ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL POTTERY

Specific Foundation / Core

The course is also offered to exchange programme students.

Students will get acquainted with ancient Greek painted vases, a distinct group among similar creations in the world. Painted vases were created by other civilizations as well. At none of them, however, can we find not so much the quality and diversity of shapes of ancient Greek vases or the large number of their production centers, as the variety of the themes that decorate them. The abundance and excellent quality of clay that existed in many parts of the ancient Greek world provided the opportunity to Greek potters to work and experiment with it.

The scope of this course is to sketch the development of Attic pottery – vase painting from the late 7th century BC until the end of the 4th century BC, as shaped by the great vase-painters of the Attic Kerameikos. In parallel to that, we shall focus on specific topics pertaining to potters (organization of ceramic workshops and social status of potters), iconography – iconology (study of the main decorative themes depicted on Attic vases), the shapes of Attic vessels and their use. Finally, we shall also discuss issues associated with the prices and the diffusion of Attic pottery through trade. Week #1 Introduction. We shall present the techniques, shapes, names and the use of Attic painted vases. Ancient Greeks created a wide variety of shapes with the main purpose to better serve the practical needs of everyday life. However, they never neglected the aesthetic appearance of their creations that combined usability with elegance. Sometimes, vases stand equally alongside sculptural creations. The characteristic ancient names of the parts of vases (rim, shoulder, belly, foot) are borrowed from the human body and point out the anthropocentric character of ancient Greek art and especially of ancient Greek pottery. Although many pottery production centres were developed in the ancient Greek world, there is homogeneity as regards the shape of vessels, and their development follows, in general, the same steps. Rarely was a specific shape of painted vases found only in a single ceramic centre, e.g. the psykter in Attica and the lakaina in Laconia. Week #2 Painted vases can be categorized into open (e.g. krater) and closed (e.g. amphora). The use of Attic vases, just like nowadays, was not strictly defined and several shapes served various needs. The use of a vessel often dictated the theme of its decoration, as was the case with the white lykethoi and the Panathenaic amphorae, the prizes of the Great Panathenaea. The close connection between the shape and the decoration of a vase has often been neglected or ignored by scholars that study ancient Greek pottery. Week #3 Early Attic black-figure vases. The Attic Kerameikos adopted the black-figure style about sixty years after its creation by Corinthian potters. From its first steps, however, around 630 BC, on large vessels, like craters and amphorae, the style is presented impressively complete and monumental, as if the vase painters of the time, such as the Nettos Painter, were familiar with its secrets. The relations with the previous period were not completely interrupted. We often see on early Attic black-figure vases the use of contours, while the orientalizing decorative motifs still fill the empty spaces of the scenes. These survivals have led some scholars to argue that these vases should not be considered as the earliest Attic black-figure vases, but as the late orientilizing ones. Week #4 After 600 BC the decorative motifs and other elements of the Proto-Attic tradition become less frequent and sometimes have even disappeared, as in some works of the Gorgon Painter. Some scholars believe that these are the first black-figure vases. From the early 6th c. BC Attic potters show preference for small shapes as well, such as cups (kylixes). In fact, there are workshops that seem to specialize in the production only of certain shapes, like the potters of the so-called Comast Group that often manufacture cups with low foot and small rim. It should be noted that Corinthian influence is evident in the new shapes of vessels and their decoration as well. Week #5 Attic potters, in their attempt to penetrate the international trade of vases, they begin to adapt their production to the preferences of the market. These preferences were created, to a great extent, by Corinthian potters whose works dominated the international markets. Therefore, Attic potters tried to imitate Corinthian works in order to make their production competitive. Corinthian influences are also found in the work of Sophilos, who is the first Attic potter known by his actual name. His activity covers the late part of the early phase of Attic black figure style (630-570 BC). Week #6 The mid-phase of black figure style (570-550 BC) is marked by the work of two potters, Kleitias and Ergotimos. The surviving masterpiece of the two craftsmen, the well-known François volute crater - with 11 exquisitely organized pictorial compositions all of which are mythological and 270 impeccably executed and with many details figures - has given Kleitias the characterization: maître of narrative art. With such works it seems that Corinthian potters now risk losing their predominance in the international markets. The cups (kylixes) of the Comast Group are replaced, at the beginning of this