Ancient Greece: First, the Aegean culture period
Second, the Homeric and Archaic periods
Third, the heyday period
Fourth, the period of Hellenization
Rome compared to the previous Greek basically not much else, the main carvings, architecture, and painting several aspects
In terms of human cultural history, the Greek civilization is the birthplace of European culture. p>From the history of human culture, Greek civilization is the birthplace of European culture. Shelley once recited in his poem, "We are all Greeks." Greece is the birthplace and cradle of European civilization, without Greece, it is impossible to imagine what European civilization would be like, and today's Western world is everywhere the legacy of Greek civilization. However, except for the citizens living on the Greek peninsula who consider themselves Greeks, few people consider themselves Greeks in the philosophical imagination as Shelley did. So who exactly are the Greeks?
History shows that the Mycenaeans, conquerors of Crete and destroyers of the city of Troy, were among the earliest inhabitants of Greece. They later fell into slavery to the northern barbarians and gradually diverged into the Dorians and Ionians, all of whom shared the **** same beliefs and language, and so were called Greeks.
Before the arrival of the Dorians and Ionians, the main peoples who built the Greek classical civilization, in the Aegean region in the northeastern Mediterranean Sea, there used to exist a fairly developed Aegean culture.
Greek culture mainly comes from the Aegean civilization centered on the Aegean Sea, therefore, if we want to understand Greek art, we must first start from the Aegean art. Aegean art is the period when Greek art was conceived, centered on the island of Crete in the Aegean Sea, and including the Mycenaean culture in the southern part of the Aegean Peninsula, so the Aegean culture is also called "Cretan-Mycenaean culture".
The Aegean civilization was formed around the time of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, and was different from the valley culture to which the Egyptian or Mesopotamian civilizations belonged, as this civilization was an island culture. While the first two civilizations controlled and maintained vast territories, the Aegean civilization was small in comparison, with the island of Crete only 240 kilometers long and 56 kilometers wide at its widest point. However, the island's temperate climate, its agriculture and, above all, the fact that it was surrounded by the sea, guaranteed its security for five centuries. Thus, as early as the 25th century B.C., the inhabitants of Crete had already created a culture of bronze and stone, and by 2000 B.C. they had entered a period of prosperity through foreign trade, establishing a powerful commercial kingdom with Knossos as its capital.
Legend has it that Crete was home to a remarkable king named Minos, and archaeologists have called the civilization that existed under his rule the Minoan Civilization.
Despite the geographical proximity of Crete to Egypt, the Minoan civilization was very different from the Egyptian civilization. The former was centered on palaces, while the latter featured tombs. Archaeologists excavated the ruins of a massive palace at Knossos in the late nineteenth century and called it the Palace of Knossos. This palace, together with the surrounding town and its public **** facilities, was the precursor of the later Greek city-state (Polis).
The ruins of the Palace of Knossos have left behind many decorative frescoes, the main themes of which are derived from nature, such as waves, seaweed, octopus and dolphins. These paintings are full of the rhythmic and joyful temperament of Maeanoan art.
One of the most important sculptures is the Snake Goddess. This painted terracotta figure is less formal than the Egyptian figures, with her arms freely extended and wearing an ornate gown that exposes her breasts.
The Mycenaean civilization did not develop in a coherent manner, but appeared and disappeared very suddenly, perhaps because of the earthquakes and volcanoes that devastated the kingdom of Mynos, which was finally conquered by the powerful and warlike Mycenaeans, but because of the inheritance and popularity of Mycenaean art, Mycenaean civilization was able to spread to other regions.
The Mycenaeans, who inhabited the southeastern coast of the Peloponnesus peninsula in Greece from 1600 to 1100 B.C., were remarkably similar to the Mycenaean culture. But it was only after a German archaeologist, Heinrich Shliemann, excavated in Mycenae in 1870 and found a huge palace fortress with gold objects and utensils, confirming the story in Homer's Iliad, that it was determined that the Mycenaeans were descendants of the earliest Greek tribes.
