Athenian Red Figure Vases [antikvár]

Chapter One INTRODUCTION The red figure technique of vase painting was invented in Athens by about 530 B c at a time when the black figure technique was barely past its prime and when several other important studios of vase painting were flourishing in the Greek world, from the western colonies to Ionia. At the end of the half century or more discussed in this book, Athenian red figure stood alone as the only major figure-decorated style of vase painting in Greece, and its painters had posed and solved problems in draughtsmanship which were beyond even the imagination of earlier artists. That this affected the status of the painter in society seems likely to judge from what we can learn of the Pioneers. In Athens the only competitor was black figure, which remained plentiful, but declined in quality rapidly after 500 and is no longer worth consideration after 470 except on Panathenaic vases. Although Athens, especially in the fine though fragmentary dedications from the Acropolis, remains a prime source for red figure, the export trade, notably to Italy, has ensured for us the greatest number of complete vases, which are therefore to be sought in the museums of Italy and the West rather than Greece itself The very wide distribution, far beyond the Greek world, has meant that the pottery, with the possibilities of its close dating, offers historical evidence of great importance for non-Classical cultures, and is also a good indicator of the Athenian pottery trade or other Athenian interests. Here and there in this book these matters are touched upon, but the main attractions of the study are the insight it gives to the operation of a community of craftsmen in a major Greek city, the information of historical, social and mythological value given by the figure scenes, and, not least, the intrinsic quality of the work of the finer artists. The black figure artist Exekias (working about 545-530) had raised the craft of vase painting to the status of a major art, and so, in the hands of some, it remained through the Archaic period until overtaken by the art of painters on wood or wall. It is these interests and quality which this volume seeks to document and discuss for the student, connoisseur of ancient art or lover of fine drawing. It is a sequel to the handbook on Athenian black figure vases {ABFH) which was published in 1974, and attempts in the same way to provide a text which describes the development of style as well as offering some guide to under-