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Author/s: Smith, Bernard Title: The Emergence of Greek art Date: 1957 Persistent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11343/56268

The Emergence of Greek Art First term 1957, 3d Lecture In the yeas between 1200 and 1000 B.C. the whole of the Eastern Mediterranean was convulsed by wars, invasions, and the movement of large groups of people. The period witnessed the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, and we may take 1,000B.C as a convenient date t which to begin our study of Greek art. But I must say one or two words very briefly about the period before 1,000B.C. Greece, had, of course, been populated before 1000B.C. The culture of mainland Greece and the adjacent islands between 3,000 and 1,000 B.C. (the culture, that is, of Bronze Age Greece, has been called the Helladic culture) and it has been divided into early, middle and late Helladic, corresponding roughly in time with early, middle and late Minoan. I cannot deal with Helladic art here, but I want to point out that in Late Helladic times, that is, between 1,500 and 1,000B.B. a civilization known as the Mycenaean flourished in Southern Greece and the adjacent islands. Great palaces were built at Tiryns and Mycenae, and the Late Helladic period is also known as the Mycenaean Age. Mycenaean art is closely affiliated with Minoan art, and the Mycenaean ousted the Minoans as the main maritime and commercial nation of the Eastern Mediterranean. The connection between Mycenaean art and Minoan art will become clear if we study a few slides. Here is a Mycenaean gold cup from Vaphio, showing the capture of bulls.* Compare it with the Late Minoan Harvester Vase, that we saw last week.* Our next slide shows a Mycenaean vase with an octopus design.* Compare it with the Minoan Octopus vase from Palaikastro, that we saw last week.* But during the 12 century, invaders from the north, unacquainted with the Mycenaean and Minoan cultures of the Mediterranean descended upon the Mycenaean cities of southern Greece. The two centuries of upheaval that followed saw the transition from the Bronze to the Iron Age and the emergence in history of the Greek city states—city states which maintained a very large measure of independence, though united by such things as a common language, sacred oracles like the oracle of Delphi, and sacred games, such as the games at Olympia. Greek art is usually divided into five main periods: 1. The Geometric Period, 10th-8th cent. 2. The Orientalising Period, 7th and early 6th cent. 3. The Archaic Period, ca 650-480B.C. 4. The Classical Period ca 480-323B.C. 5. The Hellenistic Period, ca 323-146B.C.

Let us begin our study of the geometric period by examining some examples of Geometric pottery. Greek geometric pottery is an art of formal, geometric patterning. Early geometric is known as the Black Style. Here is an example.* There is little decoration, beyond a horizontal band of rectilinear patterns, applied with a black glaze. The Black Style was followed by a Middle Style. Here is an example.* The bands are now broken into rectangular panels, which are often decorated with animals and birds. Rows of birds and horses are also introduced. The third and last phase of the Geometric style is known as the Dipylon Style, from the Dipylon cemetery near Athens where many huge vases were used as grave monuments. Here is one.* The design represents the prothesis, or laying out of the body. On the next we see a frieze of animals, otherwise the decoration is geometric. Note the desire to cover the whole surface of the vase with pattern.—a desire which continues even when figures are introduced, as we see when we study a detail of the vase.* The figures are really geometrically stylized silhouettes. Notice the way the head is reserved by an outline and a dot placed in it for the eye. We may see, too, from this vase that the geometric vase painters achieved striking decorative effects. Quite unlike the grace of the organic designs of the best Minoan work, the Geometric vase painters achieved decoration by diffuse surface patterning. I shall turn now from Geometric vase painting to Geometric sculpture. The Geometric sculptors produced no large, or as we might say, monumental sculpture in the round. The examples which have been recovered are mostly small bronzes, ivory and terracotta figurines, and bronze and ivory reliefs. Here in out next slide,* we have a geometric bronze of a hero and a centaur. Note the way the interest is centred upon the head and the limbs, to the comparative neglect of the torso, and note how closely the sculptural form compares with the graphic form of the Dipylon vase, the thin bodies and the bulbous legs, and so on. Here is a geometric bronze horse; compare it with the horses drawn on our Dipylon amphora. Our next slide shows a nude goddess carved in ivory, the hands are closely pressed to the thighs, and she wears a cylindrical crown on her head. The structure of the body is essentially Geometric—broad and angular shoulders, the slightly backward tilt of the body, prominent buttocks, oval face, short straight nose, wide-open eyes.* Toward the end of the eighth century influences from the East become increasing apparent in Geometric vase painting and sculpture. By this time many Greek maritime colonies had been established, particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean. Those on the Asia Minor Coast were the first to feel the impact of eastern motifs from the Mesopotamian region, through their contact with Phoenician and other eastern traders. There followed a period of strong Eastern, or Orientalising influence, as it is called. Orientalising Period, our second main division, covers the period from 800 to 620 BC. It brought a change n the technique of vase painting. The geometric artist rendered the

