11462 - Archaeology and History of Greek Art (1)

Learning outcomes

Aim of thr Course is offering a basic knowledge of the Greek culture in its historical and artistic development. The First millennium B.C. will be presented divided in the traditional phases of the Greek culture (i.e.Proto-G, Geometric, Orientalizing, Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic) will be analysed in its historical and geographical features. This background will enable students, during their preparation for the exam, to have the right context where they should put the specific knowledge of town planning, monumental structures and productions of the art and the handicraft of the Greek world, including the western Greek colonies.

Course contents

I.  Outlines of Greek Archaeology and Art History. Introduction to Greek culture: the historical and geographical background. ProtoGeometric and Geometric period: early structures and building materials; Experimentation of the plastic representation of human and animal figures. Orientalizing period: progress in architecture; the dedalic sculpture. Archaic period: architecture and architectural sculpture; sculpture in the round;  kouroi and korai; polis and urban structure. Classical period: primacy of Athens: architecture and  sculpture; the development of the agorà. The Fourth century: new cities, town planning, domestic architecture; the main sculptors; wall painting and mosaics: Vergina and Pella. Hellenistic period: political, social and economical changes as innovative factors in particular in Greek architecture and sculpture. Guided visit to the Archaeological Museum of Bologna: collections and Gipsoteca (casts)

II.  The Greek Pottery. Main centers of production active during the first millennium a.C. Manufacturing and painting technique of the vessels. Shapes and their function. Protogeometric and geometric periods with particular reference to the production of the Dipylon. Orientalizing period: Protoattic and Corinthian style. Attic pottery made in black-figure and red-figured. Subjects represented, with particular reference to mythological themes. Inscriptions and signatures of potters and painters. Main artists: award criteria and dating. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum and consultation of Beazley. The production of Magna Graecia: school of Lucania, Campania, Apulia and Sicily. Vascular forms, painting techniques and thematic representations, Consultation of Trendall. Guided visit to the Archaeological Museum of Bologna: ceramics from Etruscan tombs and from the Palagi Collection.

The course will begin September 27, 2010. In this date will be given directions to follow the course and prepare for the exam .

Students who take an exam for 5 or 6 CFU have to follow only the part I

Readings/Bibliography

I. One of the following books:

G.Bejor-M.Castoldi-C.Lambrugo, Arte greca, Mondadori Università, Milano 2008

J.G.Pedley, Arte e archeologia greca, Istituto Poligraficoe Zecca dello Stato, Roma 2005 (chapters 4-10)

II. J.Boardman, Storia dei vasi greci, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Roma 2004: pp.11- 35 ("decori specifici" included); pp.44-66; pp.79-101; pp.191-226 

I Greci in Occidente, a cura di G.Pugliese Carratelli, Catalogo della Mostra Venezia 1996, Milano 1996: pp.85-98 (La ceramica greca e il ruolo di Atene) e pp. 443-456 (La ceramica italiota e siceliota).

Students for 5 or 6 CFU have to read only the texts indicated for the part I .

Teaching methods

Teaching method consists of head-on lessons, seminars and visits to the Civic Archaeological Museum of Bologna and to the Cast Gallery of the Museum, whose purpose is giving a direct approach to the ancient items and to the plaster casts of the main Greek sculptures.

Assessment methods

Final test consists of an oral examination in italian

Teaching tools

During the lessons visual aids will be widely used, especially projections from computer. All students will have the chance to supplement the lectures of the course with practice in laboratory among the didactic proposals of the Department of Archaeology.

Office hours

See the website of Anna Maria Brizzolara