Figure from the Cyclades, popularized by its appearance at the Athens 2004 Olympic games opening ceremony. Early Cycladic II (2700 BC–2300 BC).
Aegean art (2800–1100 BC) is art that was created in the lands surrounding, and the islands within, the Aegean Sea during the Bronze Age, that is, until the 11th century BC, before Ancient Greek art. Because is it mostly found in the territory of modern Greece, it is sometimes called Greek Bronze Age art, though it includes not just the art of the Mycenaean Greeks, but also that of the Cycladic and Minoan cultures, which converged over time.
Cycladic art is known for its simple figurines carved in white marble; Minoan art for its palace complexes with frescos, imagery of bulls and bull-leaping, and sophisticated pottery and jewellery; and Mycenaean art for its lavish metalwork in gold, imagery of combat and massively-constructed citadels and tombs. These are very different arts, reflecting very different cultures. For this reason, many art historians consider the term "Aegean art" inappropriate, as it reflects mere geographic proximity and not cultural or artistic unity.[citation needed] Others point to the many communalities, especially following the "process of Minoanization from c. 1700 upwards" over the other parts of the region, and the difficulty at several times and places in deciding whether excavated objects were imported or made locally.[1]
In the Bronze Age, about 2800–1100 BC, despite cultural interchange by way of trade with the contemporaneous civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Aegean cultures developed their own highly distinctive styles. After the Greek Bronze Age civilizations collapsed, the early part of the Greek Dark Ages saw minimal artistic production until the Protogeometric style in pottery emerged about 1050 BC, which is taken as the first phase of "Ancient Greek art". This traditional disjunction was to some extent a result of the uncertainty as to whether the Mycenaean Linear B script recorded a form of Greek or not. This was settled when the script was decoded in the 1950s, confirming it was Greek. The Minoan Linear A is clearly not Greek, however.
The elegant art of the Aegean daidala figurines has recently been used at the 2004 Summer Olympics, held at Athens; specifically, during the opening ceremony and as the original idea behind the games mascots: Athina and Fivos.
The Athens 2004's mascots were based on this clay model at the National Archaeological Museum
. This type of figurines are furthermore particularly intriguing, because of the high resemblance they have with modern sculptures (e.g. Henry Moore's works).
Aegeanart (2800–1100 BC) is art that was created in the lands surrounding, and the islands within, the Aegean Sea during the Bronze Age, that is, until...
Cycladic art The ancient Cycladic culture flourished in the islands of the Aegean Sea from c. 3300 to 1100 BCE. Along with the Minoan civilization and...
Minoan art is the art produced by the Bronze Age Aegean Minoan civilization from about 3000 to 1100 BC, though the most extensive and finest survivals...
The earliest art by Greeks is generally excluded from "ancient Greek art", and instead known as Greek Neolithic art followed by Aegeanart; the latter...
Western art history. An art period is a phase in the development of the work of an artist, groups of artists or art movement. Minoan artAegeanart Ancient...
part of the wider grouping of Aegeanart, and in later periods came for a time to have a dominant influence over Cycladic art. Wood and textiles have decomposed...
Paintings of Thera are regarded as part of Minoan art; all types form part of the wider grouping of Aegeanart. These frescos were primarily murals, few of...
represents creation and rebirth. Solar Myths Studies in AegeanArt and Culture: A New York Aegean Bronze Age Colloquium in Memory of Ellen N. Davis. INSTAP...
chronologically. They are grouped together as "Aegean" in terms such as Aegeanart and, rather more controversially, Aegean civilization. The systems derive primarily...
2007. Introduction to AegeanArt. Philadelphia: INSTAP Academic Press. Preziosi, Donald, and Louise A. Hitchcock. 1999. AegeanArt and Architecture. Oxford:...
Aegean civilization is a general term for the Bronze Age civilizations of Greece around the Aegean Sea. There are three distinct but communicating and...
Mycenaean settlements also appeared in Epirus, Macedonia, on islands in the Aegean Sea, on the south-west coast of Asia Minor, and on Cyprus, while Mycenaean-influenced...
petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period between the Paleolithic and the Iron Age. Written histories of European art often begin with the Aegean civilizations...
engraving, and considered "the single best work of glyptic art ever recovered from the Aegean Bronze Age". The quality of the work anticipates later developments...
Betancourt, Philip P. (2007). Introduction to AegeanArt. Philadelphia: INSTAP Academic Press (Institute for Aegean Prehistory). ISBN 978-1-62303-086-5. Goldgar...
Laffineur, Robert, eds. (March 13, 2020). Neoteros: Studies in Bronze Age AegeanArt and Archaeology in Honor of Professor John G. Younger on the Occasion...
Daedalic sculpture is representative of the Orientalizing period in Greek art. Eastern influences are particularly noticeable in the head seen from the...
2023-05-25. Preziosi, D.; Hitchcock, L. A. (1999). AegeanArt and Architecture. Oxford History of Art. pp. 175–6. ISBN 0-19-284208-0. "Rough and Perfect...
The Aegean Sea is a c. 1877 oil painting by American artist Frederic Edwin Church, and one of his last large-scale paintings. The painting measures 54...
of Aegeanart and culture. In their technique, style, and thematic content, the paintings are invaluable objects of study for archaeologists, art historians...
civilization, stirrup jars are Mycenaean, Minoan, and Greek. In art history they are now often "Aegean", as opposed to "Greek". The fact that some of them are...
Relating to Minoan Male "Rites of Passage"", Studies in Aegeanart and culture. A New York Aegean Bronze Age Colloquium in Memory of Ellen N. Davis, hrsg...
broad archaeological term describing varieties of a particular style of Aegean burnished pottery associated with the Middle Helladic period (c. 2000/1900–1550...
The Aegean dispute is a set of interrelated controversies between Greece and Turkey over sovereignty and related rights in the region of the Aegean Sea...
Hitchcock. 1999. AegeanArt and Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Walberg, Gisela. 1986. Tradition and Innovation. Essays in Minoan Art (Mainz am...
Art Deco, short for the French Arts décoratifs (lit. 'Decorative Arts'), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared...
From the 15th century BC, Mycenaean power started expanding towards the Aegean, the Anatolian coast and Cyprus. Mycenaean armies shared several common...
Age swords appeared from around the 17th century BC, in the Black Sea and Aegean regions, as a further development of the dagger. They were replaced by iron...
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