Art 381, Handout 3: Archaic Greek Art and Architecture

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ART 381, HANDOUT 2: ORIENTALIZING GREEK ART AND ARCHITECTURE

Orientalizing

Orientalizing Period: in art, the period between ca. 725/700 and 600 B.C., when Greek artists adapted many motifs from the art of the ancient Near East. Corinth was the artistic leader in this period.

Protocorinthian: a style of painting at Corinth ca. 725-625 B.C. Primarily miniature and decorative, but included the earliest works in the black-figure technique (ca. 675 B.C. or earlier). The earliest Protocorinthian uses outline drawing and dates to the late 8th century (Aryballos, c. 720), but the developed style is black-figure and usually features animal friezes with any empty spaces filled with floral motifs (olpe, 625 BC). The best Corinthian painting tends to be miniature. The finest painted pots are rendered in black figure with much added colored slip, and are thus polychrome. They date around 650-640 BC. The “MacMillan aryballos” has a molded lions head mouth for pouring, and has a fight between warriors on its body. It is only 3” tall. The “Chigi vase,” an olpe or pitcher that is 10” tall, has three friezes on its body, of which the top shows a hoplite phalanx (or heavy infantry formation). The middle frieze shows a cavalcade, the bottom a rabbit hunt, including a scene in which a Greek and his dog surprise a black man! Beneath the handle is the only mythological scene, of the Judgement of Paris, in which the Trojan prince judged Aphrodite the most beautiful goddess, and thus started the Trojan War (since Aphrodite gave Paris Helen, Queen of Sparta, as his award for favoring her).

Black-figure: a style of vase-painting in which the figures are drawn in silhouette with the black gloss, and internal details then incised through the gloss with a graver.

Protoattic: an exuberant style of vase-painting used in Attica and the nearby island of Aegina ca. 700-625 B.C. Characterized by large and monumental figures drawn in outline. Initially the style is “sub-geometric. “ The Analatos amphora of c. 700-675 shows a chariot procession on its body, while its neck has a dance of men and women, and a frieze of marching Sphinxes. Most of the figures are drawn in outline, but there is much sort of geometric fill, and male figures are rendered in silhouette. The Eleusis Amphora, ca. 650 BC, a 5’ tall grave marker, has the Blinding of Polyphemus the Cyclops (from The Odyssey?) on the neck, while the body has two Gorgons pursuing Perseus after he has killed Medusa. A conemporary amphora may have been made on Aigina, where it was found, and shows Odysseus escaping from Polyphemus’ cave beneath a sheep. By 625-600 BC Attic potters had learned the black-figure technique from Corinth. A 4’ tall amphora called the “Nessos Amphora” shows the Gorgons pursuing Preseus on the body, while the neck has Herakles killing Nessor the Centaur.

Cycladic: the seventh century was the last period when the Greek islands were major sources of Greek art. The potters of Rhodes created a handsome outline style with animal friezes called “Wild Goat” from the most common beast depicted. One of the best painted vases is a pitcher with a plastic griffin head mouth, and subgeometric scenes on the body

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of animals and animal combats. The most interesting Cycladic vases, however, are not painted. A 41/2’ tall vase found on Mykonos has relief panels (imitating enlay?) with scenes of the Fall of Troy (including the wooden horse on the neck). It seems to date around 650 BC, and is not unique (although other vases are only known in fragments).

Daidalic sculpture: Greek sculpture in the 7th century, so-called because the earliest sculptor was believed to be the mythic artist Daidalos. Daidalic sculpture is characterized by simple forms, triangular faces, large eyes, and wig-like hair. The relief of “The Lady in the Window” found at Mycenae (c. 64) shows the facial type well. The drapery swaths the anatomy of the females, and feet and arms peek of the cloth. Male sculp[ture strats out as stylized nudes and ends up more anatomically correct.

Kouros : Greek for youth. In Archaic art, a statue of an ideal nude young man, shown striding and frontal. Used in Archaic art for dedications/ tomb statues, and cult statues (of male gods); the exact meaning therefore depended on context. In the Orientalizing period, generally seen in statuettes of warriors, who wear a belt (and occasionally a helmet): Mantiklos “Apollo” (700-675), Delphi Kouros (c. 625).

