Midterm 1 ARTHC 201 Flashcards (Winter 2024)

Kouros vs Kore sculptures

• Kouros = male Greek sculpture

• Kore = female Greek sculpture

Ankh

• An object resembling a cross with a loop

• Symbolizes life in Ancient Greece

Aqueduct

• An artifical channel for moving water, typically in the form of a bridge

Cult Statue

• The statue of the god or goddess housed in temples

Damnatio Memoriae

• A Roman phenomenon where the government condemned the memory of a person (typically rulers/tyrants) after their deaths

Entasis

• A convex curve in architecture to correct the optical illusion to make it appear strong and straight

What is the significance of the name “Keftiu” instead of “Minoans”?

• Keftiu was the real name they were called in ancient times (as evidenced by Egyptian records), while Minoan was the name given to them based on the stories of the ancient King Minos

What are the orders of Greek capitals?

• Doric

• Ionic

• Corinthian

What order is this?

• Doric

What order is this?

• Ionic

What order is this?

• Corinthian

Significant features of Ancient Greek architecture

• Pediment

• Frieze

• Volute

• Capital

• Column

• Flute

• Base

• Metope

Pediment

• The triangular space at the end of a building, formed by the ends of a sloping roof

Frieze

• Any sculpted or painted band

Volute

• A spiral, scroll-like form characteristic of Ionic order capitals

Capital

• The uppermost member of a column

• Form varies with order

Column

• A vertical, weight-carrying architectural member

Flute

• Vertical channeling used on columns

Metope

• The square panel in a frieze, often sculpted in relief

Main characteristics of Archaic Greece

• Development of Doric and Ionic orders

• “Archaic smile”

  • Showed how the figure in sculpture was alive

• Koroi and kore

• Bulky columns

• Black- and red-figure painting

• Strong Egyptian influence in statuary

Main characteristics of Classical Greece

• Began with the defeat of the Persians

• Weight shift is introduced in statuary

• Polykleitos + his canon

• Pericles + Phidias rebuild the Acropolis

• Greek gods and goddesses are humanized

• Corinthian capitals are introduced

• Temples are longer (more rectangular)

• More realistic (but still idealized with motion) → abandonment of rigid, Archaic statuary

Main characteristics of Hellenistic Greece

• Began with Alexander the Great + his conquest

• Ended with the death of Cleopatra

• Architects broke the rules of classical greek architecture

• Artists explore new subjects → no longer the young, athletic male idealized figure

Humanism / Humanistic approach to Art History

• Humanism — the world revolves around the human being, everything is centered around being human, human-centric

  • man has a divine potential and is connected with the gods

• Humanistic Approach to Art History — studying what it means to be human and what the artworks teach us about the human condition

What is Polykleitos’ canon?

• A mathematical proportion for the ideal depiction of the human form

Caryatid

• A female figure that acts as a supporting column

Lamassu

• An Assyrian guardian hybrid creature - a man-headed winged bull/lion

Chryselephantine

• Something made with gold and ivory

From our in-class discussion about art forgeries, what was being forged, how, and why were they able to do it?

• Early Cycladic sculptures were being forged

• A rise in popularity with abstract art and sculpture led, in combination with these being very rare, meant that they fetched a very high price

  • Very simple, so they were easy to forge

• We can’t always tell if they are forgeries or not, but some will have evidence of polychrome so those are authentic

Embodiment

• When the object depicted is used in creating it

• Example: actual human skulls were usedwith the Jericho skulls

Naturalism

• A style of art where the representation is closely based on the natural world

Composite View

• A convention of representation where part of a figure is shown in profile view and another part of the figure is shown frontally

At the Royal Cemetary of Ur, what was found there? Who was buried there? What else is important about this place?

• Ram in a Thicket

• Bull harp with inliad sound box

• Queen Puabi

What are ziggurats? What was their function? What did they look like?

• Man-made mountains created to raise the temples up towards the god - like a meeting place where the god comes down and the mortal climbs up

• A “journey” up to the god (sometimes through paradise)

Relief Sculpture

• Figures projecting from a background of which they are a part of

What is polychromy? What artworks were likely done in this style? What happens to it over time?

