Art History- Greece Art

Greece Art

-The architecture of Ancient Greece is produced by the Greek-speaking people (Hellenic people).

-Ancient Greek is found throughout the region, mostly as ruins but many substantially intact.

-The second important type of building that survives all over the Hellenic world is the open-air theatre, with the earliest dating from around 350 BC.

-Ancient Greek architecture is distinguished by its highly formalised characteristics, both of structure and decoration.

-The vocabulary of Ancient Greek architecture, in particular the division of architectural style into three defined orders which is Doric order, the Ionic order and the Corinthian order.

- The most freely available building material is stone.

- Limestone was readily available and easily worked.

-There is an abundance of high quality white marble both on the mainland and islands, particularly Paros and Naxos.

-The light is often extremely bright, with both the sky and the sea vividly blue.

-The clear light and sharp shadows give a precision to the details of landscape, pale rocky outcrops and seashore.

- The gleaming marble surfaces were smooth, curved, fluted, or ornately sculpted to reflect the sun, cast graded shadows and change in colour with the ever-changing light of day.

-The art history of the Hellenic era is generally subdivided into four periods.

- The Protogeometric (1100-900 BC), the Geometric (900-700 BC), the Archaic (700 - 500 BC) and the Classical (500 - 323 BC)[10] with sculpture being further divided into Severe Classical, High Classical and Late Classical.

- The tiny stylised bronzes of the Geometric period gave way to life-sized highly formalised monolithic representation in the Archaic period.

-The Classical period was marked by a rapid development towards idealised but increasingly lifelike depictions of gods in human form.

-The religion of Ancient Greece was a form of nature worship that grew out of the beliefs of earlier cultures.

-The Ancient Greeks perceived order in the universe, and in turn, applied order and reason to their creations.

-Mycenaean art is marked by its circular structures and tapered domes with flat-bedded, cantilevered courses.

-This architectural form did not carry over into the architecture of Ancient Greece, but reappeared about 400 BC in the interior of large monumental tombs such as the Lion Tomb at Cnidos (c. 350 BC). -Little is known of Mycenaean wooden or domestic architecture and any continuing traditions that may have flowed into the early buildings of the Dorian people.

-The Greek word for the family or household is also the name for the house.

- Houses followed several different types.

-It is probable that many of the earliest houses were simple structures of two rooms, with an open porch.

-The construction of many houses employed walls of sun dried clay bricks or wooden framework filled with fibrous material such as straw or seaweed covered with clay or plaster.

-Many houses centred on a wide passage or "pasta" which ran the length of the house and opened at one side onto a small courtyard which admitted light and air.

-City houses were built with adjoining walls and were divided into small blocks by narrow streets.

 -Shops were sometimes located in the rooms towards the street.

-City houses were inward-facing, with major openings looking onto the central courtyard, rather than the street.

- Masonry walls were employed for temples from about 600 BC onwards.

-Masonry of all types was used for Ancient Greek buildings, including rubble.

- The blocks were roughhewn and hauled from quarries to be cut and bedded very precisely, with mortar hardly ever being used.

-The Doric order is recognised by its capital, of which the echinus is like a circular cushion raising from the top of the column to the square abacus on which rest the lintels.

-Doric columns are almost always cut with grooves, known as "fluting", which run the length of the column and are usually 20 in number, although sometimes fewer.

The Parthenon under restoration in 2008

The House of Masks

3rd century BC

Parts of an Ancient Greek temple of the Doric Order