Kneeling Youth ivory: once part of a lyre, this kneeling nude youth of c. 625 was found at the Heraion on Samos, and is heavily influenced from the Near East. It probably shows a worshipper.

Kore : Greek for a young girl. In art a statue of an ideal draped girl. A characteristic Archaic sculptural type used for dedications, tomb statues, and (probably) cult images of goddesses: again meaning of a particular figure depended on context )and sometimes on a surviving inscription). In the Orientalizing period, seen in works such as the Dedication of Nikandre (640), and the Lady of Auxerre (640).

Orientalizing architecture: basically still religious only, the 7th century saw the evolution of the later orders, but only in wood and clay. The Temple of Apollo at Thermon (c. 640 BC) preserves painted terracotta metopes and antefixes, and therefore shows the basic evolution of the Doric order. The metopes painted style looks similar to contemporary (Proto) Corinthian. The temple itself is very long and narrow, with a single row of columns down the cella, and a 6 X 15 column peristyle. A small temple at Prinias (625-600) on Crete has sculptured decoration, including a continuous frieze of horsemen. Its sculpted lintel is highly unusual, and shows that this was period of experimentation; the style of the sculpture is Daedalic, but shows Near Eastern influence. The earliest Ionic sanctuary is preserved on Samos, where the temple was rebuilt with a 6 X 18 peristyle around 650 BC. The temple was still long and shedlike, but had a double row of columns across its front. The sanctuary there also has the earliest stoa, a long open colonnade with wooden columns. Megara Hyblaia in Sicily preserves the earliest planned Agora or civic center (market and governmental center, dated 650-625. Finally, the Sanctuary of Athena in Asia Minor c. 600 preserves a large number of variant capital types, which shows that the architectural orders were not standardized during the Oreinetalizing age.

ART 381, HANDOUT 2: ARCHAIC GREEK ART AND ARCHITECTURE

I. Temples and other architecture

Temple of Hera, Olympia: Doric, built ca. 590 BC. Columns were originally of wood, later replaced gradually by stone. 6 X 16.

Temple of Apollo, Corinth: Doric, built ca. 560 BC. 6 X 15, with stumpy proportions (height of the façade columns is 4.15X the lower diameter) . Has a curved stylobate.

Temple of Artemis, Corcyra: 8 X 17 Doric temple built c. 580 BC. Best known for its pedimental sculpture.

AphaiaTemple, Aigina: well-preserved late Archaic temple built ca. 500-490 BC. Features nearly Classical proportions (6 X 12 columns), slender columns (H 5.3 LD). Its pedimental sculpture is important.

Athenian Treasury, Delphi: a small Doric building built ca. 490 BC. Features sculpted metopes.

Rhoikos Temple of Hera, Samos: Ionic, built ca. 570-560 B.C. Architects were Rhoikos and Theodoros. Had doubled colonnade (8 X 21) around it, hence called a "dipteral" (two passageways around) temple. Was 109 X 55 yards on its top foundation course! Burned ca. 540-30 B.C.; its replacement (the "Polykrates" Temple) took four centuries to complete!

Temple of Artemis, Ephesus: Ionic, begun ca. 560. Again huge (8 X21, 55 X 126 yards) and dipteral. Had sculpted column bases.

Temple C, Selinus: Doric, built ca. 560 B.C. Shows Ionic influence (from the Rhoikos Temple, Samos??) in that has doubled colonnade across east (entry to cella), and an exceptionally wide passageway between the colonnade and the inner building (as if it were dipteral). 6 X 17.

Siphnian Treasury, Delphi: an elaborate small Ionic building featuring a sculpted frieze, pedimental sculpture, and caryatids (statues of girls serving as columns). Dated to 530-525 B.C.

Temple of Hera I, Paestum: often called the "Basilica," built ca. 550, has an Archaic plan (only one row of interior columns, 9 X 18 columns), but features entasisof its columns (they are cigar-shaped) and an Ionicizing molding at the base of the capitals.

Agora, Athens: the marketplace at Atme\ns had been built up into a civic center that included a council house (bouleuterion), a stoa, a lawcourt, and temples. A public fountain house therewas built in the late 6th century that is seen on a number of black-figure vases.