• Very colorful or painted

• Most, if not all, artworks we have looked at from the ancient world were polychromed, but the paint faded and chipped with time

What are the characteristics and features of the Sphinx?

What are the “wonders” of the world?

• Great Pyramids of Giza

• Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Assyria)

• Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

• Statue of Zeus at Olympia

• Mausoleum at Halicarnasus

• Colossus of Rhodes

• Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria

Based on our discussion on apotropaic power, what is it? What does it mean? Where are there examples of it?

• Something that wards off evil

What are the characteristics and the historical context of Ram in a Thicket?

• Made of gold and lapus lazuli

  • Very, very valuable

  • Represents the sky and the heavens - very spiritual

• Discovered by Lenard Whooly - looking at the Bible and finding archaelogical sites in the Bible

• Associated with the story of Abraham and Isaac - Abraham was told not to sacrifice his son right before he was going to and instead told to sacrifice a nearby ram caught in a thicket

• Buried with Babylonian royalty and shows very advanced naturalism

Phenomenology

• The idea that you use the senses while interpreting the art

• It is not just a visual experience but a multi-scensory and an emotional/imaginary experience

Colonnade

• A series or row of columns

Contour Line

• A continuous line defining the outer shape of an object

Contrapposto

• A position of the human figure where one part of the body is turned in opposition to another part of the body

• Typically, the weight of the body is shifted onto one foot while the other is relaxed

Animation (in pre-modernity)

• The illusion of movement - making something come to life

Tholos vs Peristyle temples

• Tholos - a circular temple plan

• Peristyle - a rectangular temple plan with a colonnade along the outside

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Title: An Assyrian “hanging garden”

City: Nineveh, Iraq

Date: 650 BCE

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Title: Spotted horses and negative hand imprint

City: Pech-Merle, France

Date: ca. 23,000 - 22,000 BCE

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Title: Bull-leaping fresco from the palace of Knossos

City: Knossos (Crete), Greece

Date: ca. 1500 BCE

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Title: Human skull with restored features

City: Jericho

Date: ca. 7000 BCE

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Title: Gudea seated, holding the plan of a temple

City: Girsu (modern Telloh), Iraq

Date: ca. 2150 BCE

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Title: Colossus of Rhodes

City: Rhodes, Greece

Date: 292 BCE

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Title: Pharos Lighthouse

City: Alexandria, Egypt

Date: 280 BCE

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Title: Facade of the temple of Ramses II

City: Abu Simbel, Egypt

Date: 19th Dynasty, ca. 1250 BCE

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Title: Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)

City: Pompeii, Italy

Date: ca. 450 - 440 BCE

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Title: Model of the hypostyle hall, temple of Amen-Re

City: Karnak, Egypt

Date: 19th Dynasty, ca. 1250 BCE

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Title: Mausoleum at Halicarnasus

City: Halicarnasus, Turkey

Date: 351 BCE

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Title: Ishtar Gate

City: Babylon, Iraq

Date: ca. 575 BCE

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Title: Athena battling Alkyoneos, detail of the gigantomachy frieze, Altar of Zeus

City: Pergamon, Turkey

Date: ca. 175 BCE

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Title: Kouros from Attica, possibly Anavysos

City: Attica, possibly Anavysos, Greece

Date: ca. 600 BCE

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Title: Prehistoric animals, wall painting in the Chauvet Cave

City: Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, France

Date: ca. 34,000 - 32,000 BCE

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Title: Laocoön and his sons

City: Rome, Italy

Date: early 1st century CE

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Title: Death mask of Tutankhamen, from the innermost coffin in his tomb

City: Thebes, Egypt

Date: 18th Dynasty, ca. 1320 BCE

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Title: Seated boxer

City: Rome, Italy

Date: ca. 100 - 50 BCE

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Title: View of the Fourth Dynasty pyramids (of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure)

City: Gizeh, Egypt

Date: ca. 2525 BCE

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Title: Statue of Zeus at Olympia

City: Olympia, Greece

Date: 435 BCE

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Title: Lamassu from the citadel of Sargon II

City: Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad), Iraq

Date: ca. 710 BCE

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Title: Male harp player

City: Keros (Cyclades), Greece

Date: ca. 2500 BCE

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Title: Queen Puabi headdress

City: Ur, Iraq

Date: 2500 BCE

Discuss “Queen Puabi headdress”

