Geometric Style (painting)

Geometric style (900 BCE–700 BCE) is a phase of Greek art characterized by geometric motifs, as seen on vase decorations. It developed towards the end of the Greek dark ages throughout the Greek poleis (cities) across the Aegean sea. Historically, it comes after the Mycenaean phase (1600–1100 BCE) and is followed by the Corinthian style (725–600 BCE).

Brief History

The Mycenaean empire, which lasted during the Late Helladic period, was a powerful civilization that at its peak stretched from Greece through the Aegean sea to western Turkey, Cyprus, the Levant, and Egypt, with colonies in southern Italy. It was a warring empire, but it expanded by means of sea trade, and the pottery—which provided the means of transport of liquid goods—was well established and thriving. After the demise of the Mycenaean empire as a result of the Dorian invasion and the migrations of the Sea People from the north, Greece was subjugated and its civilization replaced with another. For the next two centuries, Mycenaean figurative art was replaced by the sovereign reign of abstract art, which manifested its decorative spirit in masterly geometric compositions. Everything that is known about painting from this era comes from the decorations on these vessels. The wall decorations and small paintings, which existed at the time, were all destroyed and only the sheer number of richly decorated vases enabled the survival of the styles of this period.

Vessels decorated in geometric style are painted in horizontal bands filled with ornamental patterns made up of lines that are parallel, broken, zigzag, or crosshatched in clearly defined horizontal bands, interspersed by small geometrical motifs. On the basis of technique and style, geometric style went through several periods: protogeometric, early geometric, middle geometric, and late geometric.

Representative objects of this era include vessels, small bronze and clay figurines (terracottas), clasps (fibulae) and seals, as well as gold bracelets with animal and human figures which were left in graves. The most typical vessel shapes were: krater (pl. kratires or kraters, urn-like vessels for mixing water and wine), amphora (pl. amphorae or amphoras, two-handled jars with a narrow neck for storing liquids), and kylix (pl. kylikes, drinking cup). Amphorae were cylindrical vessels that varied in size and shape, some more elongated and some more rounded. They were designed not to stand but to be laid on their sides in the holds of ships and boats, tightly packed, for transportation of liquids (wine, olive oil, honey, fish sauce and other liquid food stuffs). Kraters were wider in shape and bulkier in the top section.

The protogeometric style (1050–900 BCE) had a limited visual vocabulary of curvilinear objects: wavy or straight lines, arcs and circles drawn with a caliper. Figures are rare, almost always animal, and almost always shown individually. A rich source of protogeometric (and geometric) pottery is the Kerameikos, the potter's quarter northwest of the Acropolis, located on either side of Athens’s city gates. The potters lived and worked inside the gate in the city, while outside the gate was a cemetery.

During the early geometric period (900–850 BCE), the curvilinear shapes fade in favor of the rectilinear ones—square, zigzag, and triangle patterns, as well as the more complex meander and swastika. The vessels become bigger in height and are used not only to transport liquids but also as monumental grave markers (amphorae for women and kraters for men). The decoration is limited to the neck and middle section of the vessel, whereas the rest is fired in a reducing atmosphere (with limited oxygen), causing the iron oxides in clay to turn the surface rich black.

The rectilinear patterns continue through the middle geometric period (850–760 BCE), and the horizontal bands cover the entire vase dividing the zones at regular intervals. The overall rhythmical effect of the pattern mimics the weaving of baskets. The most important element is the meander, which is placed in the most prominent (widest) area between the handles (the metope). The introduction of a stylized human figure as well as narrative and alphabetic inscriptions indicate trade contacts with the advanced cultures of the Near East. In Athens, writing and decoration becomes even more complex.

Decorative bands become more intricate during the late geometric period (760–700 BCE), including stamped and rolled designs and reliefs. The bands contain vignettes with scenes from life (hunting, games, funerary processions) which become more illustrative. Detail is more expressive and composition elegant and subtle. This period later degenerates into subgeometric and protoattic styles, which would become the basis for the evolution of a new style called the Corinthian style, which finally abandoned geometry in favor of more fluid and naturalistic style.

Impact

The language of geometry continues to intersect with art and architecture throughout many subsequent periods. The use of geometric symbols such as the circle, triangle, square, pentagram, hexagon, and the geometric constructions provided the basis for the development of perspective in the Renaissance period, and lead to the radical investigations of European modernism and the avant-garde. Cubism (which was interested in purifying naturalism from visual art), constructivism (which explored the dynamic of pure color and shape), op art (which observed the disorienting effects of geometry) and the Brazilian neo-concrete movement (which called for greater sensuality and poetry in concrete art), are just a few strands and directions that follow from the legacy of geometric style. In pottery, artist Michael Frimkess (b. 1937) uses the combination of the archetypal Greek vase with a cartoon image of American life, ironically emulating the style. The increasing bridging of art and science leads to the ever-greater symbiosis of geometry and art, for example, through fractal geometry or 3-D modeling, while the visual world continues to fluctuate between the naturalistic and abstract styles of expression.

Bibliography

Coldstream, John N. (2003) [1979]. Geometric Greece: 900–700 BC. London: Routledge. 2003. Print.

Dalrymple Henderson, Linda. The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art. Rev. Ed. Cambridge: MIT P. 1983. Print.

Martelli Cristofani, Marina. La ceramica degli Etruschi. Novara: La pittura vascolare. 1987. Print.

Morris, Ian. Archaeology As Cultural History: Words and Things in Iron Age Greece. London: Blackwell. 1999. Print.

Snodgrass, Anthony M. The Dark Age of Greece: An Archeological Survey of the Eleventh to the Eighth Centuries BC. New York: Taylor, 2001. Print.

Von Bothmer, Dietrich. Greek Vase Painting. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Print.

Woodford, Susan. The Art of Greece and Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1982. Print.