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II. Architectural Sculpture

Pedimental Sculpture: the pediment, or triangular space defined by the cornice of a temple, was regarded as a proper place for sculptural adornment. The problem posed by this triangular space to Greek sculptors was how to fit human figures of the same scale (or size) into it while telling a story. The earliest examples of pedimental sculpture do not attempt these goals, rather show paratactic (means: standing side by side without

interaction--the Geneleos' Group on Samos shows a family posed in a paratactic composition) scenes, often of monsters meant to guard the temple (Medusa from the Temple of Artemis, Korkyra, ca. 580 BC, Three-Bodied Feller from the Athenian Acropolis, ca. 560 BC). The Siphnian Treasury's East Pediment is the earliest pediment to show figures of approximately the same scale in a unified story (Apollo and Herakles Contest Possession of the Delphic tripod, ca. 530). By the time of the pediments of the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina (ca. 500-480 BC) sculptors have mastered the problem of fitting humans into the compositional space, and begin to refine the psychology of the myth depicted and the unity of the overall composition (compare the West to the East Pediment of the Aphaia Temple).

Sculpted Metopes: generally seen in the Archaic period only on smaller Doric buildings such as Treasuries. Most of the surviving examples from the sixth century BC come from Sicily or southern Italy: Temple C at Selinus, ca. 560 (Herakles and the Kerkopes, c. 560 BC), Temple of Hera at Foce del Sele near Paestum (Herakles and the Kerkopes; Suicide of Ajax, c. 570-560 BC) The examples from the Sikyonian "Treasury" at Delphi (ca. 560 BC, Cattle Raid of the Dioskouroi) show that the type was used early on the Greek mainland. The metopes from the Athenian Treasury at Delphi (ca. 490 BC, Herakles and the Hind) show daring three-dimensional poses which can be paralleled on contemporary red-figured vases, and herald the transition to Classical art.

Sculpted Friezes: as with sculpted metopes on Doric buildings, rare except on smaller Ionic buildings in the sixth century. The Siphnian Treasury at Delphi (ca. 530) preserves the best example of this type, and, on its eastern and northern sides, shows an interest in three-dimensional figural groupings that looks towards the metopes of the Athenian Treasury: Battles at Troy and the Battle of Gods and Giants.

III. Freestanding and Relief Sculpture

Kouros: a striding nude male, generally seen in the prime of life (i.e. ca. 18-25 years of age). Generally dedicated to a god as an offering, or used on a tomb. May at times (particularly if he holds an attribute) depict a god. Meant to be seen from the front only, these figures do not twist or turn at all, rather march rigidly towards the direction they look. Initially appears in statuettes in the seventh century BC, but beginning around 600 BC, the pose was borrowed from Egyptian sculpture, and early features such as the belt worn by Daedalic examples disappears. Early examples are quite schematic in their anatomy (New York Kouros, Sounion Kouros, Kleobis and Biton, all ca. 600-580 BC),

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During the sixth century the depiction of musculature etc. is consistently improved from generation to generation (Ischys Kouros from Samos, 580-570 BC, Calfbearer, ca. 560 BC, Kroisos or the Anavysos kouros, ca. 530 BC), until by the early fifth century the male form is depicted as it is seen in Nature (Aristodikos, ca. 500 BC). Almost all Archaic kouroi are carved in marble, but the earliest bronze kouros, probably an Apollo, survives from Athens and dates around 520 BC.

Kleobis and Biton: two Argive lads who hauled their priestess mother's cart to a festival and who expired that night. Illustrates the Greek belief that a lucky human dies at the time of his or her greatest achievement and fame. Statues (kouroi ) of the two boys were dedicated at Delphi ca. 580 B.C.

The Rampin Horseman: the earliest surviving equestrian statue, depicting a nude aristocratic youth on horseback c. 560 BC. Named after the Frenchman who first found the head.

