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Ancient Greece
(1000 BCE - early 1st century CE) |
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Greek art spans over a thousand years with its high point in the Classical period (from about 480 -300 BCE). The periods of Greek art are usually categorized as the following:
| Protogeometric and Geometric Period: | 1000-700 BCE |
| Orientalizing Period: | 700-600 BCE |
| Archaic Period: | 600-480 BCE |
| Early Classical Period: | 480-450 BCE |
| Classical Period: | 450-330 BCE |
| Hellenistic Period: | 330 BCE-early 1st century CE |
Even though art historians and archaeologists are increasingly aware of the debt Greek art owed to the earlier great cultures of Egypt and the Near East, none of the art or architecture preceding that of the Greeks had a major influence on Western civilization. When we look at Greek art, we are seeing an art that was never entirely forgotten. Greek art, like Greek culture in general, influenced in one way or another almost every succeeding period, sometimes overwhelmingly. The only culture that has left a comparable impression on later periods of art is that of Rome--and that partly because Rome was a transmitter of the artistic heritage of Greece.
The art and architecture of Greece is characterized by steady evolution and change--from simple forms to more complex, from stylization to realism, from simple, orderly architectural forms to more elegant, optically corrected architecture. Unlike conservative Egyptian artists and architects, for example, who arrived at artistic solutions changed little through later centuries, Greek artists developed individual styles, took pride in their work, often signed it, and were memorialized in literary texts. (Sometimes we only know about certain Greek works thanks to verbal descriptions.
Greek art also expanded beyond the boundaries of Greece. Greek pots were so valued that they were exported throughout the Mediterranean world; Greek colonies continued mainland traditions (which is why one of the best preserved Greek temples is located in a former Greek colony in Italy); and copies of Greek painting have been found in the excavations at Pompeii, Italy. Even in its own day other cultures recognized and copied the achievements of Greek art and architecture.
Art History for Humanities:
Copyright © 1997 Bluffton College.
Text and image preparation by Mary Ann Sullivan.
Design by Gerald W. Schlabach.
All images marked MAS were photographed on location by Mary Ann Sullivan. All other images were scanned from other sources or downloaded from the World Wide Web; they are posted on this password-protected site for educational purposes, at Bluffton College only, under the "fair use" clause of U.S. copyright law.
Page maintained by Gerald W. Schlabach, gws@bluffton.edu. Last updated: 28 August 1997.