As a result of this excavation, what was presented to the world were the magnificent remains of the Mycenaean civilization, including the Mycenae Acropolis and Tiryns Castle, which are estimated to have been built around 1400 BC. Because Mycenaean architecture was too free and open and lacked order, making walled facilities less defensible, the Mycenaean civilization focused on fortresses with strong walls that doubled as royal palaces as its first architectural function.
Sculpture is excavated in Mycenae, gold production of the "Funeral Mask" (Funeral Mask), rumored to be Agamemnon (Agamemnon) used by the king. This mask shows not only the vivid expression of the face, but also the exquisite craftsmanship of its production.
The Aegean culture was originally free-spirited in its paintings, but gradually shifted to abstraction, resulting in simplified figures of humans or animals. This culture came to an end when it was invaded by the Dorians from the north.
Cretan culture is the birthplace of the Aegean culture, Crete is located in Europe, Asia and Africa between the main traffic, there are good harbors, the island is fertile land, rich in produce, the people live in abundance and well-being, earlier than the European continent into the development of civilization.
The Cretan art was obviously influenced by Egyptian art in North Africa and the art of the two river valleys in West Asia, which had entered the age of civilization earlier.
Mycenaean culture was the successor to Cretan culture, and in comparison with Cretan culture, Mycenaean art was majestic and rugged, while Cretan art was slender and detailed, until it came to an end around 1200 B.C., when the Dorians united the Greek Peninsula.
Greece, the birthplace of European culture, the ancient Greeks in science, philosophy, literature, art are creative brilliant achievements, the development of European culture has a profound impact. It formed the first peak of Western fine arts.
Although ancient Egypt and the two river valleys of the fine arts produced earlier, but on the whole of Europe and the world's art has the greatest impact than the ancient Greek art. It was conceived three thousand years ago when the rest of the world's art forms were still in a very primitive state. However, at that time, Greece was not much more advanced than some of the older countries in terms of social system, but why the development of fine art was in the forefront of the world, became the foundation of modern civilization in Europe, and became the starting point of the central axis of the general tendency of the world's fine art development. The factors involved are many and complex.
The formation and development of ancient Greek art had a close relationship with its social history, national characteristics and natural conditions.
First, the geographical position of Greece is very favorable. It is exactly at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea on the north shore of the Aegean Sea, the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula. Here the natural scenery is beautiful, the climate is pleasant, the transportation is convenient, can be from the sea and land countries smooth exchange of all kinds of material and spiritual products. Such exchanges can bring many new things to a people. In addition, the distance from the ancient civilization of Egypt and the scenery of the two river valleys, when the decline of the fine arts in the two places mentioned above, division, spillover, the first to benefit is Greece. Crete, in particular, can be considered both the Greek Peninsula south of the island, but also can be said to be the Egyptian Nile Delta north of the island, can also be seen as Asia Minor Peninsula west of the island, just a little closer to Greece, and the Cretan fine arts clearly can be seen in the shadows of the ancient Egyptian and Two Rivers Basin style. Crete is only an intermediary and a springboard for the influence of Egypt and the Two Rivers Valley on Greece. The afterglow of the two ancient civilizations reached the Greek Peninsula through the island of Crete.
Secondly, Greece is a city-state system. Greece is different from Egypt, the two rivers basin, India and China's slave society, when Greece did not form a unified monarchy, the history of its slave society is the history of the city-state as the core of the history of the city-state state of the slave-owning democracy for the development of culture provides favorable conditions. The city-state state required its citizens to have a strong body and a perfect mind, which became the ideal image for artistic creation. In this national polity, although slaves were excluded from politics, the free people made up a large proportion, had a certain status, and had fuller freedom. Ancient Greek art was essentially the art created by the slave owners and the free people*** together.
Third, the Greek nation. Citizens of Greek city-states seldom labored on their own; they were supported by subordinates and conquered people, and were always served by slaves. The Greeks were the "sons of the sea" who lived by the sea and had the character of the sea: resourceful, clever, brave and imaginative. The development of trade and navigation created the strong will of the Greeks and the positive character of the pursuit of ideals, but also the opportunity for Greece to get in touch with the culture of the two river valleys, Egypt and other regions.