period, by others with taller foot and rim, known as “Sianna type” cups. Many of them have been painted by the so-called C Painter, a vase-painter whose style is corinthianizing. Corinthian influences are also apparent, during the same period, in a homogenous group of vases that bears the conventional name “Tyrrhenian” group and was exported, almost exclusively, to the markets of Etruria. The end of the mid-phase is marked by the works of the Painter of Acropolis 606, whose compositions are known for their size, grandeur and robustness, the works of Nearchos characterized by exquisite draughtsmanship and obvious love for details and those of Lydos. Week #7 Lydos continues to work during the late phase of black-figure style (550-530 BC) that is marked by the activity of two great potters, the Amasis Painter and Exekias. The works of the former are exquisite in terms of technique and they often display a discreet elegance. Exekias has rightly been described as the greatest vase painter of the black-figure style. His compositions are often monumental and of unique inspiration while his figures that are created with a sensitive and very careful line, sometimes show “tragic ethos”. He knew perfectly the technique of black-figure vase painting and led the style at its peak by fully exploiting all the possibilities of the technique. The black-figure style could not be developed any further. If Attic potters wanted to play a leading role in the international market of vessels, they should innovate in the shapes and the techniques they used. It is no coincidence that Exekias and other vase painters such as Lydos and the Amasis Painter experimented even with decoration techniques. For example, around 530 BC the decoration of some vases was made with white or pinkish clay placed on their “black” glaze, while the details were incised or painted. This is the so-called Six technique. There are also vessels where the background of the black-figure scene is covered with yellowish slip, while some other vase painters started to use the technique of the painted outline. We do not know who eventually discovered the red-figure style, but most experimentation is associated with Nikosthenes’ workshop. However, the earliest known red-figure vases seem to be the works made by the Andokides Painter. There are also “bilingual” vases by this vase-painter, decorated with red-figure style on the one side and with black-figure style on the other. Week #8 The red-figure style gave the opportunity to Attic vase painters to depict human figures in all possible postures, poses and movements. With the use of relief and flat line vase painters created works of enviable mastery and quality and they became true artists. This style has also allowed the use of the achievements of Greek wall painting. During the early period (530-500 BC) of red-figure pottery, the technique is still experimental and in the works of the Andokides Painter its qualities and possibilities have not been fully exploited yet. This will happen a little later by the Pioneer Group, the first known group in the history of art of the West formed by individuals with personal relations between them, remarkable skills, the same concerns and a common place of work. The activities of this group cover, in general, the two last decades of the 6th c. BC. Its members, such as Euphronios, Fintias, Smikros, The Sosias Painter and others managed, by surpassing old patterns, to render the volume of figures in an impressive way and depict them in any pose they wanted. It is very likely that the same Group contributed to the appearance of new shapes of vases during this period in the Attic Kerameikos, such as stamnos, amphora with twisted handles or pelike, since most of its members were not only vase painters but potters as well. Week #9 During the late-Archaic period of attic red-figure vase painting (500-480/475 BC) a large number of great potters, who have fully assimilated the achievements of the Pioneer Group generation, work in the Attic Kerameikos. They know how to depict the human body in all poses and postures, even the most complex ones, and they paint, without difficulty, figures with curved, continuous contours that appear now much more naturalistic. Their compositions, which usually represent scenes inspired from everyday life and the world of myth, are characterized by remarkable harmony and considerable ease, since now the number of depicted figures is limited to the minimum. As in the previous period, some potters, worked mainly with large shapes and others with small ones. The Kleophrades Painter and the Berlin Painter, two great vase painters of this period, have decorated mostly large shapes. The former is rightly described as the vase-painter of passion, dramatic tension and vigorous movement. The latter’s figures with their slender proportions and flowing contours are known for their unparalleled grace, kindness and elegance. Week #10 In every ten vases of this period, the eight are cups (kylixes).This fact cannot be attributed to any particular preferences of potters but to the demand for this symposium vase in international markets, especially those of Etruria. As regards kylix painters we should mention Onesimos with his exquisitely designed and lively compositions, the Brygos Painter, the vase painter of movement with precise and dynamic lines, Douris with considerable drawing skills and imagination concerning the rendering of scenes and