harvest Rython was made of steatite (green-brown
soapstone) and exhibits in low relief a group of peasants
walking to, or returning from olive harvest. The bare stone
vase we see today was originally gilded with gold hammered
to paper-thin thickness (gold leaf). The overlapping bodies
create an orderly unit of forms while the raised sticks (for
shaking the olive trees) above their heads generate a band of
chaotic rhythmic motion. While the composition is exquisite
in itself, the expression of the figures is unprecedented. The
manifestation of human emotions in the faces of the figures
has not been witnessed in the history of art prior to the
Minoans, and the depiction of the face as the vehicle of
human emotions reveals a people who were increasingly
aware of the human condition and inner world. The human
being and his inner world as the center of attention, along
with the importance of emotions became a central driving
force during the later Classical and Hellenistic periods of
ancient Greece. Eons later, during the Classical Greek period,
concealment of emotions was of paramount importance in
art as well as in life, while during the Hellenistic era robust
exhibition of emotion in art was revered.
In this respect, the joyous harvesters from Agia Triada, provide a
minute point of reference for the direction the cultural
compass of western man was beginning to point towards: the
direction inward towards one's self.