Grécka keramika

Grécka keramika, hrnčiarstva starovekých Grékov, dôležitých tak pre vnútornú krásu jej foriem a výzdoby, ako aj pre svetlo, ktoré vrhá na rozvoj gréckeho obrazového umenia. Pretože keramika z pálenej hliny je vysoko odolná - a prežilo len málo gréckych diel z dreva, textilu alebo nástenné maľby - maľovaná výzdoba tejto keramiky sa stala hlavným zdrojom informácií o procese, ktorým grécki umelci postupne riešili mnohé problémy predstavuje trojrozmerné objekty a obrázky na rovnom alebo zaoblenom povrchu. Veľký počet príkladov, ktoré prežili, je tiež výsledkom oveľa širšej závislosti na hrnčiarskych nádobách v období, keď boli iné materiály drahé alebo neznáme. Gréci používali hrnčiarske nádoby predovšetkým na skladovanie, prepravu a pitie tekutín, ako je víno a voda.Menšie kvetináče sa používali ako nádoby na parfumy a kopytníky.

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hrnčiarstvo: Tvarovanie hliny

Pokroková metóda, ktorú používajú Gréci a ďalší, je vtlačiť hrnčiarske telo do foriem vypálenej hliny. Prvé plesne boli porovnateľné

Greek pottery developed from a Mycenaean tradition, borrowing both pot forms and decoration. The earliest stylistic period is the Geometric, lasting from about 1000 to 700 bce. This period is further broken down into a Proto-Geometric transition from Mycenaean forms. In this period the surface of the pot was completely covered with a network of fine patterns in which circles and arcs predominate. This abstract decorative vocabulary was later enriched by such devices as the meander (key pattern), checker, triangle, herringbone, and swastika. The succeeding true Geometric style is characterized by these forms and by the gradual appearance of animal and finally human figures. These too were geometrized, being given angular silhouettes and arranged symmetrically, usually in strips around the pot. Figures were invariably portrayed from the side—i.e., in profile. The pots made at this time were the earliest in Greek art to show narrative scenes from popular myths, particularly those about Heracles.

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Greatly expanded Greek trading activities during the late 8th and early 7th centuries bce led to a growing Eastern influence on Greek pottery painters. This phase is first apparent in works made in Corinth in about 700 bce. At this time Asian motifs found their way onto all makes of Greek pots. Curvilinear patterns supplant the older, rectilinear ones. New subjects appear, especially such monsters as the sphinx, siren, griffin, gorgon, and chimaera, as well as such animals as the lion. The Corinthian painters created a silhouette technique in which figures painted in the characteristic black glaze were incised with thin lines to show detail.

Athenian painters adopted this black-figure pottery style around 630 bce but emphasized human figures rather than animal motifs as pictorial themes. The superior quality of their clay, pigment, and decoration quickly enabled the Athenian artists to overtake those of Corinth. From 600 bce on, Athens increasingly became the dominant centre for Greek pottery, eventually exporting its ware throughout the Mediterranean world. It was during this period that the practice of signing of pots by potters and painters first became common. Athenian pottery of the 6th century bce often features narrative scenes composed of black figures painted on a light inset background panel, while the surrounding vase surface is a deep lustrous black. The method by which this distinctive colour was achieved, involving a complicated three-stage process of firing, has been successfully analyzed and reproduced in the 20th century.

Red-figure pottery, invented at Athens about 530 bce, is just the reverse of the black-figure style in that the reddish figures appear light against the black background of the pot surface. Details of the figures such as eyes and interior lines were painted on in black, the brush allowing more subtle characterization than did an incising tool. The red-figure technique allowed a more naturalistic and aesthetically appealing treatment of human figures. The red hues mimicked the colour and tone of sun-bronzed skin and dramatically spotlighted the figures against the dark background. Around 500 bce Greek artists abandoned the convention of using only profile views and began to use three-quarter frontal poses as well as foreshortening and the carefully depicted overlapping of one figure on another. These advances ushered in the zenith of Greek pottery design and also give some idea of contemporaneous achievement in large-scale painting. The drawing on Greek ware of this period is often of the highest quality, and the subject matter is an inexhaustible mine of information on Greek life and thought. Greek artists sought to endow their figures with mood and character as well as the capacity for action. Monotony was avoided by the use of different poses, gestures, and expressions to render emotion and clarify the narrative action. The repertoire of subjects was greatly enlarged, using scenes from everyday life as well as the standard heroic and mythological themes.

The practice of decorating Greek pottery began to decline after the mid-5th century bce. Because of the inherent limitations of the curving pot surface, pottery painters could no longer compete with the rapid strides toward naturalism taken by painters of larger works such as wall paintings. After 430 bce pottery was increasingly crowded with thick floral ornamentation and heavy figures grouped together withoutnarrative. By the 4th century, the figured decoration of pottery had become a dying art, and it had disappeared from Athens by 320 bce.

Greek pottery was manufactured in a variety of different shapes and sizes according to the use to which a particular vessel would be put. For specific treatments of the major physical types of Greek pottery, see alabastron; amphora; hydria; kantharos; krater; kylix; lekythos; oinochoe; and psykter.