Art Of Ancient Greece
The art of ancient Greece has exercised a considerable influence on the culture of many countries from ancient times to nowadays, especially in the fields of sculpture and the architecture. To the west, the art of the Roman Empire was largely inspired by Greek models.
To the east, the conquests of Alexander the Great have led to several centuries of exchange between Greek, Central Asian and Indian cultures, which gave rise to the Greco-Buddhist art , with ramifications up in Japan itself. After the Renaissance in Europe , the aesthetic humanist and sophisticated techniques of Greek art inspired generations of European artists. Until the nineteenth century , classical Greek art has greatly influenced the art of the Western world.
Summary |
Definitions
The art historians generally define ancient Greek art as art produced in the region speaking Greek between the tenth and the first century BC. AD They generally exclude the art of Civilization Minoan and Mycenaean , which existed between the fifteenth and the twelfth century BC. AD Although he acted in Greek-speaking cultures, there is little or no continuity between the art of these civilizations and later Greek art.
At the other end of the scale of time, art historians generally agree that the ancient Greek art ends with the establishment of Roman culture in the Greek-speaking world. After that date, they estimate that the Greco-Roman art, despite his monumental achievements, was inspired by Greek models older and has slowly declined in quality until the advent of Christianity put an end to the Classic Period to the fifth century (for the following periods, see Roman Art and Byzantine Art ).
There is also a question mark over the word "art" in ancient Greece. The Greek word for "art" is / tekhne, but above all it connotes the "jurisdiction" or "skill". Painters and sculptors Greeks gained their technical learning, often initiated by their father and then by wealthy patrons. Although some have become known and admired, they did not have the same social status as poets or playwrights. It was not until the Hellenistic period (after 320 BC. ) that artists are beginning to be recognized as a social category in its own right
Styles and periods
The art of ancient Greece is traditionally divided into three stylistic periods: the Archaic Period, Classical Period and the Hellenistic period.
As mentioned above, the Archaic period usually starts in the tenth century BC. AD , although in reality we know little about Greek art during the past 200 years: it is the " dark ages ". The Median wars ( 480 - 448 BC. ) are often chosen as a boundary between the Archaic and Classical period, the reign of Alexander the Great ( 336 - 323 BC. ) separates the classical period of the Hellenistic period.
In reality, there was no sharp transition from one period to another. Different art forms were developed at different rates in the Greek world and throughout history as some artists worked in more innovative styles and avant-garde than others.
Ruins and remains of ancient Greek art
The ancient Greek art has survived to us in the form of sculpture and architecture but also in forms of art as the most minor manufacturing coins, pottery and jewelry. Archaic period, much of painted pottery, but these remnants give a misleading impression of the extent of Greek artistic expression. The Greeks, like other European cultures, regarded painting as the noblest form of art. The painter Polygnotus of Thasos , who worked in the mid- fifth century BC. BC , was considered by the Greeks in the same way what were considered later Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo.
Greek painters worked mainly on wooden panels, which were rapidly damaged after 400 BC. AD , because they were not being maintained. Today, little has survived of Greek painting. There remains some examples of painted pottery and paintings on the walls of tombs, especially in Macedonia and Italy , but also to Alexandria to Cyrene or Thessaly. Masterpieces of Greek painting we have only a few Roman copies, but most are of inferior quality. The paint on pottery, which is still much remains, gives an idea of the aesthetics of Greek painting. However, the techniques used were very different from those used for larger paintings.
Even in the areas of sculpture and the architecture , only a few works have survived. For Christians the Fourth and fifth century , destroying a pagan work was an act of piety. The marble was used as burnt lime, and this was the fate of many statues from antiquity to the Middle Ages. Similarly, lack of metal during the Middle Ages , it destroyed the bronze statues of the ancient Greek era. The statues have survived had been buried or forgotten, or in the case of bronzes, lost at sea
The vast majority of Greek buildings have not survived to our days: either they were looted during the wars, or they were removed to use the materials or they have been destroyed by frequent earthquakes in Greece. Only a few buildings, like the Parthenon and the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens have been preserved. Of the four wonders of the world built by the Greeks (the statue of Zeus at Olympia , the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus , the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria ), none survived.
As for the archaic period, painted pottery and sculpture are almost the only art forms that have been preserved in quality and quantity. The painting was in its infancy at that time and no work has spent the centuries. Although the coinage struck was invented in the mid- seventh century BC. AD , it was not widespread in Greece until the sixth century BC. AD (see economy of ancient Greece ).
Ceramics
- See the detailed article: Ancient Greek pottery.
