Introduction to

Classical Greece

Discussion

• Review • Introduction to Classical Greece• Group Work• Discussion

-Statuary-Bronze Casting

-Video• Vocabulary

Ancient Greece

• Geometric and Orientalizing Art (900-600 BCE)– City-states took shape– Olympic Games were founded– Began trade– Contact with Egypt and Mesopotamia

• Orientalizing phase

• Archaic Art (600-480 BCE)– Life sized stone kouroi statues– Stone temples with peripteral colonnades– Doric and Ionic Orders– Red Figure Vase Painting– Persians occupied and sacked Athens in 480 BCE

• Early and High Classical Art (480-400 BCE)– Begins with the defeat of Persian invaders by the allied Hellenic city-states– Narrow escape of the Greeks from the Persians created strong sense of Hellenic Identity– The decades following the defeat of Persians are considered to be the high point of Greek

civilization• Era of many famous Greek dramatists, philosophers, architects, sculptors, and painters

– Developments in bronze and marble statuary

• First great monument of Classical Art and Architecture

• At Olympia, site of the Olympic Games• East Pediment– Chariot Race between Pelops and King Oinomaos

• West Pediment– Wedding of Peirithoos and Deidameia

Temple of Zeus

Chariot Race of Pelops and Oinomaos, East pediment, Temple of Zeus, Olympia, Greece, 470-460 BCE, Marble

West pediment, Temple of Zeus, Olympia, Greece, 470-460 BCE, Marble

Temple of Zeus

•Chariot race between Pelops and King Oinomaos•Posed as if on a stage•Zeus in center•Oinomaos and wife on one side•Pelops and Hippodameia on other•Depicts time before the race•A seer, whop knows the truth, reacts• In contrast to the other figures

he is depicted in old age

•Apollo in center (invisible to other figures)•wedding of Peirithoos and Deidameia•chaotic scene of Greeks battling centaurs

• represented the struggle of the civilized world against barbarians.

•On either side of the central figure is a threesome of centaur, woman, and hero

Temple of Zeus

Kritos Boy

• Stands naturally• Contrapposto

– Weight shift from one leg to the other• Way to differentiate between

Classical and Archaic statuary

• Head turned slightly– Breaks from the frontal koroi

figures

Kritos Boy, Athens, Greece, 480 BCE

ArchaicKroisos530 BCE

Charioteer of Delphi• Set up by the tyrant Polyzalos of Gela

(Sicily)• Celebrates victory of Pythian Games

at Delphi• Depicts moment after a race• Is the only remaining part of a group

consisting of Polyzalos’s driver, the chariot, horses, and a young groom

• In the Severe Style– head and feet are turned in opposite

directions

• Fold of garment imitate Greek column• Glass Eyes with bronze lashes

Charioteer, Delphi, Greece, 470 BCE

Riace Warriors, Italy, 450 BCE

Riace Warriors

Riace Warriors, Italy, 450 BCE

Kouros, Attica, Greece, 600 BCE

• Furthers innovations of the Kritos Boy• Lacks shield, spear, and helmet• Hollow casting• Pronounced weight shift• Natural motion replaces Archaic frontal rigidity

Riace Warriors (Riace Bronzes)

• Polykleitos’ version oftheideal male nude athlete or warrior

• Creates dynamic feeling of movement while at rest

• Impose order on human movement through system of cross balance– Straight hanging arm mimics the

supporting leg– Tense and relaxed limbs oppose each other

diagonally

• Flexed arm held a spear• Culmination of the evolution from the

Archaic Kouros to the Kritos Boy to the Riace warriors

• Pronounced contrapposto

Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), Replica, Pompeii, Italy, 450 BCE

ArchaicKouros 600BCE

ArchaicKroisos530 BCE

Early ClassicalKritios Boy480 BCE

Early ClassicalRiace Warriors450 BCE

Early ClassicalPolykleitos, Doryphoros 450 BCE

Bronze Casting• The Original Work of Art and the Enlargement/Reduction Process

– Artist creates an original work to be cast (usually from wood, clay, stone, or metal)• Mold Making Process

– Silicone or rubber is applied over the original work to form a perfect imprint of the original• Wax

– When the mold is complete, wax is poured into the rubber mold. This results in a perfect wax reproduction of the original which is used to create a second mold into which the bronze will be poured. The rubber mold will be used whenever the artist wants to created another copy of the work.

• The Sprue System– Wax bars (sprues) are attached to the wax reproduction to form a system of wax channels for the bronze to flow to

the bottom of the mold and circulate to the top. • Shell (Dip)

– This wax copy with the sprue system is dipped in a silica slurry, followed by a coating of dry silica (stucco). Several coasts then this second mold is ready for burn-out.

• Burn Out– The ceramic shell mold is heated in a kiln to approximately 1600 degrees Fahrenheit and the wax is flashed out of the

mold through vent holes. (Gives the name “lost wax” to the process) Once the wax has evacuated the mold it is ready to receive the molten bronze.

• The Pour– The mold is preheated while the metal is melted in a furnace. The molds are removed from the kiln and placed in a

sand pit or on a rack. The bronze is then poured from the crucible into the mold. (most crucial stage of the process)• Divestment

– Once the molten metal cools and returns to a solid state, the work is freed from the ceramic mold. Sprue system is cut from the work and the sculpture is sandblasted

• Metal Work (Welding, Casting, Fabrication)– Since large works are cast in sections, they are welded together and seams are finished. Final sandblast to clean the

surface so it will accept the patina.

Bronze Casting

The Foundry Painter, Attic Red Figure Kylix (bronze workshop), 480 BCE