MythologyMr. Bonds

2013First Nine Weeks Project:

Mythology in Greek Pottery

A project in three parts

Due 4 September 2013

Project Overview

In this project you will work on three things:

1. Your ability to tell a story through art.

2. Your knowledge of types of greek pottery, the parts of a vessel, and the terms associated with the different pottery types,parts, and decorative patterns.

3. Your ability to write both technically and descriptively by writing a scholarly description of a piece of Greek pottery.

Part 1 ­ Design Your Own Greek Vessel

Look around you. Wherever you are as you read this, look around you. Chances are, you will see objects that you use everyday that are painted or decorated with characters made famous from movies, television, books, or religion. The things we useevery day are important to us. We need them. In addition to needing them, we want the objects we use to have a personalconnection. We want them to mean something to us. We want them to say something about us to other people. For thisreason, when it comes to things we used everyday, we do one of two things:

1. If we buy something that is plain, we decorate it to suit us.2. We specifically choose to buy something that is already decorated in a way that is pleasing to us or says somethingabout us.

Think about your school supplies over the years, from kindergarten until now. You needed notebooks, pencils, backpacks,etc. Did you use plain, undecorated items year after year? Or, did you choose to buy pencils, notebooks, or backpacks withcartoon characters, football players, rappers, or comic heroes on them? If you bought plain things, did they stay plain, or didyou decorate them? Ask yourself why you chose the specific objects you did.

The ancient Greeks also wanted a personal connection to the objects they used everyday. They wanted them decorated withfamiliar characters ­­ characters they felt were like them in some way. Since they didn’t have television and movies, theyrelied on figures from their mythology: with no Dora the Explorer, they went with Atalanta; with no John Cena, they went withHerakles; with no Nicki Minaj, they went with Aphrodite.

What I want you to consider: If you were an ancient Greek, what would you want on your pottery?

What I want you to do:

1. Choose a type of pottery from the four provided stencils at the back of your packet.

2. Use the two sheets of orange paper I’ve given you and your choice of stencils to cut out two outlines of thevessel. One of these will be the front of your vessel. The other will be the back.

3. Pick your favorite myth from the ones we’ve covered so far. Pick a figure you especially like or one you thinkrepresents your best qualities in some way. On each side of your vessel, draw a tableau relating to the myth orfigure you’ve chosen. Try to pick two scenes that best summarize the story.

If you choose the kylix, you may decorate both sides AND the circular interior.

4. Research photographs of pottery of the style you have chosen. Notice how the pottery is decorated beyond thescene in the tableau. Choose patterns from the list provided on the next page to further decorate your vessel.

Typical OrnamentalPatterns on GreekPottery

Part 2 ­ Describe Your Own Greek Vessel

Read the following article on this Greek vessel:

Black­figured amphora (wine­jar) signed by Exekias as potter and attributed to him as painterGreek, about 540­530 BCMade in Athens, Greece; found at Vulci (now in Lazio, Italy)

Obverse: Achilles killing the Amazon Queen PenthesileaPenthesilea brought her Amazon warriors to help the Trojans defend their city, but was killed in combat with Achilles, the greatest ofthe Greek warriors. The scene on this vase shows Achilles looming above her as she sinks to the ground. Achilles's face is maskedand protected by his helmet; Penthesilea's helmet is pushed back to expose her features and emphasize her vulnerability at this vitalmoment. Her spear passes harmlessly across Achilles's chest, while his pierces her throat and blood spurts out. According to a laterversion of the story, at this very moment the eyes of the two warriors met and they fell, too late, in love.

Reverse: Dionysos and OinopionOn the other side of the vase, Dionysos, god of wine, is shown with his son Oinopion.

OrnamentationThe vase is signed, just behind Achilles's right arm, by Exekias as potter. The painting has also been attributed to him. Theamphora's taut and rounded shape is emphasized by the spirals around each handle. Extending upward from the foot of the amphorato the lower side of the tableau is a row of rays, a row of keys, and then a row of hanging lotus buds. Above the tableaus, aroundthe neck, runs a palmettes­lotus chain.

The foot, lip, and handles of the vessel are black.

L. Burn, The British Museum book of Gre (London, The British Museum Press, 1991)D. Williams, Greek vases (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)

What I want you to do:

For your own vessel, I want you to write a similar descriptive article. Follow the structure of the article above.

1. Name attributed to your vessel (make it up) and the artist.2. Date of origin3. Provenance ­ Where was it made? Where was it found? Where is it now?

4. Description of the obverse side ­ Explain what is being illustrated on the front of your vessel.

5. Description of the reverse side ­ Explain what is being illustrated on the back of your vessel.

6. Ornamentation­ Explain how the vase is decorated. Is the style red figure or black figure? Are the tableaustrimmed with a certain pattern? What patterns are found on the neck and lower body of the amphora?

Part 3 ­ Write a descriptive catalog entry for the followingGreek vessel in the same format.

Attic Black­Figure Neck Amphora in the style of the Antimenes Painter540­530 BCAtticaHarvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of David M. Robinson, 1960.

OBVERSE

REVERSE

Resources

Red Figure vs. Black Figure Pottery

Between the beginning of the sixth and the end of the fourth centuriesB.C., black­ and red­figure techniques were used inAthens to decorate fine pottery while simpler, undecorated wares fulfilled everyday household purposes. With bothtechniques, the potter first shaped the vessel on a wheel. Most sizeable pots were made in sections; sometimes theneck and body were thrown separately, and the foot was often attached later. Once these sections had dried to a leatherhardness, the potter assembled them and luted the joints with a slip (clay in a more liquid form). Lastly, he added thehandles. In black­figure vase painting, figural and ornamental motifs were applied with a slip that turned black during firing,while the background was left the color of the clay. Vase painters articulated individual forms by incising the slip or byadding white and purple enhancements (mixtures of pigment and clay). In contrast, the decorative motifs on red­figurevases remained the color of the clay; the background, filled in with a slip, turned black. Figures could be articulated withglaze lines or dilute washes of glaze applied with a brush. The red­figure technique was invented around 530 B.C., quitepossibly by the potter Andokides and his workshop. It gradually replaced the black­figure technique as innovatorsrecognized the possibilities that came with drawing forms, rather than laboriously delineating them with incisions. Theuse of a brush in red­figure technique was better suited to the naturalistic representation of anatomy, garments, andemotions.

The firing process of both red­ and black­figure vessels consisted of three stages. During the first, oxidizing stage, air wasallowed into the kiln, turning the whole vase the color of the clay. In the subsequent stage, green wood was introducedinto the chamber and the oxygen supply was reduced, causing the object to turn black in the smoky environment. In thethird stage, air was reintroduced into the kiln; the reserved portions turned back to orange while the glossed areasremained black.

Painted vases were often made in specific shapes for specific daily uses—storing and transporting wine and foodstuffs(amphora), drawing water (hydria), drinking wine or water (kantharos or kylix), and so on—and for special, often ritualoccasions, such as pouring libations (lekythos) or carrying water for the bridal bath (loutrophoros). Their pictorialdecorations provide insights into many aspects of Athenian life, and complement the literary texts andinscriptions fromthe Archaic and, especially, Classical periods.

Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Types of Pottery

Stencils

Kantharos