The ancient Greeks were producing pottery for daily use and not for display, the trophies won at games are the exceptions. Much of the pottery consists of drinking vessels such as amphorae , the craters (containers for mixing wine and water), water jars ( hydria ), bowls of Libation , jugs and bowls. Painted burial urns were also found. Many terracotta figurines were also produced, mainly for use as offerings in temples. During the Hellenistic period , a large variety of pottery was produced, but most have little artistic interest.
During the earliest periods, even small Greek cities produced pottery for the local market. The styles and designs were so varied. Towards the end of the Archaic and early Classical period, however, Corinth and Athens dominated the market for pottery. Their production was exported throughout the Greek world, driving out local varieties. Productions of Corinth and Athens were found of Spain to the Ukraine and they are so common in Italy at the eighteenth century they were classified in the art Etruscan. Most of these pots are mass production of inferior quality. In fact, from the fourth century BC. BC , pottery became an industry and pottery painting ceased to be an important art form.
The history of ancient Greek pottery is divided stylistically into periods:
- Protogeometric the period from about 1050 BC. AD ;
- Geometric period from about 900 BC. AD ;
- the recent period geometric or Archaic from about 750 BC. AD ;
- black-figure period from 700 BC. AD ;
- and red-figure period from 530 BC. AD.
The range of colors that could be used on pots was restricted by the cooking techniques: black, white, red and yellow colors were the most common. During the first three periods, pottery kept their light natural color with some black patterns.
Pottery with black figures, with details in red and white and incisions to the contours and details is from Corinth ( 700 BC. ) and was introduced into Attica a generation later. It was very common until about 500 BC. BC red-figure pottery, invented about 530 BC. AD , reversed this tradition, creating pottery painted black adorned with red designs. This style was slowly disappearing the previous one.
During periods Protogeometric and geometric Greek pottery was decorated with abstract patterns. During the following periods with cosmetic changes and improved techniques of pottery, decorations took the form of human figures, often representing gods and heroes of history and Greek mythology. The scenes of battle and hunting were also popular, with representations of horses, the Greeks worshiped. In recent times, erotic performances, heterosexual or pederasty became common.
Greek pottery is frequently signed, sometimes by the potter himself and occasionally by the painter. Hundreds of painters are, however, identifiable by their artistic style.
Sculpture
The sculpture is by far the most important form of art reached us from ancient Greece, even if only a few vestiges remain. Greek sculpture, often in the form of Roman copies, has greatly influenced the Italian Renaissance and remains the classic model of European culture until the late nineteenth century.
The Greeks regarded the early representation of the human body was the most important topic of artistic work. Since their gods had human form, there was no distinction between the sacred and the profane, the human body was both secular and sacred. A naked man could be so easily Apollo or Hercules or an Olympic boxing champion. During the Archaic period, the most important form of sculpture was the kouros (plural kouroi), a naked man standing. The kore (plural korai), a woman standing, was also widespread but as Greek society did not allow the exposure of female nudity (until the fourth century BC. ) she is still dressed.
The Archaic Period
As for the pottery, the Greeks did not produce sculptures for art exhibitions. The statues were commissioned by aristocrats or by the state and used for memorials, as offerings to temples, oracles and sanctuaries (as is often shown in statues), or on graves. During the Archaic period, the statues were never representations of contemporary characters. They were the representation of an ideal of beauty, piety, honor and sacrifice. It was always representations of young men, between adolescence and adulthood, even when the statues were placed in tombs of persons (suspected) older.
The Classical Period
During the classical period, there was a revolution in Greek statuary, usually associated with the rise of Athenian democracy and the end of the aristocratic culture associated with kouroi. The Classical period saw changes both in style and in function of sculpture. Poses became more natural (see the Charioteer of Delphi) and the technique evolved much in describing the motion of bodies. From the fifth century BC. AD , the statues began to represent real people.
During this period, the statues had other uses. The great public buildings of the Classical era as the Parthenon in Athens , created the need for decorative statuary, particularly to fill the triangular capitals: an aesthetic problem and a technical challenge that did much to stimulate innovation in sculpture. In these sculptures, there are only fragments, the most famous of them being the Parthenon marbles, most of which are visible at the British Museum.
Funeral statuary evolved kouroi of static and impersonal to the Archaic Period highly personalized family groups of the classical period. These monuments are most often located around Athens, which were at the time the cemeteries. Although some of these statues represent idealized situations: the mother in tears, the good son, and they accounted for more real people. What remains the most intimate and touching the ancient Greek civilization.
