{"id":27099,"date":"2023-07-18T07:06:25","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T05:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.cycladic.gr\/essay\/%ce%b7-%cf%84%ce%ad%cf%87%ce%bd%ce%b7-%cf%84%cf%89%ce%bd-%ce%b3%ce%b5%cf%89%ce%bc%ce%b5%cf%84%cf%81%ce%b9%ce%ba%cf%8e%ce%bd-%cf%87%cf%81%cf%8c%ce%bd%cf%89%ce%bd\/"},"modified":"2023-11-14T11:48:35","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T09:48:35","slug":"i-techni-ton-geometrikon-chronon","status":"publish","type":"essay","link":"https:\/\/cycladic.gr\/en\/essay\/i-techni-ton-geometrikon-chronon\/","title":{"rendered":"Geometric Art"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Geometric Art<\/h1>

ANCIENT GREEK ART<\/p> <\/header>

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A NEW BEGINNING<\/h2> <\/header>\n\n \n
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Following the collapse of Mycenaean civilization at the end of 13th c. BC, the most sophisticated artistic skills from the Aegean were lost. The monumental architecture, painting, seal-engraving, ivory-carving, and advanced techniques of metal- and stone-working, along with the palaces, were gone.<\/p>\n

Some last glimpses of the Mycenaean splendour survived into the 12th c. BC, but, for most of the next four centuries (11th \u2013 8th centuries BC), artistic expression and craftsmanship were limited to the manufacture of small figurines, bronze vessels, and a rather restricted range of bronze and gold ornaments. Pottery was the only type of artifact that continued to be produced in large quantities. However, the vases were mostly decorated with plain geometric motifs, a style that lent its name to the whole period.<\/p>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

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Attic amphora decorated with geometric motifs\n800 \u2013 760 BC\n\u039a\u03a00065<\/div>
Photo. Irini Miari \u00a9 Museum of Cycladic Art<\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n \n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n
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ART OF THE GEOMETRIC PERIOD<\/h2> <\/header>\n\n
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Seated female figures, probably a mourning scene (vase detail)\n730 \u2013 715 BC\n\u039d\u03931102<\/div>
\u00a9Museum of Cycladic Art<\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n
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Geometric art is mainly found in cemeteries and, to a much lesser extent, in cult places and settlements. In the Early Iron Age, there was a great concern with religion and death, and most artifacts were created to serve as symbolic offerings in sanctuaries and graves. This may explain, in part, the persistence of traditional styles, as well as an overall reluctance for innovation. Emphasis was placed on the precise reproduction of form, and decoration was confined to the repetition of meticulously executed linear motifs, which help enhance the sense of symmetry. With the exception of figurines, no interest in representational art was present in Greece until the middle of the 9th c. BC.<\/p>\n

When figural scenes do appear from c. 850 BC onwards \u2013 most probably as a result of increasing contacts with the Near East \u2013 they are rendered in a highly schematic style, with an awkward sense of three-dimensional space. Nevertheless, these scenes represent the earliest systematic attempts to depict humans in action, forming the basis of a long tradition of narrative in Greek art.<\/p>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

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FIGURINES<\/h2> <\/header>\n\n \n
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Bronze figurines\n8th c. BC<\/div>
Photo. Irini Miari \u00a9 Museum of Cycladic Art<\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n \n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n
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Geometric figurines were mostly made of bronze and clay, and only occasionally have archaeologists found examples in stone or ivory (the latter found mainly on Crete). Geometric figurines are highly schematic and created without interest in the realistic representation of the body.<\/p>\n

The artists seem to have followed standard conventions in the carving of each anatomical part: round heads and roughly triangular torsos for humans; cylindrical bodies and noses, flat necks, and triangular shapes for animals.<\/p>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Bronze figurines represented both humans and animals and were small in size and solidly cast (although details were often rendered by hammering). They were either sculpted in the round or attached to the handles of large bronze vessels (mainly tripod cauldrons).<\/p>\n

The most common human figures depicted warriors and charioteers, but standing females, as well as male deities and mythological creatures (Minotaur, Centaur, etc.), were depicted as well. Animal figurines from this period mainly represent horses, bovines, and birds.<\/p>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

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Bronze ox figurine\n8th c. BC\n\u039d\u03930158<\/div>
\u00a9 Museum of Cycladic Art<\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n \n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n
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Pyxis with four horse figurines on the lid\n760 \u2013 750 BC\n\u039d\u03931103<\/div>
Photo. Paris Tavitian \u00a9 Museum of Cycladic Art<\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n \n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n
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Clay figurines share a similar range of types and are mostly hand-made and solid \u2013 although wheel-made examples with hollow interiors have also been found. In some cases, model horses were attached to the lids of large clay pyxides of the Late Geometric period, usually found in aristocratic graves.<\/p>\n

Additionally, some geometric vases were found in the form of birds or animals, and clay figurines were decorated like pottery, with either geometric motifs or a black glaze.<\/p>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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JEWELLERY<\/h2> <\/header>\n\n \n
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\n Ornaments from the Geometric period are rare, and the few that have been found have mainly come from graves.\n <\/div>\n \n \n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n
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The most common bronze types are pins and fibulae (brooches), which were used for fastening loose garments, such as the peplos on the shoulder. There are several variants some of which exhibit Balkan or even central European influences.<\/p>\n

The so-called \u201cBoeotian\u201d (or \u201cAttico-Boeotian\u201d) fibula (an oversized type of brooch with large rectangular catch-plate), which was decorated by incision with either geometric motifs or figured scenes (sometimes drawing from mythology), is of particular interest. Such fibulae were exclusively used as votive offerings in sanctuaries and graves.<\/p>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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01<\/div>
Oversized \u201cBoeotian\u201d fibula (brooch) with representation of a ship and fish on the leaf-shaped plate \r\n8th c. BC\r\n\u039d\u03930561<\/div>
\u00a9 Museum of Cycladic Art<\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n \n \n\n
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02<\/div>
Drawing of the representation on the the fibula \u039d\u03930561\r\n8th c. BC\r\n\u039d\u03930561<\/div>
\u00a9 Museum of Cycladic Art<\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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01<\/div>
Oversized \u201cBoeotian\u201d fibula (brooch) with representation of a ship and fish on the leaf-shaped plate \r\n8th c. BC\r\n\u039d\u03930561<\/div>
\u00a9 Museum of Cycladic Art<\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n
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02<\/div>
Drawing of the representation on the the fibula \u039d\u03930561\r\n8th c. BC\r\n\u039d\u03930561<\/div>
\u00a9 Museum of Cycladic Art<\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n
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