• Queen Puabi was buried in her own tomb with treasure (jewelry, metal vessels, instruments, seals, etc.) along with some women to attend to her in the afterlife and male guards at the entrance of the tomb

• Contains gold leaves, lapis, carnelian, etc. - lots of precious metals and semiprecious stones

  • Red represented the heavens because of the sunset

• Stars were around her face - almost like a halo, perhaps to represent you were in heaven

  • Perhaps she had died was believed to have ascended into heaven

• When her name was discovered, it did not mention a husband → perhaps she ruled on her own

Discuss “Male harp player”

• Seated male figure playing a harp

  • Perhaps playing for the dead in the afterlife or participating in commemorative rites to celebrate the dead

• Very abstract and simplified → we know it is a representation of a human figure, but does not look exactly like a human person

  • Very geometric

• Once painted with very bright colors → polychromed

  • Eyes and mouth were once painted on

• Very rounded and smoothed → no sharp edges

• Harp perhaps has the head of a bird (a swan)

Discuss “Lamassu from the citadel of Sargon II”

• Meant to represent guardian figures to the Assyrian fortress

  • Apotropaic → ward off evil

  • Tall and threatening → powerful and scary

• Carved from one stone

• Cunieform around the scupture declaring the power of the king and threatening any who would oppose or threaten him

• Winged, man-headed bulls/lions

  • Combines human rationality with the strength of the bull, ferocity of the lion, and the ability to fly

• Combine the frontal view with the creature in place and a profile view with the creature in motion → does not actually have 5 legs but it is a matter of perspective

  • Animation → the artist depicts the creature in motion from the side

• Symbolically, the king is the “god” in the middle of “paradise” (the citadel) with the protections around him

Discuss “Statue of Zeus at Olympia”

• Made by Phidias, who created the Athena Parthenos in Athens

  • Found a new way to soften ivory to bend and mold it to make the statue

• Made of gold and ivory

  • Chryselephantine

• Located in Olympia → where the Olympic games were hosted, dedicated to Zeus

• Massive, impressive size → strike awe into visitors

  • If the statue were to stand up, it would burst through the roof

• Would have been painted

• Phenomenology

  • In a dark room where the gold would glitter with the light, smoke/inscense giving the sense of being in the clouds

• Seated on a throne, holding a specter and Nike in either hand

• One of the Seven Wonders of the World → considered to be the GREATEST

• Clothed with a cloth, but revealed his chest

  • Showed his physical perfection and the expensiveness of the statue (his skin was ivory)

Discuss “View of the Fourth Dynasty pyramids (of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure)”

• The pyramid shape was meant to represent the rays of the sun that acted as a ramp for the pharaohs to ascend up to the gods

• They were the symbol of the sun itself

• Cardinally aligned → face the sun in the east, connecting the structures even more to the sun

• Colossal scale → awe and impressivenes

• Housed the tombs of the pharoahs → protect the body for all of eternity

• Would have had a smooth, white covering → would have been blinding with the sun

  • Topped with a gold cap

Discuss “Seated Boxer”

• A Greek Hellenistic sculpture

• Lost-cast waxing technique

• Has cuts and scars in the skin → shows he has been in a fight

  • Inlaid copper for blood → he is bleeding

• Muscles are still slightly tense → still ready to fight

• Brows are drawn and slightly looking up → a sense of defeat

• Slightly older man, no longer the young, energetic athlete

• No longer about the perfect figure (although still very muscular)

• Appeals to the emotions

Discuss “Death mask of Tutankhamen, from the innermost coffin in his tomb”

• Gods were believed to have the skin of gold, bones of silver, and hair of lapis lazuli → the death mask if the divine form of Tutankhamen in the afterlife

• Has the pharaoh’s headdress

• Made of gold

  • Symbolized light and the sun → emitted light, not just reflected it

  • Gold doesn’t rust or perish → symbolizes eternal life

• Gold and lapis lazuli

  • Represented the sky and the stars → puts him into the heavens

• Flase beard → symbol of pharaoh and god

• Idealized features → perfect skin, false beard, etc.