bodies of animals and men in silhouette, the orientalising artist favoured a black outline, using dark lines for details The space enclosed by the outline, known as the ‘reserved’ space, was coloured white to represent the flesh of women, brown for that of men. We have already met this convention in Egypt and Crete. The old silhouette technique was also retained. Geometric painting was a monochrome painting: Orientalising painting contrasts light against dark, and one colour with another. Geometric decoration divided its spaces into small areas and tended to repeat the same motif. Orientalising decoration uses larger motifs in larger spaces. Unity of design is thus achieved by subordinating more important motifs to less import motifs. (?) rather than by diffusing the pattern over the whole area of the vase. The straight line is now replaced by the curved. The lotus, the palm and other floral patterns from the east appear. And new animals, the lions, the griffins and the sphinx, all from the east, now make their appearance. The human form develops from the match-like figures of the geometric period. The artist is no longer restricted to the frontal breast and profile legs formula of drawing. He begins to master the element of perspective, new themes appear, chariot races, combat groups with interlocking figures and representations of the gods and heroes of Greek mythology. We may see a good deal of these changes of we compare our geometric Dipylon amphora, with a famous orientalising vase also from Attica, known as the Analatos Hydria. Note the carpet-like diffusion of the Pattern compared with the reduction of the decorative units, providing more space for figures. Note the use of the outline technique; the greater use of palmette motifs. The rectilinear forms of the geometric decoration have become more curvilinear and more organic. This vase, however, still retains many geometric features.* Our next slide shows a more developed form of the Orientalizing style, known as the Nessos Amphora. Here we see the Centaur Nessos: the drawing, if crude, is vigorous.* Note the use of the outline technique in drawing the head, and the way detail has been indicated by incising a white line through the black glaze. There is a similar change in the sculpture. The upright, rectilinear forms of geometric sculpture are replaced by curvilinear forms and the introduction of eastern motifs such as the griffin. How different is this orientalising bronze, in our next slide, of a griffin, with its strong curving forms, and the geometric bronze centaur and hero we saw earlier. Another example of the orientalising style is this lion from Perachora. There is concentration here, on the movement of the body and the head.* There is one group of works belonging to the seventh century which was not influenced by oriental motifs to any extent. This group is a most important one, for it was the forerunner of Archaic Greek sculpture. It is generally called Daedalic, after Daedalus, a sculptor of the late seventh century, known only through literary sources.

