Story telling through Greek Art

Story telling through Greek Art

Greek art was seen as more than a means to decorate with its more popular use was that of storytelling and recording historical events. Greek art dates from the seventh to the second century. The eras included in historical Greek art are: Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and the Hellenistic (Sowerby150). All of the eras are similar in that they build on the previous era and lead to more detailed and dramatic artwork. The use of human actions as subjects gained intensity with each new era. The Greeks focused much of their attention on painting their many gods. Yet, commonplace people were still used in paintings on things such as grave markers. (Sowerby151). Painting in particular was a means to convey a story and to retain history. " … Greek artist was obliged to encapsulate the narrative and message of a story in a single scene" (Boardman301). Nothing had immunity from the paintbrush as everyday items such as drinking cups and water jugs were also adorned with paintings ( Carpenter207).

The amazing thing about Greek art is that it almost always portrays a story (Boardman 262). There are many examples of this storytelling throughout Greek art history. The medium that painters of this time used varied greatly. The medium used seemed to tie in with what the art story was about and who the artist wanted to reach with his work. If the topic was a public one and was to be general knowledge then the medium was often walls of the city or of public buildings (Boardman 292). These artworks depicted topics ranging drastically from scenes of daily life: athletics, weddings, dating, to those of war( Sowerby 302). "On the walls of public buildings at Delphi and Athens Polygnotus painted great friezes with figures set up and down the field…and presented epic scenes of Troy and the underworld, and Micon the more recent, but heroically conceived, struggle for freedom at Marathon" (Boardman 292). Most of Greek history was oral so that much of what we in the present day have to draw on in order to understand life in ancient Greece is what we find on artifacts. "Most of the mythological scenes which have survived, and they are myriad, appear on objects of ordinary use, or at least not of extraordinary use like temple sculptures. The earliest pictures are symbols for contemporary events, of burial or battle, and the example of the East led the artist… detail of a historical … story could be expressed" (Sowerby 300).