Style Review: Greek Art Geometric Style

Dipylon Vase 740 BCE Geometric Horse

The Greek style typically begins with the Geometric style. This style appeared around 900 BCE. The name geometric comes from the simplified, geometric depiction of figures and animals as well as the dynamic, geometric banding.

Orientalizing Style

Menkaure and Queen 24900 BCE Lady of Auxerre 650-625 BCE

The Orientalizing is derived from the influence of Eastern (oriental) cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia. The stance and features of the Lady of Auxerre are similar to the Egyptian figure. The development of adding negative space is a significant development in the depiction of the human figure.

Archaic Style

Kouros ca 600 BCE Calf Bearer 560 BCE

The Archaic style is typified by the move toward more natural human structure. Some sculptures of this period still retain many of their Egyptian influence. The Archaic artist would attempt to animate their works by giving the piece an awkward, archaic smile. Early Classical

Archaic 500 BCE Early Classical 490 BCE These two figures from the Temple of Aphaia are from opposite pediments. The early classical loses the archaic smile and turns inward away from the viewer, expressing the agony of a painful death much more realistically than the Archaic figure.

Development of Contrapposto

Kritios Boy 480 BCE Zeus (Poseidon) 460 BCE

With the advent of contrapposto (weight shift) around 480 BCE, the Early Classical form takes on a more natural stance. Classical

Doryphoros 450 BCE Parthenon Procession 447 BCE

Naturalism in both stance and from typifies the art of the Classical period. Distinguishing characteristics are figure’s sense of aloofness and idealism of the body. Late Classical

Hermes and Dionysos 340 BCE Knidos Aphrodite 350 BCE

Although the idealism continues, the Late Classical period takes on more emotional and human characteristics like Hermes playing with the infant Dionysos and the goddess Aphrodite preparing for a bath.

Hellenistic

Nike of Samothrace 190 BCE Lacoön and His Sons 1st Cent. CE Barberini Faun 230 BCE

Sculpture in the Hellenistic period becomes more emotional, dramatic and overtly sexual. The blank, idealized faces and posed stances of the Classical period are replaced with greater naturalism and movement. Architecture

The three orders of Greek architecture: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian

Development of the Greek Temple

Archaic Temple (Paestum) 550 BC Classical Temple (Parthenon) 445 BCE Hellenistic Temple (Altar of Zeus) 175 BCE

The Greek canons of architecture began with structures like the Temple at Paestum. Eventually, Greek architects refined the proportions of the structure to achieve what art historians consider the pinnacle of Greek architecture expressed in the model of the Parthenon. Corresponding to the drama of Hellenistic sculpture, Greek temple architecture broke from the Classical canons and became more dramatic and emotional. Pediment Sculpture

Pediment of Temple of Artemis 600 BCE

Parthenon Pediment 447 BCE

The space provided within the pediment was a challenge to Greek sculptors. In the Artemis pediment, the sculptor varied the scale of the figures to fit the triangular space. During the Classical period, the sculptor discovered that by arranging the figures in various positions, the space could be filled effectively while keeping the figures the same scale.