Black Figure Red Fi 00 Roy A

BLACK-FIGURE
AND
RED -FIGURE
GREEK POTTERY
-
TSTSISISTSISISISISISIS
/ niversity of Toronto Press

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Copyright, Canada, 11
Royal Onl irio Mil i i u
and Univei it) ol Fbront
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Black-Figure and Red-Figure
Greek Pottery
University of Toronto Press
Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology

BLACK-FIGURE AND RED-FIGURE
GREEK POTTERY
Greek pottery was not produced for museums, ancient
or modern. With few exceptions, such as the ceremonial
loutrophorus in Plate 8, it was intended for daily use:
plain wares for the kitchen, decorated vases for dinner
parties (PI. 6 B). In fact pottery was one of the great
staples of Athens' Mediterranean-wide commerce, and its
technical and aesthetic all other Greek
superiority over
wares was one of the reasons for her political and econo-
mic predominance in the later sixth and fifth centuries
B.C. The high quality was maintained by keen com-
petition among the various Athenian potteries, and both
the makers and the decorators of the vases sometimes
signed their products (PI. 1 A), occasionally adding a
vaunt of their superior excellence.
The handicraftsman had reason to be proud of his
product. The clay of these Athenian vases is smooth, has
a vigorous reddish tone, and the glossy jet-black "glaze"
(improperly so called) was the result of a long tradition
of experiments (PI. 9). The potter's skill in "throwing"
the vases on the wheel is evidenced by the extreme deli-
cacy of contour (PI. 5 A), which exhibits the same sensi-
tivity of the Greek eye for the beauty of the curved line
as We see in a statue of Praxiteles or the carved mould-
ings of a Greek temple.
Most designers of pottery, ancient or modern, have
been satisfied to use geometrical patterns, formal land-
scape designs, or the like. But to the Greeks man was
the measure of all things, and their art is full of
the activities of man. Scenes of war are common
(Pis. 2B, 3B, 5B), of high adventure (Pis. IB, 2A, 3 A,
11A), of the worship of the gods or tales of their doings
(Pis. 7B, 9A), of sport (PI. 4A), and of everyday life:
courtship, marriage, carousal, parting, death (Pis. 9B,
8, 6B, 5B, 11B). For the average person today these
2
pictures bring "the Greeks" to life; for the student of
an inexhaustible storehouse of in-
social history they are
formation.
Greek pottery may therefore well engage our interest
in its own right as a "minor art"; it can also claim a
wider importance as illustrating successive stages in the
development of drawing, especially in view of the total
loss of the masterpieces of Greek painting. The impulse
to this development was provided by a change of tech-
nique. The earlier "black-figure" artists used the black
glaze as a silhouette on the red clay ground and incised
the details of their drawings with a sharp tool, sometimes
with all the skill of a master engraver (PI. IB); but
about 530 b.c. they began to reverse the process, reserv-
ing the figures in the red clay against the black ground,
and drawing the inner detail with fine brushes.
Both methods, with their contrasts of light and dark,
made splendid vase decoration, but the new "red-figure"
style permitted much greater subtlety of execution.
Hitherto figures had been drawn in silhouettes made up
of awkwardly joined side-view legs with front-view
chests, profile faces with full-front eyes: each part done
in its easiest and most recognizable aspect, regardless of
the resulting inconsistencies. Bodies were unnaturally
proportioned and movements stiff and halting.
By the time of the Persian Wars (490-480 b.c.) a
great change has come about. Red-figure men and wo-
men are supple and graceful. Complex attitudes are ren-
dered with ease; the drawing is vigorous and assured.
It is the heyday of Attic vase painting.
Progress in the art of drawing, however, continued.
By the middle of the fifth century (when Iotinus was de-
signing the Parthenon and Phidias and Polygnotus were
the leading spirits in sculpture and painting) many prob-
lems of foreshortening and of simple perspective had
been solved. For the major art of painting these new
discoveries in the representation of three-dimensional
space in a two-dimensional medium opened up vast pos-
3
sibilities, but for vase decoration it meant a departure
from the traditional flat decorative designs which soon
spelled ruin. The vase painters became imitators instead
of pioneers. In their efforts to create an impression of
depth and mass by shading, by three-quarter views of
the human figures, by perspective renderings of archi-
tecture, and by abandoning the conventional uniform
ground-line for the figures and disposing them at varying
levels to suggest different distances from the spectator
(PI. 11), they completely destroyed the fragile fabric of
their pots. Instead of the close harmony that had pre-
vailed between the vase form and its decoration, the two
elements have now engaged in a competition which could
only result in the death of both. By the end of the fifth
century b.c. the painting of Greek vases had pretty well
run its course; before the close of the fourth they had
disappeared into the tombs and rubbish heaps of ancient
cities to await their resurrection in the modern world at
the hand of the archaeologist.
J.W.G.
NOTES TO THE PICTURES

