red-figure pottery

Woman officiating at an altar, Attic red-figure kylix by Chairias, c. 505 BC, Ancient Agora Museum in Athens

Red-figure pottery (Greek, ερυθρόμορφα, erythromorpha) is a style of archaic Greek pottery, later adopted in southern Italy. In the red-figure technique, the background is filled in with black paint and only the figures' details are painted, allowing the unpainted portions of the figures to take on the reddish tone of the Athenian clay after it is burned in the presence of oxygen.

Red-figure pottery, developed around 530 BC by the Andokides Painter, superseded the earlier black-figure pottery, except in the case of Panathenaic Amphorae, because the new process allowed more intricate detail on the ornaments, humans, animals etc. depicted. When developed, it was one of several techniques with which artists experimented. The techniques and conventions of red-figure painting were developed by a group of artists known as the Pioneer Group (among them Euphronios and Euthymides). It became the predominant technique and remained popular until the late 4th century BC.

Red-figure pottery is considered to mark the apex of Greek pottery, and most vases or cups famous today for their skillful painting are in the red-figure style.

The red-figure technique

Detail of Athenian calyx krater by the Aegisthus painter — 460 BC

Creating a finished piece of red-figure pottery required close collaboration between the potter and the painter. The potter would shape the piece out of clay and deliver it to the painter while the clay was still damp. The painter would paint the vase using an instrument like a pastry bag with a syringe action nozzle of bone or wood to lay out the fine detail lines and background colors.

Since the paint only developed its color once the piece was fired in a kiln, the painter had to paint almost entirely from memory, unable to see his previous work. Additionally, the colors could only be applied while the clay was still wet, so the painter had to work very quickly. In the large kraters painted with the red-figure technique, this meant that tens of thousands of invisible lines had to be applied, each ending precisely at the right point to prevent overlapping in the intricate detail work, in an extremely short period of time. Despite these constraints, red-figure painters developed an intricate and detailed style.

Painters working in the earlier black-figure technique had been forced to keep their figures well-separated from each other and limit the complexity of their illustration; since all foreground elements were filled with the same black shade, two figures overlapping each other might become indistinguishable. Anatomical detail beyond simple outlining was nearly impossible in the black-figure style, as only a limited number of colors (chiefly, a stark white) would stand out against the black figures.

By contrast, the red-figure technique allowed far greater latitude. Each figure was silhouetted naturally against the black ground, as if illuminated by theatrical lighting, and the more natural red-on-black color scheme, in conjunction with the greater variety of colors that the artist could employ, allowed red-figure painters to depict anatomical details with more accuracy and variety.

The Pioneer Group of painters in particular used the red-figure technique to achieve a naturalism not previously seen in earlier styles. Humans and animals were depicted in naturalistic poses with schematic but accurate anatomy, and techniques of foreshortening and illusionistic perspective were developed to exploit the relative freedom of the red-figure method. This can be seen in Euthymides vase "Three revelers", where three figures twist and turn in a way that black-figure amorpha could have never achieved. Later artists, exploring the limits of the red-figure technique, would reintroduce white as a detail color (all but abandoned with the end of the black-figure style) and even extensive gilding became integrated into the red-figure style.

Red-figure pottery painters

Main article: List of Greek Vase Painters

• The Achilles Painter
• The Andokides Painter
• The Berlin Painter
• Douris (vase painter)
• Euphronios
• Euthymides
• The Kleophon Painter
• The Kleophrades Painter
• Oltos
• Phintias
• Polygnotos

See also

• Pottery of Ancient Greece
• Black-figure pottery

References

• Beazley J.D., Attic Red-figure Vase Painters, 3 vols., Oxford, 1963
• Hellenistic Pottery and Terracottas, H.A and D.B. Thompson

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

red-figure pottery

• [1] - London: Red-figured water jar
• [2] - Greek pottery images

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