The greatest works of the classical period, the statue of Zeus at Olympia and the statue of Athena Parthenos (both made by Phidias or under his direction), have been lost, although smaller copies and good descriptions remain. Their size and magnificence prompted several Byzantine emperors to confiscate them to get them to Constantinople , where they were later destroyed in fires.
The Hellenistic period
The transition from the classical period to the Hellenistic period occurred during the fourth century BC. AD After the conquests of Alexander the Great (from 336 to 323 BC. ), Greek culture spread widely until India. It thus became more diverse and more influenced by Eastern cultures, to the detriment of quality and originality of the works. New centers of Greek culture grew at Alexandria , Antioch , Pergamum , and other cities. Towards the second century BC. AD , the growing power of Rome absorbed much of Greek traditions and a growing proportion of its products.
During this period sculpture became more naturalistic. Common people, women, children, animals and domestic scenes became the subjects of sculpture, which were commissioned by wealthy families for the adornment of their houses and their gardens. Realistic portraits of men and women of all ages were produced, and sculptors were no longer obliged to represent them as ideals of beauty and physical perfection. Meanwhile, the new cities themselves as the Hellenistic Egypt , in Syria and Anatolia needed showing statues of gods and heroes of Greece to decorate their temples and public places. These requirements made of the sculpture, like pottery, an industry with consequent lower degree of standardization and quality. For these reasons, many statues from the Hellenistic period have survived.
The most famous Hellenistic sculptures are the Winged Victory ( I. or II centuryBC. ) statue of Aphrodite from the island of Melos known as the Venus de Milo (mid II centuryBC. ), the Dying Gaul (v / 230 BC. ) and the monumental group of the Laocoon group (late first century BC. ). All of his statues show classical themes, but their treatment is much more emotional than the austere statues of the Classical period.
Hellenistic sculpture was also marked by an increase in scale that culminates in the Colossus of Rhodes (late third century BC. ), which was the same size as today's Statue of freedom. The combined consequences of earthquakes and looting have destroyed this masterpiece like many other works from this period.
Architecture
- See detailed article: Doric , Ionic and Corinthian
The architecture flourished in Greece at the end of the Mycenaean period (twelfth to the seventh century BC.). However, like most buildings in the Archaic and early Classical were made of wood or brick, nothing remains except a few basics, in addition, there is almost no written sources on architecture older or description of buildings. Much knowledge of Greek architecture comes from the few remains of buildings of Classical, Hellenistic and Roman - Roman architecture as much copied that of Greece. The temples are the only structures that survived in numbers.
The architecture, like painting and sculpture, was not considered an art in the modern sense by the ancient Greeks. The architect was a craftsman employed by the state or a wealthy private client. There was no distinction between the architect and the contractor. The architect was building plans, hired workers and craftsmen to build and he was responsible for both the budget that delivery times. He did not have high status What the architects of today. The names of architects are not even known until the fifth century BC. AD An architect like Ictinos , who designed the Parthenon , which today would be regarded as a genius, was considered his life as a very good craftsman, not more.
The typical style of the Greek construction is well known thanks to a few relics like the Parthenon , and more with the Roman buildings built in part on Greek models, like the Pantheon in Rome. The building was usually either a cube or a parallelepiped, made of limestone, abundant in Greece, which was cut into large blocks before being used. The marble was a fairly expensive material in Greece: high quality marble came mainly from Mount Pentelicus in Attica or a few islands such as Paros and transportation in large blocks was difficult. It was used for decorative carvings, but not for structures, except most of the great buildings of the Classical era.
The upper part of the Greek National Academy in Athens, showing the pediment
 | Click on a thumbnail to enlarge |
The cube or parallelepiped base was often flanked by a colonnade (row of columns) or in two or four sides. This is the case of the Parthenon. Sometimes buildings had cubic one at the entrance gate , as later in the Pantheon. The Greeks knew the principle of the masonry arch but made little use because they posed little domes on their buildings, these refinements were left to the Romans. The Greeks covered their buildings with timber beams covered with clay tiles (or occasionally marble).
The low-rise roofs Greek produced a triangular shape at each end of the building, the pediment , which was often decorated with sculptures. On the sides of the building, between the top of the columns and the roof was a row of blocks called fulcrum which currently exposed surfaces of the sculptures were often called strips, which alternated metopes and triglyphs. None of the buildings has kept intact the Greek sculptures, but they can be seen on modern copies of Greek temples as the Greek National Academy in Athens.