Citizens of the Greek city-states were not as religious as the Egyptians; they had no kings or priests to serve, and they were completely free men in their city-states. They believed that a free man should give his full attention to public ****ing affairs and wars, because life was not as secure and society was not as solid as it is now. Most of the city-states were scattered along the Mediterranean coast, surrounded by barbarians eager to invade.
Fourth, Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the soil of Greek art, Greek mythology contains people's rational thinking about the mysteries of nature, which nurtures the germ of historical and philosophical concepts. The earliest rise of Greek art has a lot to do with mythology. Greek mythology has played a role in pushing Greek art to its peak, as a source of nutrients and a treasure trove.
The Greek myths, characterized by the "homogeneity of gods and men", gave the gods and goddesses a human face and emotion, which became a favorable factor in promoting the close connection between art and life. Although Greek mythology is a kind of legend, the content of which mostly depicts the life of the gods, it is a reflection of the fantasies formed by the people in the process of conquering the nature at that time, and it gives such fantasies historical and philosophical concepts.
This myth
So has a great aesthetic significance, is because he also reflects the Greek ethical and moral concepts and aesthetics, so, Marx said it is the soil of Greek art.
Staging of Greek Art
The history of ancient Greek art is usually divided into the Homeric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods.
Homeric period (12th century BC - 8th century BC)
The Homeric period is named after the author of the Homeric epics, the end of the clan society. The Homeric period was the formative period of Greek mythology and the budding of the plastic arts.
The earliest works of plastic art in the Homeric period were geometric vases of simple shapes and sizes, mostly used for honoring gods and burials. Even the carved works were mostly geometric, without detailed carvings. Therefore, this period is also known as the "Geometric Period".
Homer, a blind man who lived from the 9th to the 8th centuries B.C., organized the Greek folklore that had been passed down over the centuries from the 12th to the 8th centuries B.C. into two works: the Iliad and the Odyssey. and the Odyssey.
At this time, the people of the Greek Peninsula had inherited and developed the accumulated customs and imaginings of the world of primitive man, and their culture was far less mature than that of the Aegean culture of the islands, which had been y influenced by Ancient Egypt and the Valley of the Two Rivers. Homer, the blind poet, compiled two monumental works of literature from folklore, songs, and myths about the origins of heaven and earth, the future of history, and the aspirations of life that had been widely circulated for hundreds or even thousands of years, which set the tone for the direction of the development of the Greek fine arts later on, and became inexhaustible sources of material for the Greek fine arts.
The Archaic Period (7th century B.C.-6th century B.C.
This period was a period of fundamental change in Greek society. The free people as a class ascended to the stage of history, Greece produced **** and states of different polities, the frequent interactions of hundreds of independent city-states, the annual Olympic Games, the rituals of the temples of the island of Tilos and the temple of Apollo on the island of Delphi, the birth of Homer's epics,...... and finally the formation of the Zeus as the main brain of the The system of the gods of Mount Olympus, and for the formation of Greek art with Greek mythology as the main subject content, and then for the golden age of Greek art - the arrival of the prosperity of the period to make full preparation.
The Ancient Style Period was a formative period for the plastic arts, in which the Eastern culture influenced Greek art through trade interactions, and Greek art formed its own style by absorbing the strengths of the Eastern culture and gradually getting rid of the influence of the Eastern culture.
The art achievements of this period were mainly bottle painting, architecture and sculpture.
Bottle Painting: Pottery bottles were the main daily utensils and export commodities of the Greeks, and Athens and Corinth were important production centers of pottery bottles. During the Archaic period, the type of episodic bottle painting was established, and three styles appeared successively: the Oriental style, the black-painted style, and the red-painted style.
The Oriental style, which appeared mainly in the 7th century BC, was formed as a result of the influence of Ancient Egypt and the Two Rivers Valley. Early pottery in the Oriental style period still used geometric patterns, and later, due to the contact between Greece and the Near East business, the Oriental style, with stories as the content of depiction, figures and animals became the theme of decoration, clear outlines, sure strokes, vivid modeling, and the size of the work increases with it.
The black-painted style, which appeared in the 6th century B.C., was to paint the main figures in black and keep the background the ochre color of the pottery clay, so that the outlines of the images were prominent as if they were silhouettes, and the fine details were slightly expressed with outlined lines.