A particularly fine example of the Daedallic style in the Artemis of Nikadre from Delos.* This female statue is the earliest extant Greek statue of heroic size. It is a votive offering to Artemis, and an engraved inscription on one side rune. ‘Dedicated to the far-shooting goddess who delighted in arrows, by Nikandra, sister of Deinomenes, wife of Phraxos’. The body, you will note, resembles a plank, there is no attempt to render drapery, nor much feeling for the form beneath. It dates to about 650. A statue of slightly later date is the Auerre statuette in the Louvre.* The two arms are no longer beside the body, the right arm being bent across the breast, as we have noted in much Egyptian work. There is more modelling of the figure and the hair has been mapped out in simple geometric shapes. Somewhat later is this bronze standing figure from Delphi, dating to about 630. Note that the youth is nude, stands with his hands by his side, with the left foot forward. With these two examples of Daedalic sculpture we may bring our consideration of the Geometric and Orientalising Periods to an end, and turn to the Archaic Period, which dates from 620 to 480 B.C. These two standing figures become the two principal types of sculpture, whereby sculptors of the succeeding Archaic period were to solve the problems of rendering human anatomy and human proportions in a naturalistic manner. The male standing figure is called a kouros. He is nude, broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted and stands rigidly in a frontal pose, firmly on both feet, the left being advanced to give the figure itself more security not to suggest movement, the hands hang by the sides, the fists clenched. The female figure is called a Kore. At first the legs are pressed close together, later the left foot takes a short stop forward. He right arm is usually bent forward at right angles and it usually holds a votive offering, such as a pomegranate in an outstretched hand. The Archaic Period was a great period of development both in sculpture and painting. Sculptor tended to specialise upon a narrow range of types, such as the kouros and the kore. This helped them to master the rendering of anatomy, human proportion, and of drapery. In relief sculpture they studied the problems of perspective and spatial arrangement. Let us turn first to the Archaic sculpture, and begin by studying the development of the kouros type. Over 200 kouroi have been found throughout the Greek world. They have been divided by Richter and Young in the book Kouroi, into six group, which follow one another chronologically and show the development toward a naturalistic style. I want to show you now examples of the following kouroi: (1) The New York Kouros ca 600 (2) The Orchomenos Kouros ca 580 (3) The Tenea Kouros ca 560

(4) The Melos Kouros (5) The Anavysos Kouros (6) The Strangford Kouros

ca 540 ca 520 ca 500

First the New York Kouros.* The form is conceived in an abstract, geometrical manner. The front, back and side planes converge rather sharply, the figure retaining, in short, something of the quadrangular block from which it was cit. Anatomical details are indicated by grooves and ridges, proportions deviate considerably from nature, and anatomy is only partially understood. The aim is not realism: but a solid harmonious structure in which the essential parts of the body are reduced to expressive patterns: note the effective contrasting of the masses, the almond shaped eyes, the stylised eyebrows and patterned hair. The Orchomenos Kouros (ca. 580) lacks the impressive bearing and monumental quality of the New York Kouros. But there has been a movement towards naturalism. Bodies are les plank-like, details are seen in the round The proportions are more normal, but the heads are often very large. In the Tenea Kouros (ca 560) the figure is more rounded, more essentially corporeal, forms are modelled instead of being shown in ridges and grooves, there is an interest and emphasis upon individual bones and muscles. Instead of linear patterns being correlated across the axial line of symmetry of the body it is now in volumes, muscles being shown against muscle, shoulder against shoulder, and so on. The Kouros from Melos (ca 540)* reveals slender, graceful proportions. The conception of the body is simpler, the muscles are no longer emphasized. Forms are more true to nature and a flowing contour has been achieved which is now much more graceful, thou it lacks the majestic quality of earlier kouroi, sch as the New York Kouros with which we began. The Anavysos Kouros (ca 520) represents a period of considerable development. Forms are rendered with greater freedom, the stance is less rigid, and the whole figure is conceived in the round. Note for instance the interest which the sculptor has taken in relating the muscles of the knee to the thigh. The Strangford Kouros represents the last stage in the development of the Kouros type. The sculptor has attained a full knowledge of the structure of the human figure. Over a period of 125 years the archaic Greek sculptors studied both the details of the anatomy, and the problems of relating them into a harmonious and well-proportioned whole. What they accomplished was without doubt one of the greatest artistic triumphs in the whole history of art, and the achievement was assisted by their concentration upon a single problem: the problem of rendering a nude standing figure. Their achievement made it possible for the Greek sculptors of the classical period to

