Week 3: Greek Art
Week 3 – Greek Art Text Document
Lesson:
The art and traditions from the Egyptians and Prehistoric people are really different from anything we experience in our lives today. I bet there aren’t a lot of cave drawings or pyramid graves in your neighborhood! But what we find from Greece will seem really familiar. Greek architecture looks a lot like buildings in our cities, Greek sculpture looks just like statues made today, and a Greek coin looks surprisingly like that quarter in your piggy bank.
The Greek civilization began to form around 1100 BC, so over 3,000 years ago. It’s pretty amazing that ideas and techniques that people used then are still being used today. In 776 BC the first Olympic games were held in Olympia, Greece. Only men were allowed to play and watch the games – they competed in events like: running, boxing, wrestling, and chariot racing. And all athletes competed naked! Maybe it’s good our modern day Olympics have changed a bit!
Art during this early time mostly consisted of vases covered with pictures of people and geometric shapes – like triangles, squares, and other patterns. These vases came in many different styles and had lots of different uses – most common were for storing wine or oil. Potters used a needle to scratch the pictures into the clay. Some were also painted with black, purple, red and white paint.
Herakles Strangling the Nemean Lion. Psiax. 525 BC. Museo Civico dell’Eta Cristiana
But from 1100 BC to 700 BC the most important art form was poetry. This was when Homer wrote his famous Iliad and Odyssey epics. You’ll read those when you’re a bit older!
It was from 700-600 BC that things started to change for the visual arts – that’s what we call painting, sculpture, even architecture. During this time, people from Egypt came to Greece and their ideas began to change what the Greeks were doing. Look at this Female Figure – she’s very Egyptian in the style of her hair, the way she’s standing, even the pattern on her dress. Can you stand like her? I bet you’re stiff and straight with the weight of your body even across both your feet.
Female Figure (Kore). 650 BC. Musée du Louvre, Paris
This is one of the earliest examples of Greek sculpture. Now, let’s jump ahead 320 years and stand like this:
Apoxyomenos (Scraper). 330 BC. Vatican Museum
Shift your weight onto your left leg and bend your right knee. This statue is called Scraper – he’s scraping the oil off his skin. He’s not just standing, he’s doing something! But even if you put your arms down you’d still be showing movement in the way your legs are. This way of standing is called ‘Contrapposto’ (can you say “Contrapposto”?) and this small change was a HUGE deal in the history of sculpture. Suddenly a carved piece of rock looks like it’s moving!
This slight shift of legs was just the beginning – look at this Discus thrower. There is lot’s of movement with this guy! But yet somehow he’s totally balanced – can you stand like that without falling over?
Discobolus (Discus Thrower). 450 BC. Museo delle Terme, Rome
Now, let’s move on to Greek Architecture. This is possibly the most important part of Ancient Greek art. There are 3 different types of Greek Architecture, or three different orders: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Doric comes from mainland Greece, Ionic and Corinthian from the Greek Islands.
Here are the 3 different orders so we can look at the differences. Notice at the bottom how the steps are all different. Then of course the columns are different – this is the most common way to tell the 3 orders apart. Finally, the entablature or the parts that rest on top of the columns are different. (Sorry for the blurriness of this picture… loved this comparison from my Janson book, so just took it right from there!)
These 3 styles were used mostly on Greek Temples, or buildings where Greeks would go to worship their many, many gods. But unlike our churches today, these large stone buildings were designed to be viewed from the outside – very few people were allowed to go inside.
The most famous Doric Temple is the Parthenon in Athens, Greece at the Acropolis. This temple was dedicated to Athena, the patron god of Athens.
Parthenon. 448-432 BC. Athens, Greece
Also at the Acropolis we find some really great examples of Ionic Temples. The main difference with the Ionic order is the large double scroll in the capital at the top of the column, and the continuous sculpted image in the Frieze. The Erechtheum at the Acropolis is a great example of an Iconic Temple. Also, notice how light weight the columns are compared to the Parthenon.
Erechtheum. 421-405 BC. Athens, Greece
Plus, it has the very exciting ‘Porch of the Maidens’ – these 6 ladies look toward the Parthenon, or the Temple of Athena. Notice how they’re standing! Contrapposto under those intricately carved tunics. These ladies sure are carrying a heavy load on their heads!
Porch of the Maidens, Erechtheum. 421-405 BC. Athens, Greece
Finally, let’s look at a Corinthian Capital – this plant-like design originally was only found in the inside of buildings. It wasn’t until 334 BC that we see these beautiful columns on the exterior (or outside) of a building. Here is the first ever example of a Corinthian column – is this column holding up the roof of the building?
Monument of Lysicrates. 334 BC. Athens, Greece
No, it’s carved into the the wall. But don’t worry, eventually they figured out how to make these delicate columns strong enough to hold up the entablatures and the Corinthian style took over, becoming the most popular and commonly used of all the capital styles.
OK – now let’s play Who Can Name the Greek Order!!??:
All 4 of these buildings are in America – the first 3 are in Washington DC: The Lincoln Memorial, The Jefferson Memorial, and the US Supreme Court. The 4th is the New York Stock Exchange. Pretty amazing that we’re still copying those Greeks thousands of years later!
Videos:
‘Ancient Greece 101’ from National Geographic:
‘Ancient Greece – 5 Things you Should Know- History for Kids’ gives a summary of some of the other interesting things about Ancient Greece:
Art Project Options:
Design your own order of Greek Architecture with this Column Worksheet: Art History for Kids - Greek Order Free Printable
This Scratch Art Greek Vase project is fun – we tried it out, definitely needed to do 2 coats of black paint. Perhaps start this project, then do the column worksheet while you’re waiting for the paint to dry!
Art Supplies Needed:
Pencil
Plain white paper or cardstock
Crayons
Paint Brush & Black Paint
A tooth pick, skewer, or wooden stylus (for scratching)
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