The red-painted style appeared at the end of the 6th century B.C.E. It was exactly the opposite of the black-painted style, in which the background was painted black, leaving the ochre color of the main part, and the fine details of the figures were depicted with lines. This style was predominantly popular in the classical period, and the smoothing was mostly of melodramatic scenes, with mythological and everyday themes.
Architecture: Greek architecture is mainly temples. In the archaic period, Greek temple architecture has formed its typical style - the peristyle, that is, the building is surrounded by a colonnade. At this time two basic architectural columnar styles have been formed, namely, the Dorian and Ionic styles.
Doria style is simple, stout, no base, the body of the column from the bottom up gradually narrowed, slightly bulging in the center, the body has a groove, the head of the column to the square crown.
The Ionic column is delicate and slender, with a base, a long, well-proportioned body, dense and deep fluting, and a volute head.
At a later time, that is, the classical period in Asia Minor and popular a Corinthian style, is based on the Ionian columns to more ornate decorations, the head of the column for the dense basket of flowers.
Sculpture: the ancient style of the period of sculpture by the Egyptian influence, the figure is in the front of the upright rigid state. Both male and female statues, in the expression with a thousand times the same smile, commonly known as the "ancient style smile"
Classical period (5th century BC - 4th century BC)
This period is the prosperity of Greek art, for the art of the various categories of great achievements. The period of the Classical Period (5th century BC - 4th century BC)
This period was a period of prosperity for Greek art, with great achievements in various disciplines of art, among which architecture and sculpture had the most profound influence on later generations.
Architecture: The architectural achievements of this period are quite impressive, the most prominent representative of which is the Acropolis complex. Its main building was the Parthenon dedicated to the goddess Athena; the architectural structure and decorative elements, monumental and decorative, content and form achieved a high degree of unity, and it is one of the most perfect architectural models in the history of world art.
Sculpture: the classical period of sculpture to completely get rid of the constraints of the archaic period and decorative, resulting in a realistic and ideal human body, to reach the heyday of Greek sculpture, the emergence of a number of outstanding sculptors.
Myron (Myron, date of birth and death unknown), is the sculptor of the early classical period. His representative works are accurately modeled, with a deeper understanding and expression of the inner skeletal and muscular movements of the figure. His representative work, Discus Thrower, is a sculpture that shows continuity of movement in a fixed action, brilliantly solving the problem of the center of gravity of the human body's weight falling on one foot, and changing the program of uprightness in sculpture.
The greatest sculptor of the Classical period was Phidias (date of death unknown). He designed the architecture of the Acropolis and created a large number of carvings and decorative reliefs in the Acropolis. His work created elegant, serene images that exemplified the ideal beauty of classical sculpture. The statue of Athena he created for the Parthenon was 12 meters high. He created for the east and west triangular frieze of the Parthenon high relief sculpture is taken as the most perfect specimen of classical sculpture, in which the "fate of the three goddesses," beautiful posture, clothing pattern vivid, not only out of the goddess out of the voluptuousness of the body, but also with the flow of the sense of movement of the soft and beautiful.
With Phidias contemporaneous sculptor and Polyclitus (Polyclitos), he is both sculptor, but also the ancient famous art theorist. He wrote the book "Laws", a systematic exposition of the proportion of human body parts, put forward the ratio of the head to the human body is 1:7. his works with more formal aspects of the exploration, emphasizing the standardization of art. His works are characterized by more formal explorations, emphasizing the standardization of art, which more or less constrained his works and prevented him from creating as many moving works as Phidias. His masterpieces include The Horcruxes.
In the late classical period, sculpture began to focus on the portrayal of personality, expressing human individuality and feelings, with characters full of life and inner passion. This depiction of character marks the further maturation of Greek sculpture.
Praxiteles, characterized by softness and lyricism, is the masterpiece of Hermes.
In contrast to Praxiteles' serenity and lyricism, Skopas' sculptures convey an inner turmoil and tragic conflict. Strong contrasts of light and dark are created by the rise and fall of the face, which expresses intense feelings of restlessness, agitation, pain, and longing.
Reusipos, inherited and developed the theories of Polyukrates.
Hellenistic Period (Late 4th Century B.C. - 1st Century A.D.