Title-page. Cylix interior (Cat. No. 357). Youth dining; play-
ing "cottabos" with cylix in his right hand.
Plates
1A It bears the name of Teisias, the Athenian, as potter.
B Heracles (Hercules) wrestling with Triton, a mythical
sea-monster. Purple is used for the monster's beard and
fore-hair; white for his median line.
2A Heracles wrestling the Nemean Lion, the first of his
"Twelve Labours"; Athena (Minerva), unarmed, and
Heracles' friend and nephew, Iolaiis, stand by.
B Warrior arming; no particular story intended. The
painter (whose real name is unknown) has been dub-
bed the "Affected Painter" in reference to his style.
4
3A Heracles brings back the Erymanthian Boar to his
frightened taskmaster, Eurystheus; another of the
"Labours." Again Athena and Iolaiis. By the "Anti-
menes Painter."
B Warrior with charioteer about to depart for battle; a
trousered oriental archer nearby. Also by the "Antimenes
Painter."
4 Given, as the inscription proclaims, as a prize in the
games at Athens in honour of Athena. By the
"Eucharides Painter."
5A This and the following vases are in the red-figure
style. Notice the continuous How of line from lip to
foot, and the fine adaptation of the handles to the
shape of the vase. Painted by Macron.
B In the court of his home (column and courtyard altar)
a young soldier is arming; his mother holds his spear and
shield, his knapsack on the wall. By the "Telephus
Painter."
6A Cylix interior. Youth with (empty) pitcher and wine
sack.
B Exterior.Gentlemen, with female entertainer, carousing.
7A Greek humour! When the drinker had about drained
the copious cup what a start to see such a "mirrored"
face (the Gorgon) staring at him!
B Dionysus, god of wine, in gay procession with a satyr
and maenad. By the "Agrigento Painter."
8 A ceremonial vase used for bringing water for the
bride's bath on her marriage eve; wedding scenes are
appropriately represented. By Polygnotus.
9A Two youths at a blazing altar. By the "Pig Painter."
B Youth offering wreath to lady with open jewel box on
her lap. By the "Phiale Painter."
10A Satyr pursuing Maenad.
B Also by the "Phiale Painter."
11A Atalanta (one foot on altar), Meleager, and others
who took part in the Calydonian Boar Hunt. By the
"Meleager Painter."
B Offerings made at a tomb. Made in South Italy.
IB. Detail from an amphora. Cat. No. 299
Third quarter VI century B.C.
5B. Cylix. Cat. No. 354
Diam. 8% in- Second quarter V century B.C.
6. Cylix. Cat. No. 356 (see 5A)
8. Loutrophorus (marriage vase). Cat. No. 635
Ht. S0}i in. Third quarter V century B.C.
<
05
HA. Amphora. Cat. No. 388 11B. Amphora. Cat. No. 389
Ht. 243/s in.First third IV century Ht. 22^4 in. IV century B.C.
B.C.

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BLACK-FIGURE

/ niversity of Toronto Press

Royal Onl irio Mil i i u

and Univei it) ol Fbront

University of Toronto Press

Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology

NOTES TO THE PICTURES

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