acient greek art essay

Ancient Greek art can be divided into four forms: architecture, sculpture, painting, and painted pottery. There are numerous examples of each, with the exception of painting. There is very little Greek painting from the Classical period; most of what we have is from the Bronze Age. The majority of paintings that survived were painted on walls, as decoration for rooms, like murals. Also some paintings were located in caves, and in temples, as a offering of beauty for the God’s. During the Christian reformation many Greek paintings were destroyed, lost or hidden. However, there is a great deal of painted pottery from all periods of Greek history (including the Hellenistic era). One thing there is no shortage of is Sculpture, much of it is damaged, but there is plenty to examine.
The history of ancient Greek Sculpture for the most part is composed of three different periods: the Archaic, the Classical, and the Hellenistic. The Archaic is fairly rigid and primal; Classical sculpture becomes more refined and true to life; and finally Hellenistic is elaborate and very ornamental. Greek architecture is classified in a similar way by dividing it into three different time periods- the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Doric columns were very plain, with the Ionic era they became much more attractive and with a little more decoration, and finally the Corinthian columns were very embellished and beautiful.
Archaic
The Archaic period is from 800-500 BC. throughout this era sculptures would be positioned on pedestals that lined the path to a temple, or for marking graves. The statue would be either male or female figure in a fairly rigid pose. The male statues are called kouroi ("young men") they represented warriors, god’s, and athletes. Female statues are called korai they depict (clothed) priestesses, goddesses, and nymphs. During the Archaic period, Greek artists tried to attain realistic resemblance of the human figure, resulting in statues that were a far cry from