N5630.O83

Includes bibliographical references (p. 248-257) and index

A History of Art without Artists The Lost history of Greek art The history of art at work The Status of art in classical Athens Art and private life From playing to playing: Art in the English Century BC Modelling horses Modelling men The figure as a decorative element Stories and statements Tensions Reflections in an Eastern Mirror A fabulous invasion Heads, bodies, and gods Myth as Measure Myth and pathos: the Mykonos pithos See myth and die: the Polyphemos amphora Myth and ritual: the Hyperborean maidens A revolution effected Life Enlarged The Art of revelation Revealing gods, reviewing men, offering women Marketing Image Transforming a formula The creation of the contemplative viewer Colorful dramas outside Athens Pot Shapes Enter Politics Politics enters the sanctuary Death, politics, and the gymnasium Gay Abandon Role-play and the body at the symposion The invention of the red-figure technique Bodies and flesh Games with names Virtuoso exhibits The isolated image Sex, drink, and the gods Cult, politics, and imperialism From Dissent to totalitarianism Sexuality and the standing male The body of private imagery Opening the body's story The violence of representation The Claims of the Dead Grave offerings Putting the dead body in its place Art and the afterlife Individuals within and without the city Breaking the classical mould Facing suffering Life stories Portraits and power The sensation of Art Body language The sensational artist Looking Backwards The agenda of revolution The power of the Greek image List of illustrations Bibliographic Essay Timeline Index

Archaic and Classical Greek Art is a revolutionary introduction to the images and sculptures of Ancient Greece from the Geometric period to the early Hellenistic. By carefully examining the context in which sculptures and paintings were produced, author Robin Osborne shows how artists responded to the challenges they faced in the formidable and ambitious world of the Greek city-state, producing the rich diversity of forms apparent in Greek art. Artistic developments of the period combined the influences of the symbolism and imagery of eastern Mediterranean art with the explorations of humanity embodied in the narratives of Greek poetry, while drawings and sculptures referred so intimately to the human form as to lead both ancient and modern theorists to talk in terms of the 'mimetic' role of art. Ranging widely over the fields of sculpture, vase painting, and the minor arts, and offering a wide selection of unusual images alongside the familiar masterpieces, this work discusses the changing forms of art, and how art was used to define mens relationships with other men, women, slaves, society, nature, and the gods.