Ancient Greek Art

800-323 BC

All information taken from undergrad Art History notes or Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 12 edition. All images found using Google Image search

Learning Goals

• I can identify the three types of Greek Columns.

• I can discuss the role of the ideal form in Greek Sculpture.

• I can create a model of a Greek Urn.

Greece

• The Greek empire was made out of many city-states.

• The most well known are Athens and Sparta

• Athens was known for its philosophers/ scholars - Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle.

Western civilization has copied many of the ideals that Athenians had: republic (democratic ideas), early mathematics, ideas of civil rights (of course, only if you were male and free)

Sparta

• Is mostly known for their soldiers.

• Young boys of 7 began training for battle and stayed in the army until the age of 60.

Architecture• Greeks created

elaborate temples for their gods.

• The most famous is the Parthenon which was the temple for the goddess Athena - the goddess of War

Architecture Continued

• There are three orders of architecture which are represented by different columns

• The first is Doric which contains a plan capital for the column

Architecture Continued

• This is the second order called Ionic

• The capital of the Ionic column is in the shape of a partially rolled up scroll

Architecture Cont.

• The third order is called Corinthian

• It is comprised of the leaves of the acanthus plant and scrolls.

Architecture

• A pediment is a low-pitched triangular gable on the front of some buildings.

• Pediments of temples were filled with sculptures

Architecture continued

• Frieze - any decorative band on an outside wall which bears lettering or sculptures.

Sculpture• The Greeks created a

variety of sculptures:

Low-relief - form protrudes slightly from the surface

High relief - where a form protrudes significantly from a flat surface

Sculpture in the round - when a sculpture is fully 3-d.

Sculpture• Contrapposto - when a

sculpture is of a person free-standing with most of the weight on one foot.

• This discovery helped the Greeks create the first sculpture in the round.

• Kore - Female Statue• Kourus - Male statue

Sculpture

• Sculptures were predominately made out of marble, but they also used bronze.

• Greeks sculpted the ideal body.

• Women - were curvy and voluptuous.

• Men - were depicted as muscular and athletic.

Sculpture Comparison

• Compare the Discus thrower to a modern depiction of basketball great Michael Jordan. • How are they similar? How are they different?

Paintings

• Greeks painted murals called Frescos.• A fresco is created when an artist paints

(adds pigments) into wet plaster.• Paintings were mainly found on the walls of

Greek homes so very few examples remain.

Greek Urns

• Were created out of clay.

• Black-figure painting was a technique where a painter used slip (mixture of water and clay) to create silhouette figures.

Urns Continued

• Red-figure decoration is when the painter covered the entire surface with slip and left the clay exposed making the silhouettes red.

Types of Urns• Amphora (top) - is an all

purpose jar.

• Bell Krater - a bell-shaped bowel for mixing wine and water

• The imagery used on the urns were narratives of Greek Mythology and/or important events in their history.

Exit Slip

• Draw and Identify the three types of columns.

• How was form used by the Greeks in their art?

• Why did the Greeks sculpt everyone in the ideal form? What would you say the ideal form for a man and woman is in our society? Why do you think that is?

• Name one interesting fact you learned today.

Create a Grecian Urn

• You will create a copy of a Grecian urn out of paper mâché

• Today your group will discuss which of the two types of urn they will make, which color scheme, and which ancient Greek motif that your group will use.

Step By Step: Day 1

• One group member blow up balloon to desired size (small melon) and tie

• Tear paper strips and dip in paste to paper mâché three or more layers onto the balloon. Cover the entire surface.

Day 2

• Using newspaper, fold it to make handles then use masking tape to attach to the balloon.

• Use newspaper, coiling it to form a base.

• Tape it to the balloon

Day 3

• Paper mâché the entire surface of the sculpture, making sure to cover every surface except the very bottom. Place several layers to make it sturdy.

Day 4-5

• Draw a design of a Greek God

• Paint either Black-figure or red figure