pass on to the problems of rendering the human figure in action, and of making it a vehicle for the expression of mood and emotion. Let us turn now to the development of the Kore, the female standing figure, which parallels the male standing figure in sculptural development during the Archaic period. We will trace this in the following figures: (1) The Berline Standing Maiden (2) The Hera of Cheramyes, from Samos, (3) The Aphrodite of Lyons, (4) The Peplos Kore (5) Kore 674 in Acropolis, Athens. (6) Head of Kore 643, Athens.

ca. 575 ca 575 ca 550 ca 540

The forerunners, or as we will call them, the prototypes of the korai, are to be found in Daedalic works such as the Artemis of Nikandre and Auxerre statuette which we have already seen. For the korai, however, there are two rather distinct streams of development. There is (1) a mainland development represented b our first example, the Berlin Standing Maiden, and there is (2) an island development, represented by our second example, the Hera of Cheramyes, and a considerable difference in style is to be observed between the mainland and the Greek Islands and Ionia. The Berlin Standing Maiden, which we see in our next slide, may be compared with such early kouroi as the New York Kouros. But it is clothed, is rigidly symmetrical, the feet are together, and has something of their monumental power and clarity.* Here in our next slide is a side view, and here,* in our next slide, a detail of the head. Not the almond eyes, the upturned lips which is known as the archaic smile, and the firmly symmetrical organisation of the face. Our second* example the Hera of Cheramyes from Samos is rather different. The lower part of the body is columnar in form, and may, perhaps, be explained as a simple development from the tree-trunk of primitive images. The image is lifelike despite its apparent rigidity: note the increasing interest in drapery. The figure wears the Ionic costume: the woollen cloak, known as a himation, thrown over the long linen chiton. Our third* example is the Aphrodite of Lyons (ca 550) about 25 years later than the Hera of Cheramyes. This is one of a series of Korai dedicated on the Acropolis as votive offering to the goddess Athena. After the Persian wars the Greeks levelled the Acropolis and used many of these early statues in the foundation of the new buildings built during classical times. Now this is a mainland piece of sculpture like the Berline Standing Maiden, but it reveals the change from the Doric to the Ionic costume. The old Doric dress was symmetrical, horizontal-vertical system. The Kore of Lyons

shows the diagonally draped woollen himation, thrown across the right shoulder over the linen chiton. Moreover, the linen chiton was of thin material and this encouraged the tendency to study the forms of he body beneath the dress. Our fourth* example the Peplos Kore is ten years later (ca 540) than the Aphrodite of Lyons, but it still shows the earlier Attic costume. The Dorian peplos, drawn in by a girdle at the waist is worn over a sleeved himation. The dress is extremely simple but the statue has a great sense of vitality. This may be seen even more clearly when we examine the head. The almond shaped eyes, and the smile of the early archaic statues are still present, but the features are finely modelled and treatment of the hair becoming more lifelike. Our fifth* example, Kore 674, dates considerably later to ca 500BC. The body is now being conceived as a whole, the treatment of drapery is more naturalistic, and when we tun to the head,* we note how subtly the planes of the face have been cut, with the eyes set firmly in the skull, and the contours of the face splendidly suggested. The achievement of the Archaic sculpture in the attainment of naturalism may be summed up I the very fine head of Kore 643, in which the suppleness of flesh and the solidity of the bony structure of the skull is at once suggested. This is, in its way, on of the great works of Attic sculpture, but it is a mistake to see it purely as a triumph of naturalism—the even brows, the almond eyes, and the archaic smile, betray the geometric genesis of the archaic style even in its most naturalistic forms. In vase-painting, as in sculpture, the archaic period is a time when Greek artists are seeking to master the representation of the human figure and its drapery, in all its details. The rows of animals so common to the orientalising period is now replaced b scenes from mythology, the deeds of Heracles and other heroes become very popular. Changes are to be noticed to in painting technique. During the seventh century the black figure technique developed and was adopted and generally used b the Athenian potters, who achieved something of a monopoly of the potting trade, until the invention of the red-figure technique about 530 BC. We may study the black-figure technique by examining a detail from an early blackfigure vase by the Nessos painter.* We see Heracles attacking the centaur Nessos. Herakles has thrust his foot into the small of the centaur’s back, and holds him by the hair, preparing to make the fatal plunge. Note the way the painter has cut through the black glaze to bring out anatomical details, and how the space filling ornaments inherited from geometric times still linger. But the interest is now upon action anatomy, and narrative. The middle period of the Attic Black figure is well illustrated by the Francois vase.* It bears the signature of the maker and the painter The vase is decorated by a series of

