Ceramic bottles were the main daily utensils and foreign trade commodities of the Greeks. The art of ancient Greece gave the outer contour of the pottery bottle two curves, using various proportions, curvatures and structural changes to create pottery that is both practical and elegant. The decorative patterns on the pottery bottles - pottery bottle paintings, Combining the nature and shape of the utensils, it shows a high degree of artistic achievement, and its themes also include myths, historical stories and various scenes of daily life. This art is closely related to the painting art at that time. During the Archaic period, the type of episodic pottery vase painting had been established, and four styles appeared successively: Oriental, black-painted, red-painted and white-painted. Greek furniture can also be seen in pottery vase paintings.
Another pottery vase painting shows the scene of teaching in a school in Athens, Greece. In order to remain prosperous, Athens placed great emphasis on education. In school, boys practice playing musical instruments, running, wrestling, boxing, learning poetry, astronomy, history and geography, learning painting, and practicing speaking in public and free discussion, thereby strengthening their physical fitness, improving their literary and artistic literacy, and preparing them to be physically and mentally healthy citizens in the future. In addition to doing housework, girls also practice reading and playing musical instruments at home. There are no tables in the school, only stools. When students read and write, they put books or textbooks on their knees. The stools on the pottery vase paintings were the most commonly used furniture by free citizens in ancient Greece. They were widely used seats by ancient Greeks at home and in public places. The furniture has a square structure, but there are changes. At the connection between the four ends of the seat surface and the upper ends of the four legs, there is a circular relief in the small square, with a round center in the square. The square bottom legs are thin at the top and roughly curved at the bottom. The surface frame is wrapped with leather strips, and the core material of the seat surface is woven. Regularly arranged leather strips can be seen on the side of the frame, showing the beauty of rhythm. The whole furniture shows elegance and beauty in its simplicity. The seats are very light, practical and easy to carry.
There is also a line-drawing vase painting, which was a funerary object from the mid-5th century BC. It uses lines on the white ground to create a three-dimensional scene with figures. This vase painting is 25 years older than Hegsaw's tombstone, and the scene between the two is the same. The standing servant holds a box in his hand, and the mistress takes out a string of jewelry from the box. The chair she is sitting on is exactly the same. It was a seat commonly used by ancient Greek women. This shows that this was a popular scene at that time. The artist has excellent sketching skills. He uses a few sure, smooth and lively thick and thin lines to not only flexibly draw portraits in three-dimensional space, but also express the body within the folds of clothes, which is enough to show the superb painting level of ancient Greece.
Robes, an American furniture maker, used walnut wood and leather strips to replicate the actual furniture of ancient Greece, referring to temple eaves reliefs, tombstones and pottery vase paintings, so that future generations can appreciate it.
The furniture culture and art of ancient Greece fully demonstrated the Greeks' "rationalist" aesthetic concept. The pleasant scale of Greek furniture, the shape of furniture designed based on the curves of the human body, reasonable lines, symmetrical patterns, simple shapes, good mechanical structures and stress states, and comfortable usage all come from life. The beauty expressed in life is a beauty that comes alive in the practical interests and causes of the Greek people. Freedom and openness, simplicity and strength, the Greeks incorporated their sense of form and rhythm, precision and clarity, harmony and order into every piece of furniture, showing a broad, cheerful, pleasant and friendly image of furniture, especially those that are strict and reasonable. The proportions of the furniture composition are very prominent, as if forcing nature to obey human reason, which is almost the same as the beauty of modern furniture. These are a precious contribution of the Greeks to mankind and a kind of artistic beauty with a modern flavor. Ancient Greece absorbed the rich heritage of Eastern culture that took thousands of years to achieve, took the best of it, blended the two, and formed its own unique artistic style. Its art directly influenced the prosperity of Roman art and was conveyed to the whole of Europe through it, becoming part of Europe's precious furniture cultural heritage. To this day, it still retains strong artistic vitality and plays its role of inspiration and reference.
The 28th Olympic Games in 2004 returned to its birthplace, Greece, but it was very different from the first Olympic Games more than 2,000 years ago. So, from 776 BC to 394 AD What were the ancient Olympic Games like? This ancient Greek vase painting depicts the long jump competition in the ancient Olympic Games.
Ancient Greek vase painting (vasepainting) is a picture painted on a pottery vessel. Greek vase painting has gone through two main development stages: "black painting style" and "red painting style". The images on black painting bottles are black, and the images on red painting bottles are russet. Entering the Classical Period (approximately 480 BC - 323 BC), a type of white-background painted vase painting also appeared. The work nicknamed "Achilles Painter" represents this style of vase painting. From black painting to red painting, and then to white background painting, it reflects the pursuit of ancient Greek painters. The development and changes fully reflect their view of painting as a mirror, which wants to reproduce the natural form and make the viewer gaze. When the images are drawn, they feel similar to real things and scenes.
Look at this vase painting depicting the ancient Olympic long jump competition. There are two types of long jump: stationary long jump and run-up long jump. Run-up long jump technology is very different from modern times.
Athletes must hold stone or metal dumbbells of 1.5 to 4.5 kilograms. The ancient Greeks believed that this can accurately control the swing range of the arms, increase thrust, increase the distance of the long jump, and maintain body balance so that the feet can land smoothly. According to the regulations at that time, if the two feet are not parallel to the ground, the score will be invalid.
The long jump competition is conducted with the accompaniment of flute, with the purpose of stimulating the emotions of the competitors, mastering the rhythm of the approach and calculating the time.