The theater of Herod Atticus , Athens
| Click on a thumbnail to enlarge |
The temple was the most common and best known forms of Greek architecture. The temple did not have the same functions that churches today. Some temples housed the altar of a god or goddess, was dedicated to them, but many others had other duties. Some temples were used as shelter for the treasury associated with the worship of a god (such as a statue of the god) and they also welcomed the offerings of the believers. The inner part of the temple (cella) was also used to vault and deposit.
Other common forms of architecture used by the Greeks are the Tholos , a circular building as the famous Tholos of Delphi , which was reserved for religious ceremonies, the propyl or porch that surrounded the entrances of temples or shrines (the more is known on the Acropolis in Athens ) and the stoa (portico), a long narrow hall with a colonnade open on one side, which was used to house shops on the agora (shopping center) of the Greek cities. A gantry is fully restored to Athens the Stoa of Attalos.
Each Greek city, whatever its size, had a palaistra ( palestra ) or a gym ( gymnasium ). It was enclosed spaces, but in the open, surrounded by columns, used for training and athletic competition: they were the venue for male citizens. The Greek cities had also needs at least one Bouleuterion or council chamber, a large square building which served as both a meeting place for the board (the ball) and a courthouse. As the Greeks did not build arches or domes, they could not erect large parts supporting roofs: the Bouleuterion therefore had rows of columns inside to support the roof. There is no remaining traces of these buildings.
Finally, every Greek city had a theater. It was used for both public meetings and theatrical performances. These performances were originally religious ceremonies, they then became the most popular of Greek culture to the sixth century BC. AD (see Ancient Greek Drama ). The theater was often built on a hill outside the city and had rows of bleachers in a half-circle arranged around a central area of the orchestra. Behind the orchestra stood a building called the / Skene (who gave the word "scene", which was used for storage, dressing room but also the backdrop for the performance taking place in the orchestra. Some theaters Greeks have survived until today, the most famous being that of Epidaurus.
There were two main styles (called orders) in Greek architecture: the Doric and Ionic. These names were used by the Greeks themselves and reflected their belief that the styles came from the ancient Greek peoples called the Dorians and Ionians - although this is unlikely. The Doric style was used mainly in Greece and then spread to the Italy. The Ionic style was used in the cities of Ionia (now the western coasts of Turkey ) and some islands in the Aegean. The Doric style was more traditional and austere, the Ionic more decorative and creative. Style Corinthian , more ornate, was a late evolution of Ionic style. These styles are well known across the three forms of capitals overlooking the columns, but he also recognizes in the architectural and decorative elements of buildings (see the classical orders ).
The temple of Hephaestus in Athens , showing columns with capitals Doric
The Erechtheion at Athens , showing columns with Ionic
The Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, showing columns with capitals Corinthian
| Click on a thumbnail to enlarge |
Most of the remaining buildings of ancient Greece, like the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, are Doric. The Parthenon is one of the earliest manifestations of the ion, as the Erechtheion , near but a little later ( 421 - 406 BC. ). The Ionic order became dominant in the Hellenistic period, as its decorative style was better suited to the aesthetics of this period that the austere Doric. Some of the most beautiful remains of the Hellenistic period as the Library of Celsus , can be admired in Turkey , in cities like Ephesus and Pergamum. But one of the greatest cities of the Hellenistic period, Alexandria in Egypt , there is virtually nothing left.
Music
Theatre
See also
Related articles
- Greek culture ;
- Greek painting: Apelles , Polygnotus ;
- Greek sculpture : Leochares , Myron , Phidias , Polykleitos , Praxiteles , Scopas ;
- Doric , Ionic order.
Bibliography
- John Boardman:
- The Greek Art, Thames & Hudson, et al. "The world of art," 2003 ( ISBN 2-87811-001-3 )
- (Eds.) The Oxford History of Classical Art, Oxford University Press, 2001;
- Rene Ginouvs, Greek Art, PUF, coll. "Quadriga", 1993 (1st edition 1964) ( ISBN 2130424635 );
- B. Holtzmann and A. Pasquier, History of Ancient Art: Greek Art, French Literature, al. "Manuals of the Ecole du Louvre, Paris, 1998 ( ISBN 2-11-003866-7 );
- Roland Martin, The Greek Art, Livre de Poche, coll. "Pochothque, 1994 ( ISBN 2253065730 ).
External Links
- Issue paper on monsters and heroes in Greek art - Muse du Louvre
- (En) Art Category Greek directory dmoz ;
- Agalma exhibitions and museums in the ancient Greek art in the world.
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5, rated)
Loading ...