parallel banks like the Dipylon amphora of the Geometric period. But each band now contains scenes from Greek mythology, and the deeds of heroes. At the top for instance, we see the hunt for the Calydonian boar, the funeral games of Patrokolos, and so on. The whole surface of the vae is covered, but everywhere there is an interest in the anatomy of men and animals at rest and in movement, and a desire to represent the deeds of heroes. The great master of black-figure painting, who continues the tradition of the Nessos painting and Klitias, was Exetias. Here is his masterpiece the Vatican Amphora. On one side we see Achilles and Ajax playing draughts to while away the weary hours of the long Trojan campaign. On the other side we see Castor and Polydeuces with their parents. Castor is about to mount his horse. Polydeuces has retuned and is greeting the dog while a small slave brings in some clean clothing and a flask of oil on his hand. The costume of Leda, may be compared with the costume of the Peplos Kore. Exekias also painted cups occasionally, and in one large kylix he painted the legend of Dioysus and the pirates whom he turned into dolphins. It is a delightful conception, for the boat itself is a fish, and the masts blossom into a grape vine with magnificent bunches, and as a design it is, surely, quite masterly. The transition from black figure to red figure painting took place about 530. The figures were no longer painted in black on the clay, the background was painted black, the figures left in red the colour of the clay. This enabled the painter to paint in fine detail upon the figures. It made much finer drawing possible, greater detail and flexibility. Here is a painting by Euthymidies, one of the early red-figure masters.* It shows Hector arming. Note the detail in the treatment of the drapery now possible by means of the red-figure technique. This may be compared with the development of the sculptural treatment of the drapery in the korai, and note the foreshortening of Hector’s foot. One of the finest of the early red-figure painters was he Berlin painter. Here is his painting of Hermes and a Silen.* Notice the subtle and delicate play of the flowing line. There is a fine sense of design and a superbly controlled draughtsmanship displayed and a sure sense of grace. And here, in our next slide, is a more homely little scene.* Painted at the bottom of a wine cup, it served as a gentle warning on the value of temperate habits—apart I suppose from being a little tribute to the kindly natures of Athenian women. The Archaic period was a period of great creative achievement in Greek art. It not only marks great achievement n the rendering of anatomy, drapery, perspective and spatial relationship, it produced a greater freedom in drawing and design and produced masterpieces in its own right, both in its early and its later phases. One of these early masterpieces was the Moscophpros (dating to ca 570). It is a kouros type.

The calf bearer is bringing his sacrifice to the gods. How wonderfully are animal and man related! The volumes o the design are broadly and simply conceived, yet there is no sense of awkwardness, only a sure sense of control. And there is a refreshing vigour in the carving, youthful energy in the conception which is the hallmark of Greek art of the Archaic period. In later year Greek art was to become more knowledgeable and to move in disturbing and profound depths, but in the archaic period Greek art is optimistic, vigorous, experimental—in the bloom of its youth and ready to achieve anything.