Kore: a draped female in the prime of life, generally dedicated to a god as an offering (a priestess of ideal worshipper), but also used on tombs. May at times (particularly if she holds an attribute) depict a god. Meant to be seen from the front only, just as the kouros. Like the kouros series, Archaic sculptors consistently improved the depiction of the female anatomy from generation to generation. Daedalic examples simply stand, and often hold an offering or make some gesture of veneration (Nikandre's Dedication, ca. 650 B.C., Dame d'Auxerre , ca. 625 B.C). This continues to around the middle of the 6th century BC. The Dedication of Cheramyes from Samos, ca. 560, and the Berlin kore, ca. 560) are examples of early Archaic korai. About 550 B.C. (Geneleos' Group, Samian Heraion, has the first surviving examples) Korai begin to stride. Athenian korai still stand quietly until around 530 BC (Phrasikleia). A notable series survives from the Athenian Acropolis, of which the charming Peplos Kore (ca. 530) wears Dorian dress and stands quietly, but the others wear the Ionian chiton and mantle, and stride (such as the so-called Kore fro Chios, c. 520). These include Acropolis 682 (ca. 520), and the late Acropolis 674 or La Delicata , which corresponds to Aristodikos in the kouros series (ca. 500). Around 485 BC, Euthydikos' Kore (Acropolis 686) marks the shift from Archaic to Early Classical style. She is the last true kore; although statues of young girls remained popular in later Greek art, they use different and more naturalistic poses. All lifesize Archaic korai are carved in marble, although a statuette of the type survives in Samos (height 11”).

Chiton: a linen dress, pinned at the shoulders and usually worn with a woolen mantle or shawl (called a himation. Typical of Ionian women.

Peplos: a woolen dress, pinned on one side and belted at the waist. Has an overfold over the older body for modesty. Typical of Dorian women.

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The Geneleos Group: portraits of a wealthy family, set up in a row near the Temple of Hera on Samos around 550 BC. The group included two striding korai, and a clothed kouros, but also a seated matron (Phileia) and her reclining husband.

Naxian Sphinx: a statue of an (originally) Egyptian monster, a winged and lion-bodied woman was put on top of a tall column at Delphi by the people of Naxos around 560 BC. The Sphnix was used by the Greeks to mark graves.

Grave stele of Aristion: carved by Aristokles in Athens around 510 BC, this shows a warrior in armor in profile.

Polyxena Sarcophagus: found in the Troad, this carved coffin of 520-500 BC, this shows Neoptolemos, Achilles’ son, cutting the Trojan princess’ Polyxena’s throat over Achilles tomb.

III. Painting and Vasepainting

Black-Figured technique: a mode of decoration of painted pottery. The figures were painted in silhouette in the black gloss, then details were incised through the gloss after it has dried. The background to the scenes is left the color of the clay (called the "ground"). Lends itself to decorative compositions. Invented in Corinth around 675 B.C., it was adopted by Attic artists around 625 B.C. After red-figure was invented ca. 530 B.C., black figure gradually declined in popularity, and disappears (save in very special cases) ca. 475 BC.

Red-Figured Technique: invented ca. 530 BC in Athens, it is the reverse of black figure. The artist painted the figures in outline and their inner details with a brush on the clay ground (Attic clay fires red). The background is painted with the black gloss, which makes the figures stand out.

Sophilos: Attic artist active around 580 BC. Used a style based on contemporary Corinthian pottery (animal friezes) together with a typically Attic interest in depicting myths (Dinos with the Marriage of Peleus and Thetis).

Francois Vase: a large "volute" krater potted by Ergotimos and painted by Kleitias ca. 570-560 B.C. in Athens. It shows in a miniaturistic style friezes of scenes from myth, especially those associated with Achilles and his father Peleus. The vase is named after its first owner.

The Amasis Painter: black-figured painter who worked for the potter Amasis ca. 560-525 B.C. (they are almost certainly the same person). He was probably an Ionian, and was named after an Egyptian Pharoah (king) of the late 7th century B.C. He often painted scenes of Dionysos and his entourage whooping it up in a highly decorative style (Dionysos and Maenads, c. 540-530). .

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Exekias: the greatest of Attic black-figured artists, active ca. 550-525 B.C. He was able, within the decorative black-figured technique to invest his figures with monumentality and emotion (Achilles Kills Penthesilea, Ajax and Achilles Game, Suicide of Ajax, all 540-530 BC).