• Show of Egyptian power and wealth

Discuss “Laocoön and his sons”

• Backstory: Laocoon angered a god or goddess by trying to warn the people of Troy. In punishment, the god/goddess sent serpents to strangle him and his sons

• His body is writhing and twisted → shows the energy and dynamics of the sculpture

• Emphasis on a diagonal balance → his body is in a diagonal shape from his elbow on the left down to his foot on the right

• Anguish and pain very clearly seen on the face contrasts the beauty and perfection of his body

• Tense muscles → he is fighting the snakes

• Was originally painted

Discuss “Prehistoric animals, wall painting in the Chauvet Cave”

• Although they display very advanced techniques, they are (or some of) the oldest cave paintings known

  • Overlapping → depth

  • Narrative content

• Artists used shading to create a sense of space/depth

• Uses contour lines to define the shape of the figures depicted

• Pareidolia → artists would see the shape of animals in the rock formations and then paint that animal onto the rock formation

• Scraping for the white, paint for colors

• 3 Distinct Periods:

  • Bears

  • Artists

  • Homosapein viewers (not artists)

Discuss “Kouros from Attica, possibly Anavysos”

• Nude → a kind of heroic nudity, not sexual nudity, almost like a costume

• Made of stone → meant to last for eternity

• Not meant to look like a particular person → represented the ideal man with strong, muscular bodies

• Almost symbollically representing movement → very stiff, squared shoulders and hips

  • Geometric and symmetrical → a kind of perfection

  • Rigidly frontal

• Archaic smile is what gave it life

• Acted a grave marker for a young man, while others could act as votive offerings

• Freestanding → not backed by stone

Discuss “Athena battling Alkyoneos, detail of the gigantomachy frieze, Altar of Zeus”

• Backstory: Depicts the battle between the giants and the gods

• Athena grasps Alkyoneos by his hair, pulling his head to the right, way from his body that is moving towards the left (dynamism)

• Nike, on the right, crowns Athena with victory

• Diagonals → our eyes are drawn from Athena’s face down to Alkyoneos’s face, then down his leg to his mother on the right side of Athena

• Alkyoneos’s mother has eyes wide with terror, looking up at Athena → drama, emotion

• Formerly painted

• Sculpture spills out and even stretches onto the stairs → gives a sense of the sculpture coming to life and spilling into the living world

• Lots of movement/diagonals, swirling drapery → movement and energy

• Symbolically represented the people in this area who defeated a strong enemy

Discuss “Ishtar Gate”

• Babylon was a mud-brick city, but the most important monuments were decorated with blue-glazed bricks

• A large arch-shaped opening flanked by towers which have animals decorating the walls (real and imaginary)

  • Lions → represented pride and power and a symbol for one of the goddess (Ishtar), who was the goddess of war and wisdom

    • Open mouthed → ferocity and power

  • The animals are all connected to gods to both protect and provide for the city

• Each brick was molded and glazed seperately

• Lapis Lazuli and Gold represented the stars in the sky → heaven

  • Symbolically represented the people of Babylon brining heaven down to Earth and that their city/kingdom was made of the substance of the stars

    • Represented their power, nobility, and spirituality

Discuss “Mausoleum at Halicarnasus”

• Was the tomb for Mausolus, a ruler of his kingdom

• Almost square shaped

• A temple resting on a podium with a four-horse, marble chariot on top

  • Decorated with lots of sculpture, both in the round and in relief

  • Gave a sense of a floating temple → temple on the podium

• Include decorative friezes, such as Greeks and Amazons fighting

• Likely destroyed by an earthquake

• One of the seven wonders of the world

• Massive, massive scale

Discuss “Model of the hypostyle hall, temple of Amen-Re”

• Part of a temple complex dedicated to multiple gods, added onto by many pharaohs

  • Axial plan

  • Pylons faced the Nile and represented the barrier between the chaotic world and the sacred order within

• Contained an artifical sacred lake, refering to primeval waters before creation

• Only the chosen few could enter the hypostyle hall

• Only source of light came from the clerestory windows above

• Would have been brightly painted and had symbols and hieroglyphics carved into the columns → not meant to be completely seen, as it was dark

Discuss “Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)”

• Embodied Polykleitos’s canon

  • The mathematical precision

• Contrapossto → weight is on one leg while the other is relaxed

• What was believed to be perfect → young, athletic, muscular, calm

• Opposites (creating diagonals):

