Crete and Mycenae - The Beginnings of Greek Art

whole: the 13 images occupy the majority. The title is separate and placed in the upper fifth, in black and in yellow. The text is separate and located in the upper quarter, in black. Further text is separate and positioned in the lower two-thirds, as captions, in black and in yellow. All set against a white background. image: depictions of various items of Cretan or Mycenaen art and design; including golden cups, daggers, votive figurines, sculpture, the Lion Gate of Mycenae, and the Throne of Minos. Transcription of the text on the poster: CRETE and MYCENAE THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK ART CRETE, by its position south of the Aegean Sea, formed the first stepping-stone in the movement of civilization north-ward and west-ward into Europe from the Nile and the Two Rivers. While the great pyramids were being built Cretan craftsmen were learning from their Egyptian neighbours the use of the potter's wheel, the baking of clay vases, the carving of stone. By 2000 B.C. the Cretans were a highly developed people; Cnossus on the north coast had become the centre of a prosperous kingdom. (This civilization is sometimes called Minoan, from the name of Minos one of the great sea-kings of Crete.) At Cnossus in its Grand Age (1600 - 1400 B.C.) Crete gave to Europe its first real architecture in the great colonnaded palace covered with coloured fresco paintings (excavated by Sir Arthur Evans, 1900 - 1912.). The Egyptian influence from Tel-el-Amarna is clearly to be seen in the art and architecture of Crete and later in the art that followed on the Greek mainland. In southern Greece the southward-facing bays lay open to the exploring fleets of Crete, and there, in the Gulf of Argos particularly, the Cretans established expanding settlements. At Tiryns and Mycenae there grew up massive walled strongholds and there developed the first real civilization on the mainland of Europe, known as the Mycenaean Age (1500-1200 B.C.) This is the age described so vividly by Homer, and the accuracy of his account has been confirmed to an extraordinary degree by the excavations and findings of Heinrich Schliemann. From its profusion of gold vessels and jewellery and masks of gold on the faces of the dead kings in the 'bee-hive' tombs, this time and place has come to be known as Golden Mycenae. This was the civilization that the earliest Greeks found and absorbed as they moved down from the north and gradually possessed the Aegean world. From these beginnings they went forward to develop eventually the highest civilization that ancient man ever attained. Snake-Goddess of Crete. A glazed figurine, one foot high. 'Kitylos and Dermis.' These figures in stone, from a funerary stele of Boeotia, 7th. Cent. B.C., show a strong Egyptian influence. The Lion Gate of Mycenae. The huge stone over the walled stronghold of Mycenae is one of the oldest pieces of architectural sculpture in Europe. The stones forming the walls are of such a size that the Ancient Greeks declared that the Mycenaens must have been a race of giants. Carved and painted decoration from a tomb-ceiling at Scripou in Boeotia. This guilloche pattern is found in Egypt and Crete. The Throne of Minos in the Palace of Cnossus in Crete (approx. 1600 B.C.). This is carved in stone to imitate wood. The wall paintings are restored; confronted gryphons show Asiatic influence which appeared later in Greece in the Archaic period. A Cycladic Figure, 2000 B.C. The earliest Greek works of art are small figures carved in marble, found in the Cyclades, the islands of the South Aegean Sea. They bear a strong resemblance to 'primitive negro sculpture'. Below: A votive figurine from Boeotia, 6th. Cent. B.C., pottery with painted decoration. A cup of beaten gold found at Vaphio near Sparta The rich design in relief shows the capturing of wild bulls. A head in stone from Tel-el-Amarna, Egypt. Below: Bronze daggers decorated with gold from the 4th. tomb of the Acropolis at Mycenae. (National Museum, Athens.) Gold cup from Vaphio. The goldsmith beat out his design with hammer and punch over a mould, adding the finer detail with a graving tool. Votive figurine of painted pottery. The Early Greeks placed these symbolic figures before their shrines. Pictorial Review No. 83 Crown Copyright Reserved Army Education, M.E.L.F. Art and Architecture No. 21 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Photographs from: The Ministry of Press and Tourism, Athens. The National Museum, Athens. M. Tsimas, M. Perilla. Printed by The Printing and Stationery Services, M.E.L.F.-15-1-47.

Pictorial Review No. 83. Art and Architecture Poster No. 21.