Geometric style

Geometric style
Style of vase painting that flourished in Athens с 1000–700 BC.

Vases decorated in this style feature horizontal bands filled with geometric patterns such as zigzags, triangles, and swastikas in dark paint on a light ground. The rhythmic effect is similar to that of basketry. The abstract motifs developed into stylized animal and human forms in such narrative scenes as funerals, dances, and boxing matches. Small bronze and clay figurines, elaborately decorated fibulas, and limestone seals were also produced. The patterns remained popular and influenced much later Greek art.

* * *

▪ Greek art
      style of ancient Greek (Greek pottery) art, primarily of vase painting, that began about 900 BC and represents the last purely Mycenaean-Greek art form that originated before the influx of foreign inspiration by about 800 BC. Athens was its centre, and the growing moneyed population of new Greek cities was its market.

      Vases decorated in Geometric style exhibit painted horizontal bands filled with patterns, much like the vases of the preceding Proto-Geometric style. Geometric-style bands, however, are more numerous, covering the entire vase, with triple lines dividing patterned zones at regular intervals. The old Proto-Geometric design elements, the circle and arc, lost favour with the Geometric artist, while the zigzag and triangle remained and were incorporated along with some new elements, the meander and swastika. The overall visual effect of the regularly spaced horizontal bands filled with sharply angular patterns in dark paint upon light ground is one of undulating rhythm, closely akin to basketry.

      In addition to using abstract motifs, artists working in the Geometric style began using figures of humans and animals, seeing both as the sum of geometrized parts—bodies becoming triangles, legs and arms becoming line segments. First used just as patterns, they later developed into more complex groupings, usually narrative—funeral scenes, sea battles, dances, boxing matches, and exploits of popular heroes.

      Representative objects of this period include vases, small bronze and clay figurines, elaborately decorated safety-pin-like clasps, or fibulae, and limestone seals. Artisans also made gold bands impressed with animal and human figures, which were put on the head of a deceased person, often in a way that would keep the mouth closed. Although the Geometric style gave way to the Classical style, its patterns remained popular and influenced much later Grecian art.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • geometric style — geometric style, a style of art characterized by simple geometric patterns or stylized figures arranged in an orderly manner, found especially in some Greek vase paintings and some tracery in English architecture …   Useful english dictionary

  • Proto-Geometric style — Visual art style of ancient Greece that signaled the reawakening of technical proficiency and conscious creative spirit after the collapse of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations, around the 12th century BC. The vocabulary of the style was… …   Universalium

  • Geometric Art — is a phase of Greek art, characterised largely by geometric motifs in vase painting, that flourished towards the end of the Greek Dark Ages, circa 900 BCE to 800 BCE. Its centre was in Athens, and it was diffused amongst the trading cities of the …   Wikipedia

  • style — styleless, adj. stylelessness, n. stylelike, adj. /stuyl/, n., v. styled, styling. n. 1. a particular kind, sort, or type, as with reference to form, appearance, or character: the baroque style; The style of the house was too austere for their… …   Universalium

  • geometric — 1620s, shortened form of GEOMETRICAL (Cf. geometrical). As a style of ancient Greek pottery and associated culture, 1902 …   Etymology dictionary

  • geometric — geometrically, adv. /jee euh me trik/, adj. Also, geometrical. 1. of or pertaining to geometry or to the principles of geometry. 2. resembling or employing the simple rectilinear or curvilinear lines or figures used in geometry. 3. of or… …   Universalium

  • geometric — or geometrical adjective Date: 14th century 1. a. of, relating to, or according to the methods or principles of geometry b. increasing in a geometric progression < geometric population growth > 2. capitalized of or relating to a style of ancient… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Style Gothique — Architecture gothique Pour les articles homonymes, voir Gothique. L architecture gothique (ou francigenum opus) est un style architectural de la seconde partie du Moyen Âge en Europe occidentale …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Style flamboyant — Architecture gothique Pour les articles homonymes, voir Gothique. L architecture gothique (ou francigenum opus) est un style architectural de la seconde partie du Moyen Âge en Europe occidentale …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Style gothique — Architecture gothique Pour les articles homonymes, voir Gothique. L architecture gothique (ou francigenum opus) est un style architectural de la seconde partie du Moyen Âge en Europe occidentale …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”