  • The arms are relaxed/tense opposite of the legs

  • The head tilts right while the hips are twisted left

  • A HARMONY OF OPPOSITES

• The one we study here is a Roman marble copy of the Greek original bronze

  • Found where Roman athletes would train → represented something for them to aspire to become

Discuss “Facade of the temple of Ramses II”

• Proud of his campaigns to restore his empire, he put four massive statues/images of himself on the temple facade

  • Seated, so standing, he would be even taller than he already was

• Meant to intimidate Egypt’s neighbors in Nubia

• Not very refined or detailed due to the massive scale

Discuss “Pharos Lighthouse”

• One of the seven wonders of the world

• A technological triumph

• Was in the harbor of Alexandria and stood at a colossal height

  • Fearful and astonishing to those sailing in

• Light → represented not just physical illumination but also mental illumination

  • Alexandria was one of the most educated cities in Ancient history

• Very, very expensive → also part of its wonder

• Collapsed from earthquakes

• Dedicated to savior gods, as the sea was notoriously dangerous, so the savior gods could save you at sea if they wanted

Discuss “Colossus of Rhodes”

• A colossal statue of Apollo (or Helios)

  • Essentially a votive offering or a thank you to the god for helping them

• One of the seven wonders of the world

• Made of bronze

  • Not easy to work with, but glimmered and shined in the sun → impressiveness and awe

• Stood in the harbor in a colossal scale

  • Seen by anyone passing by

• Toppled by an earthquake

Discuss “Gudea seated, holding the plan of a temple”

• All of his statues were in temples to be in service of the gods for eternity

• Depicted himself as an agent of the gods in the service of his people

• Large chest = gods gave him fullness of life

• Muscular arms = god-given strength

• Hands clasped in front of him in his lap = a pious ruler in prayer

• Temple plan drawn on a tablet in his lap → the plan given to him to construct a temple for the gods

• COVERED in cuneiform

  • Mentioned how he wanted this to be made of diorite and no precious metals or stones → perhaps a sign of his humility?

• Made of diorite → a very, very hard stone

  • Very difficult to carve

  • Made to last for eternity → no parts sticking out to fall off or break off of

Discuss “Human skull with restored features”

• The people in the Jericho area during this time buried their people under their homes with the heads detached from the skeletons and features reconstructed in plaster → appeared very lifelike

• Shells were inliad for the eyes and hair was painted

• Likely served a ritualistic purpose → worshipped their ancestors as intercessors between the living and the world beyond

• Embodiment → actually used human skulls

Discuss “Bull-leaping fresco from the palace of Knossos”

• Depicts a Minoan ceremony where young men grasped the horns of the bull and vaulted onto its back

• Two young women with fair skin and one young male with darker skin

  • Skin color was not a comment on race but instead on gender

• All four legs of the bull are off the ground → represents its charge (animation)

• Long, sweeping lines give a sense of energy and movement

Discuss “Spotted horses and negative hand imprint”

• Pareidolia → artists saw the shape of a horse head in the rock and painted a horse head on that rock shape

  • Connects the painting to shamanic visions and the painting is the physical manifestation of those visions

• Negative Handprints — the paint is around the handprint, usually blown, brushed, or spat on

Discuss “An Assyrian “hanging garden””

• Thought to have been the gardens of Babylon, they were actually Assyrian

• Used impressive technological advancements → aqueducts/irrigation

  • Related to the search for paradise, which was believed to be very lush, green, and fertile (which contrasted the very dry, desert area they were located)

• Depicted gardens descending through irrigated orchards and wrapping around the Assyrian palace

• Steep, straight path leads up to the palace

• Figure is an Assyrian king

  • Stories said that his wife was from the mountains and wanted the beauty of the mountains with her, leading to the creation of the hanging gardens

• Described as a “wonder for all people”

• One of the 7 wonders of the world

  • Believed the Greeks were a little off by calling them Babylonian and instead were actually Assyrian

• Journey up through the ziggurat through paradise

High Relief vs Low Relief

• High Relief

  • Very, very deep carving - almost detached from the stone (very separated)

• Low Relief

  • Very shallow carving - almost flat with the stone (not very separated)