Jean Lutz on sun 12 sep 99
The following is from an Archaeological newsletter.
http://wire.nj.com/cgi-bin/nj_nview.pl?/home1/wire/AP/Stream-Parsed/INTERNAT
IONAL/a0695_AM_Greece-Earthquake At the National Archaeological Museum,
experts struggled to identify thousands of tiny fragments and shards of
ancient pottery broken and scattered by the quake. Of all Greece's
antiquities, exhibits in the museum suffered the most. Hardest hit at the
museum was the Classical period collection dating back to the 5th and 4th
century B.C., when Athenians built the Parthenon.
Jean Lutz
jlutz@azlink.com
"Despite the cost of living, it remains popular"
Geoffrey Gaskell on sun 22 jun 03
Who has been inspired by ancient Greek pottery and imitated to greater or
lesser degrees the Black Figure and Red Figure styles?
For Black Figure one simply requires a black slip and a needle and for Red
Figure one needs to reserve areas of red clay, the black slip and a good
brush.
If anyone has been playing around with things done in the ancient Greek
style, would you care to share some insights into your techniques and
materials? What worked well and what didn't work so well, for instance?
Geoffrey Gaskell (being little more than a nosey parker in this instance).
Vince Pitelka on sun 22 jun 03
Geoffrey -
I have done a lot of work with terra sigs, but have never really tried to
work with the authentic ancient Greek red- and black-figure styles. But I
have researched the techniques fairly extensively. There is not a lot of
information available, and much of the theory presented by art historians
seems to have been formulated independent of much technical knowledge or
consultation with potters. They persist in referring to the "black glaze"
and the "red glaze" on ancient Greek pots, but of course it is just terra
sig.
For anyone who doesn't know the details of this work, with the earlier
Archaic black figure style (which is by far my favorite) the imagery was
painted on a red sig ground with black sig, and graffito details (often
involving extraordinary pattern and detail) were incised through the sigs
into the red claybody beneath. With the Classical red figure style, the
figures were painted in red over a black sig ground, or the black background
was painted in over a red sig ground, and details were painted with black
sig. In both the black figure and red figure styles, other colors
occasionally appear, including buff, dark brown, white, and a gray/purple.
The best theory so far regarding the black/red colors involves a single
terra sig formula prepared in two slightly different ways, with the actual
colors appearing only in the firing. The red terra sig is prepared with
plain water, with no doubt just a dash of alkalinity for deflocculation.
The black sig is prepared with water in which wood ashes have been soaked,
which would make it heavily alkaline. Both sigs would appear red before the
firing, so they no doubt added some lamp black or other vegetable colorant
to the black slip in order to tell the difference during application.
The wares were fired in a simple dome-shaped updraft wood kiln, with a
damper at the flue opening. Just inside the flue opening, a series of draw
tiles or draw rings were easily accessible with a hooked rod. The kiln was
fired in oxidation to near maturation, at which time the damper was choked
to create a heavily reducing atmosphere. This would turn all the red iron
oxide to black iron oxide - in other words, all iron-bearing clay and slip
in the kiln would turn black, including both the red and black sig, and the
clay itself.
Through extensive experience the potter would know when the kiln was
reaching maturity, and would pull a draw tile from the flue opening to check
the progress. Ideally, at maturation, the black sig would have become
vitreous (due to the greater alkaline flux content), and thus the black iron
color would be permanent, while the still-porous red sig would re-oxidize to
red upon cooling, as would the claybody itself.
In some of the more comprehensive museum collections, like the Met and the
Boston MFA, you can find examples of overfired wares, where both the red and
black slip vitrified and remained black, and only the faintest outlines of
the design work is visible in the surface. If the wares were underfired
both the red and black slip would re-oxidize to red, and the potter would
simply re-fire the wares. Needless to say, the kilns they used probably
involved considerable variation in temperature, so every kilnload no doubt
included some overfired and underfired wares. When I think of those
extraordinary black figure pots by Exekias or the Boston painter, it breaks
my heart to imagine the overfired ones that were destroyed.
The red figure pots are extraordinary, but the conventions of style and
imagery were so disciplined, so defined by that point. Perfect figure
realism had become representative of the moral and philosophical ideals
distilled from Homer's Odyssey and Iliad, which were at the foundation of
Greek civilization. So the degree of realism was a matter of requirement or
expectation, with little opportunity for abstracting the human figure. In
too many cases, the images are pretty lifeless, and are often poorly placed
on the pot. In most cases, the potter and the painter were different
people, often with no collaboration between them.