During the Hellenistic Period, King Alexander of Macedonia led an army to conquer the Greek city-states and established the Alexander Empire. With the expansion of the empire came the spread of Greek culture to the East and exchanges with Eastern cultures, a period also known as the "Panhellenic Period".
The main achievement of the fine arts in this period was sculpture, and various styles of sculpture centered on different regions were formed.
The representative works of this period include "Milo's Aphrodite" and "Laocoon".
An important part of European classical art. Calendar *** and period and the imperial period *** 10 centuries. Roman art absorbed the achievements of Greek art, inherited the Etruscan art tradition, and pushed it more towards pragmatism, focusing on the depiction of hedonistic secular life in terms of content, pursuing a grand and magnificent style in terms of form, and emphasizing personalization in terms of character expression. Its outstanding achievements were mainly reflected in architecture, portrait sculpture and frescoes.
Roman architecture was developed by inheriting the Etruscan arch structure and absorbing the Greek beam structure and artistic modeling. With the help of mortar made of volcanic ash and concrete as a building material, the Romans built a large number of cities, squares, bridges, theaters, baths, palaces, residences, triumphal arches, and so on. These buildings greatly exceeded their predecessors in terms of scale, technology and spatial combinations, and with their huge size and grandeur, they became symbols of the strength of the Roman Empire. The Roman Colosseum is a typical representative of the Roman Colosseum building in the middle of the Roman Empire. Pantheon is an outstanding representative of the vaulted building, its interior is a magnificent circular hall, the top is a hemispherical dome, in the middle of a 9-meter diameter circular light window. The entire structure is made of poured concrete. Temple fa?ade modeling rigorous, internal space is grand, architectural decoration gorgeous, representing the design and technical level of Roman architecture at the time.
The important monumental buildings of the Roman Empire have two forms of triumphal arches and memorial columns, which were built to boast of their military achievements. Triumphal arch and divided into single coupon hole type and three coupon hole type two kinds. The former to Tidus triumphal arch as a representative, the latter to Constantine triumphal arch as a representative. Both use mixed columns and relief decorations, modeling stability, solemnity. Memorial column to Tulajin memorial column is the most prestigious, its total height of 43 meters, the top of the column once stood a bronze statue of Emperor Tulajin. The column has a band of reliefs that encircles 23 circles and is more than 200 meters long, detailing the history of the Roman army's conquest of the Dacians.
Roman portrait sculpture, on the one hand, inherited the legacy of ancestor worship, and at the same time by the continuous impact of the Greek sculptural tradition, so that it gradually towards the diversity of forms, artistic generalization and vivid expression. Most of the numerous Augustus statues borrowed the expression of the Greek classical period statues, or molded into a god of war, or molded into a hero, beautiful young man, etc., but the appearance of the look is still unique to Rome. With the popularity of realistic style in portrait sculpture, portraits that portray strong personality traits and complex inner worlds also appeared in large numbers. Such as "Caracalla" is through the eyes of the carving, the real expression of the tyrant's cold, cruel character and nervous and uneasy mood. The Portrait of Marco Aurelio on Horseback mainly portrays the introspection and contemplation of this monarch with Stoic philosophical thoughts, revealing a melancholic sadness. Portraits of noblemen and commoners are equally vibrant and more free-flowing in their approach. For example, the portrait of a noblewoman with high hair is a case in point.
The paintings of the Roman period mainly include frescoes and mosaics. Frescoes are represented by the Pompeii frescoes unearthed in the 18th century, with subjects including figures, flowers, trees and landscapes. The style is vivid and diverse, with gorgeous colors and a sense of space and movement. Mosaics were mostly used for the decoration of residences and palaces, and the subjects were mainly scenes of athletics, hunting, farming and feasting. These white and colored marble pieces cut into squares were skillfully inlaid on a cement base, forming exquisite lines and different color levels. Representative works include the Battle of Issus. The highest achievements of Roman arts and crafts were mainly reflected in silverware, glass and bronze crafts. They inherited the Greek tradition on the basis of a greater tendency to diversify the shape and decorative techniques, the characters depicted are more realistic, the Renaissance and the 18th century Rococo art has a certain influence.