Ancient Greece Part IV- Hellenistic Period

I have posted on three earlier period of Greek art. Check out the Geometric Period, the Archaic Period, and the Classical Period.


Between 334 and 323 BCE, Greece took over many other countries. When the Greek ruler, Alexander the Great, died in 323 BCE, he had a huge empire. The people who lived in the areas the Greeks took over had art and culture of their own. Their styles blended with the Classical Greek artistic style to create something new. This began the Hellenistic Period of ancient Greek art.
During the Hellenistic Period, sculptors still created sculptures of gods, like Nike of Samothrace (above) and Venus de Milo (below).

They also sculpted children (such as Boy with Thorn, shown below), elderly people, and Africans. These subjects had not been popular before.
Hellenistic sculptors created many copies of earlier, Classical Period sculptures, as well, because wealthy art collectors wanted them for their homes.

After 31 BCE, art began to change again. This marked the end of the Hellenistic Period.

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Phidias and Classical Greek Sculpture

Phidias was a great Greek sculptor who lived and worked during the Classical Period of Greek art. During the Classical Period (440BC- 323BC), sculptors were interested in showing people and animals from all sides and from all angles. Sculptors wanted people to be able to walk around their sculptures and admire every part of them. They still carved decorations into walls, but they produced more large, free-standing sculpture.

During the Classical Period, artists focused on learning how to create perfect bodies. Sculptures were meant to celebrate man as the perfect creation of the gods. Sculpture didn’t show fat or wrinkles. Instead, it showed strong, muscular bodies.
Phidias was an important sculptor during the Classical Period. He directed the sculptors who created the Parthenon friezes (sculptures that are set into walls) at the Parthenon. Experts believe that Phidias designed the building and decoration. He also created the sculpture of Athena that stood at the Parthenon. Above is an example of a relief from the Parthenon.
Experts also believe that Phidias created that huge sculpture of Zeus that stood at the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. The sculpture was seven times the size of a man. It was carved from ivory and decorated with gold. It is counted among the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. Above is a drawing of what the sculpture may have looked like.

More about Greek art:

Geometric Period

Archaic Period

Decorate Your Own Greek Vase

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Decorate Your Own Greek Vase

Decorate your own vase like the Ancient Greek vases you saw yesterday and Tuesday!

Supplies Needed:

Paper
Colored Pencils
Black Crayon
Scissors
Toothpick
This project can get a little messy so protect your work space with newspaper.

Begin by choosing colored pencils. I picked reds, yellows, oranges, and browns because they reminded me of the color of the clay the Greeks used for their vases. Cover your sheet of paper with color. Mix it up. Color large patches of yellow and small patches of brown, circles of orange and triangles of red. Go nuts.
When your page is completely covered, color over the whole thing with a black crayon. You’ll need to press hard and color in several directions to cover the colored pencil.
Now draw a vase on the back of your page. I folded my paper in half so the vase would be symmetrical. When you’re happy with the vase, cut it out.

And now comes the fun part. With a toothpick, scratch patterns and pictures onto your vase. The toothpick will scratch off the crayon and let the colors show through. My vase is shown below. Though not something you would see on an Ancient Greek vase, I drew two people dancing. You can draw anything you want on your vase, including made-up creatures. Be creative.

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Ancient Greece Part II- Archaic Period

Before you read this, refresh your memory about the Geometric Period of Ancient Greek art. Remember how stylized and unrealistic the people and animals looked?

The Archaic Period began around 700BC and ended around 480BC. You’ll notice a big difference between the art of this period and that of the Geometric Period. During this period, Greek artists created much more realistic images. The people have muscles and their faces are detailed. The horses now look like real horses. And there’s something else you’ll notice (look at the bowl below)—the Greeks began to include mythical creatures like griffins (part lion and part bird) and sphinxes (part lion and part woman).
During the Archaic Period, Greek art was influenced by art from other areas of the world. This is because the Greeks were trading goods with neighboring areas. They were also setting up colonies to their east and west. Contact with other cultures allowed Greeks to learn to cut gemstones for jewelry, work with metals, and carve ivory.
Still, though, the Greeks continued to make sculptures and decorated vases. As I said earlier, the images became more realistic. Look at the decoration on the vases above. Big difference from Geometric Period vases, huh?

During this time, the Greeks began sculpting nude standing male figures (called kouros) and standing female figures with loose cloth draped over them (called kore). You have probably seen statues like the ones shown above.

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Ancient Greece Part I- Geometric Period

I took quite a long break, didn’t I? Sorry about that. I had a visitor for a long weekend and was busy running around D.C. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend, as well.

This post is the first in a short series about the art of Ancient Greece.

The time period from about 1000BC to about 700BC in Ancient Greece was called the Geometric Period. This is because artists often decorated items, especially vases, with geometric patterns. You’ll notice this in the picture shown below.
Many of these vases were used as headstones in cemeteries.

You’ll also notice that the animals are very stylized. The horses don’t look the way real horses do but they look enough like horses that you can tell what they are. The people also look unrealistic. They aren’t just stick figures, though. The artists of this time period had a unique style that makes their art different from art of any other Greek period.
Above is a sculpture created during the Geometric Period. Like most sculptures from the period, it is bronze. The most important parts of the horse are the largest (such as the nose) and the least important are smallest (like the torso).

Some experts believe that these small sculptures were used as offerings to the gods.

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