Art was a major part of Ancient Athenian culture, as evidenced by the prevalence of surviving art from the era in the form of pottery, painting, sculpture, and the mixture of these mediums on the interior and exteriors of temples, buildings, and inside tombs. Athenian art experienced many changes over the course of history, most notably in the shifts from a static, geometric style during the late Dark Ages, to a more fluid and realistic style towards the end of reigning Athenian history.
“Between the beginning of the sixth and the end of the fourth centuries B.C., black- and red-figure techniques were used in Athens to decorate fine pottery while simpler, undecorated wares fulfilled everyday household purposes. With both techniques, the potter first shaped the vessel on a wheel. Most sizeable pots were made in sections; sometimes the neck and body were thrown separately, and the foot was often attached later. Once these sections had dried to a leather hardness, the potter assembled them and luted the joints with a slip (clay in a more liquid form). Lastly, he added the handles. In black-figure vase painting, figural and ornamental motifs were applied with a slip that turned black during firing, while the background was left the color of the clay. Vase painters articulated individual forms by incising the slip or by adding white and purple enhancements (mixtures of pigment and clay). In contrast, the decorative motifs on red-figure vases remained the color of the clay; the background, filled in with a slip, turned black. Figures could be articulated with glaze lines or dilute washes of glaze applied with a brush. The red-figure technique was invented around 530 B.C., quite possibly by the potter Andokides and his workshop. It gradually replaced the black-figure technique as innovators recognized the possibilities that came with drawing forms, rather than laboriously delineating them with incisions. The use of a brush in red-figure technique was better suited to the naturalistic representation of anatomy, garments, and emotions.”
Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
In William Davis’ book, A Day in Old Athens, he writes of Athenian Pottery:
“For more than 200 years Attica had been supplying the world with a pottery which is in some respects superior to any that has gone before, and also (all things considered) to any that will follow, through nigh two and a half millenniums. The articles are primarily tall vases and urns, some for mere ornament or for religious purposes, some for very humble household utility; however, besides regular vases there is a great variety of dishes, plated, pitchers, bowls, and cups all of the same general pattern, a smooth black glaze covered with figures in the delicate red of the unglazed clay.
At first the figures had been in black and the background in red, but by about 500 B.C. the superiority of the black backgrounds had been fully realized and the process perfected. For a long time Athens had a monopoly of this beautiful earthenware…the Athenian industry is, however, still considerably; in fifty places up and down the city, but particularly in the busy quarter of the Ceramicus, the potters’ wheels are whirling, and the glazers are adding the elegant patterns.” (source 6, p. 98-99)
Column-krater, ca. 550 B.C.; black-figure
Attributed to Lydos
Greek, Attic
Terracotta
Psykter, ca. 520–510 B.C.; red-figure
Attributed to Oltos
Greek, Attic
Terracotta
During the Golden Age of Athens, red-figure technique became more predominant while the established black-figure technique became less so. This era of Athenian art also saw great improvements in the artists’ portrayal of the human body in motion, whether clothed or nude. Greek artists tried to convey a sense of vitality and life to reflect the prosperous, youthful period Athens was experiencing. The shift towards naturalism influenced the movement of the bodies in sculpture, as well as the facial expressions of artistic subjects, whether in paintings, sculptures, or carvings.
Praxiteles’ Aphrodite of Knidos
“One of the far-reaching innovations in sculpture at this time, and one of the most celebrated statues of antiquity, was the nude Aphrodite of Knidos, by the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles. Praxiteles’ creation broke one of the most tenacious conventions in Greek art in which the female figure had previously been shown draped. Its slender proportions and distinctive contrapposto stance became hallmarks of fourth-century B.C.”
Sean Hemingway, Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Head of a veiled goddess, Classical, ca. 425 B.C.
Greek, Attic
Marble
Out of this Golden Age of art in Athens, artistic schools were created and recognized as legitimate institutions of learning. Athenian art suffered a decline in the fourth century BC when the Roman empire began their siege of the Greek empires, but their far-reaching culture continued to influence the cities of southern Italy and Sicily.
Examples of Athenian Art in the form of Architecture and sculptural works on temples and buildings can be found here (Acropolis and Parthenon) and here (Temples and Buildings).
Pictures of Athenian Art borrowed from the online gallery of Greek Art (1000 B.C. to 1 A.D.) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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