Macron with the relaxing and gentle, though often repetitive, movements and postures of figures and some standardized motifs for the folds of garments. The Attic kylix and Attic vases in general, still have, during this period, great demand in the markets of Etruria, while the following period there is a decrease of this demand. Week #11 During the early classical period (480/475-450 BC) of Attic red-figure vase-painting, the influence of the great wall painters of the time, Polygnotos and Micon, is especially visible both in red-figure and white vases as well. For instance, on vases by the Niobid Painter the figures are placed at different levels or behind hills and rocks and we can often sense both their character (“ethos”) and their emotional world. The connotation of space is clearer, while the use of linear perspective permits the indication of a third dimension on the figures. A significant part of the production of the Attic Kerameikos that has increased during this period, although its demand in the markets of Etruria has decreased, is characterized by mannerism. The Pan Painter is the only mannerist, whose work shows a variety of shapes and themes, while the archaic motifs he uses are rendered lively. Kylix painters such as the Pistoxenos Painter or the Penthesilea Painter often surprise us with the naturalistic depiction of figures. The gradual replacement of the relief line by the flat line as regards the rendering of contours, has definitely contributed to this development. The flat line has various shades of brown colour and is flowing. Therefore it creates more naturalistic depictions. Week #12 During the Classical Period (450-415 BC) of Attic red-figure vase-painting we see on vases figures in very complex poses drawn with great ease. Shadings in the bodies of figures and the folds of garments create a strong plasticity and also make the third dimension particularly noticeable. Regarding the rendering of structures or objects a linear perspective is used. In monumental figures or compositions, as in works of the Achilles Painter, the Cleophon Painter or Polygnotos, the influence of the exquisite sculptural decoration of Parthenon is, sometimes more and sometimes less, apparent. In parallel, there are also smaller figures such those in the work of the Eretrian Painter where the garments are rendered in a more decorative way with many thin curved lines following different directions which stress and at the same time describe the volume of the body that they cover. The “kalos” inscriptions, if we exclude those on the white lekythoi, are now scarce and the cups (kylixes), the most typical drinking vessel, are not so common. Perhaps, we would expect more innovations from the red-figure pottery of this period during which the Athenian state reached its height of power and prosperity. In Attic vase-painting of the late 5th c. BC there appears the so-called “rich style” (415-390 BC). The figures are now rendered with thin curved contours, in a more calligraphic way. The decorative mood is emphasized by the strong presence of added “colors” mainly white for figures of women, Cupids, horses etc. Vase painters also use light blue, yellow, pinkish and others. The Meidias Painter, the most important representative of this period will develop the “ornate style” with multi-person compositions, figures placed at different levels and with the presence of added “colors”. Week #13 During the late period (390-320 BC) of Attic red-figure vase-painting, the tendency for perspective in combination with the use of white “color” is continued, but it seems that now there is no particular reflection of the achievements of Greek wall painting. The “Ornate style” of the previous period is apparent also during the first third of the 4th c. BC, as we can see in the works of the Painter of the New York Centauromachy. In this style belong also the lekythoi by Xenophantos, an Athenian potter of the first decades of the 4th c. BC who worked in Crimea. These lekythoi have both red-figure and relief decoration. In parallel with “ornate style” in the Attic Kerameikos of the first third of the 4th c. BC there is also the “plainer style”, as regards vase decoration, without shadings, multi-person scenes and relief figures. In this style belong the works by the Erbach Painter, the Painter of London FF64 (mainly craters) and the Jena Painter (mainly ψθπσ) whose workshop was discovered by accident the previous century (1854) in Kerameikos at Ermou Street. It seems that soon the Attic Kerameikos, with bell-κrater as its main shape, by the early 4th c. BC and until 370 BC, regained at least one part of the markets in the West. Moreover, at the beginning of the 4th c. BC Athenian potters had also found new markets in the Black Sea region. In fact, vase-painters now decorate their vessels with myths familiar to the inhabitants of these areas, e.g. the myth of Arimaspoi and Amazons fighting against griffins. Indeed, Kerch, the ancient Pantikapaion of Crimea, where a large number of Attic vases have come to light, gave its name to the style of vase-painting of the Attic Kerameikos dated to from 370 until 320 BC, which is called “Kerch style”. Its main trait is the strong presence of “colours” in the decoration of vases, such as gold, red, sometimes blue and green, but mostly white.

pottery, vase-painting, black-figure style, red-figure style, iconography, trade of vases, white vases, ceramic workshops

09-01-2014