Ancient Aegean Artabstraction

Henry Moore, Reclining Figure, 20th Century Cycladic Harp Player, 2500 BCE

Aegean Art

• Eastern Mediterranean (Aegean Sea)• Bronze Age 3000 BC - 1000 BCE• Three civilizations:

– Cycladic (islands such as Thera)– Minoan (islands of Crete)– Mycenae (Greek mainland)

• Seafaring: trade, fishing (wrecks)• Bronze Art & Metal working• Homer’s Iliad & The Odyssey

– http://www.artic.edu/cleo/cycladic/cycladicMovie.html

Crete/Minoan

Cycladic Islands

Mycennas

Cycladic Art

• Islands between Europe & Asia Minor

• 3000-1600 BCE (Bronze Age)

• Agriculture/trade, no writing

• Supply of hard white marble for simple figure sculptures, mostly female

• Later became part of Minoan and Mycenean cultures

Two Figures of Women

Cyclades, 2500 BCE

White Marble, 13” & 25” high

Vioin shaped, simplified figures

Mostly female

Found on graves in large numbers

Originally painted, with hair

ABSTRACT

Were they public or private??

Minoan Civilization on Crete1900-1450 BCE

• Large island in Mediterranean; stable agricultural society in Bronze age but no metal

• 1st Seaborne Empire (active traders!) • Written language, not translated• Named by archaeologist Arthur Evans in 1900

after legend of the Minotaur and King Minos• Two major periods: Old Palace & New Palace

MINOAN: Old Palace Period, 1900-1700 BCE

Reconstructed drawing of Palace at Knossos, excavated by Sir Arthur Evans (know & discuss) .. Maybe not a king/palace? We don’t know.

Ruins of Knossos today. Sir Evans found the labyrinth!!

Reconstructed interior Knossos

•First use of dressed stone in Aegean (finished local stone)

•Walls coated with plasters, some murals

•Commercial centers w/workshops

•Huge storerooms for olive oil, grain, wine.

•Running water/sewer system.

•Rebuilt after fires & earthquakes in New Palace period

Sophisticated pottery and metalwork.

Traded these with Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Peaceful people? Art celebrated nature, not war.. Few fortifications in palace….

Kanaures Ware (right)

2000 BCE (old palace)

Invented potters wheel; fine thin walls, color, painted decorations.. Highly prized for trade

Minoan Art - Old Palace Period

Minoan New Palace Period1700-1450 BCE

• Suites in Palace for archives, business, residences.. Not much religious functions seen.

• Wet & dry frescoes in palaces and buildings• Filled in outlines with pure color (like Egyptians), elegant

line drawings• Ceramic arts in Marine style• Repousse relief designs in metal developed• Only small sculptures have been found• CONQUERED by Mycenaens in 1450…

Flashcard Image - Bull Leaping, 1550 BCE, from Palace of Knossos, New Palace Period,

Note female & male figures leaping over Bull, active flying gallop position

Landscape, (Spring Fresco)

Akrotiri

Wall Painting from Thera Cyclades, before 1630 BCE

1ST LANDSCAPE PAINTING

Sophisticated colors & surface detail

Bright colors & earth tones, rhythmic movements; color of wetrocks in Thera in sun; art more nature than war/kings.

Woman with Snakes or Snake Goddess,

New Palace Period Minoa,

Faience, 12” high

Flashcard image

Different theories.. Ritual object

Discovered by Sir Arthur Evans

Goddess or attendant?

Dressed in Minoan costume

Possible links with Egyptian culture

(Homework: research assignment, read & write 2 paragraphs with your opinion)

Octopus Vase

(Flashcard Image)

Crete, New Palace

Height 11”

1500 BCE

Kamares ware jug

Octopus surface decoration

“MARINE STYLE”

Natural forms harmonizing with the vessel’s shape

Vapheio Cup, Gold, 1650-1450 BCE, found near Sparta but Minoan origin.

Repousse technique- hammering from back of sheet. Men capturing bulls.

Mycenaean Helladic Architecture1450-1100 BCE

• Warlike culture, took over Crete/Minoan society and mainland Greece

• Destroyed Palace at Knossos, built over it• Built citadels; strongholds w/megaron (great room)• Citadel at Mycenae identified as home of King

Agamemnon, leader of Greeks that conquered Troy.. Story recorded by Homer

• Many artworks uncovered by Heinrich Schlimann; also found remains of city of Troy in modern day Turkey

Citadel at Mycenae, 1600-1200 BCE, including Lion’s Gate

•Walls 25’ thick 30’ high

•Home of King Agamemnon

•Guardian figures at Lion’s Gate

•Grave circle at bottom

•Megaron = great room with central hearth and throne

Citadel Mycenae, reconstruction

Lion’s Gate, Mycenae

Is it a temple?City gate?

Reconstruction drawing of Megaron in Palace at Pylos, 1300-1200 BCE, destroyed in military upheavals. Painted plaster murals, Minoan type columns, elegant furnishings

Mycenaean Tombs

• Much more important tombs than in Minoa or Cycladian civilizations

• Started with shaft tombs 20-25’ deep; royalty buried with ceremonial weapons and status objects

• Began building BEEHIVE or Tholos tombs, such as Treasury of Atreus

• Corbel vault-arched ceiling made of projecting layers of stone until meet in middle

Tholos/Treasurey of Atreus, 1300 BCE, Mycenae

Mask of Agamemnon,

1600 BCE

Gold funerary mask

Mycenae, Greece

Repousse

Discovered by Heinrich Schlieman

Dagger blade found in tomb also resembles artwork described by Homer

flashcard image