With the earlier black figure pots the conventions seem far less rigid, and
there is a lot more expressive imagery. The degree of realism was not quite
as refined, which in this case was a good thing. The scenes are more
immediate, more alive. In the case of Exekias, it is believed that he threw
some of his pots, and in other cases collaborated with the potter to get the
shapes he wanted. His imagery is brilliantly placed on the pots, with
different visual elements working in harmony with the rim, neck, body,
handles, and foot of the pot.
I didn't really intend to go on at such length about this, but I am sitting
here comfortably in my sister's dining room in Altadena, CA, and the weather
outside continues to be cool, foggy, and glum, with a continuous drizzle.
This has been going on since my arrival on Wednesday, with not a single bit
of sunshine. What is this, some kind of conspiracy? Tomorrow I will head
over the mountains for a good hike in the hot sun somewhere in the desert.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
Marcia Selsor on mon 23 jun 03
Vince,
Hope you find some sun in CA! Your description of Greek black and red
was great. very well explained. I think the thing that impresses me most
about the Greek pottery was the idea that this was the first control of
kiln chamber atmosphere that we know about. -very controlled. I marvel
at it!
Best wishes,
Marcia
David Beumee on mon 23 jun 03
I very much appreciate the info from Vince about firing
and decorating techniques of the red and black figure
wares of ancient Greece. I will never forget a backroom
and basement tour of the Getty Museum near Ocean
Boulevard in Los Angeles, 1978. The ancient Greek
pots were stunningly beautiful, form and decoration
perfectly integrated. I would love to try some, and build
a wood kiln to fire. What a treat. Let's do it.
David Beumee
Earth Alchemy Pottery
Lafayette, CO
6/22/03 12:28:31 PM, Vince Pitelka wrote:
>Geoffrey -
>I have done a lot of work with terra sigs, but have never really tried to
>work with the authentic ancient Greek red- and black-figure styles. But I
>have researched the techniques fairly extensively. There is not a lot of
>information available, and much of the theory presented by art historians
>seems to have been formulated independent of much technical knowledge or
>consultation with potters. They persist in referring to the "black glaze"
>and the "red glaze" on ancient Greek pots, but of course it is just terra
>sig.
>
>For anyone who doesn't know the details of this work, with the earlier
>Archaic black figure style (which is by far my favorite) the imagery was
>painted on a red sig ground with black sig, and graffito details (often
>involving extraordinary pattern and detail) were incised through the sigs
>into the red claybody beneath. With the Classical red figure style, the
>figures were painted in red over a black sig ground, or the black background
>was painted in over a red sig ground, and details were painted with black
>sig. In both the black figure and red figure styles, other colors
>occasionally appear, including buff, dark brown, white, and a gray/purple.
>
>The best theory so far regarding the black/red colors involves a single
>terra sig formula prepared in two slightly different ways, with the actual
>colors appearing only in the firing. The red terra sig is prepared with
>plain water, with no doubt just a dash of alkalinity for deflocculation.
>The black sig is prepared with water in which wood ashes have been soaked,
>which would make it heavily alkaline. Both sigs would appear red before the
>firing, so they no doubt added some lamp black or other vegetable colorant
>to the black slip in order to tell the difference during application.
>
>The wares were fired in a simple dome-shaped updraft wood kiln, with a
>damper at the flue opening. Just inside the flue opening, a series of draw
>tiles or draw rings were easily accessible with a hooked rod. The kiln was
>fired in oxidation to near maturation, at which time the damper was choked
>to create a heavily reducing atmosphere. This would turn all the red iron
>oxide to black iron oxide - in other words, all iron-bearing clay and slip
>in the kiln would turn black, including both the red and black sig, and the
>clay itself.
>
>Through extensive experience the potter would know when the kiln was
>reaching maturity, and would pull a draw tile from the flue opening to check
>the progress. Ideally, at maturation, the black sig would have become
>vitreous (due to the greater alkaline flux content), and thus the black iron
>color would be permanent, while the still-porous red sig would re-oxidize to
>red upon cooling, as would the claybody itself.
>
>In some of the more comprehensive museum collections, like the Met and the
>Boston MFA, you can find examples of overfired wares, where both the red and
>black slip vitrified and remained black, and only the faintest outlines of
>the design work is visible in the surface. If the wares were underfired
>both the red and black slip would re-oxidize to red, and the potter would
>simply re-fire the wares. Needless to say, the kilns they used probably
>involved considerable variation in temperature, so every kilnload no doubt
>included some overfired and underfired wares. When I think of those
>extraordinary black figure pots by Exekias or the Boston painter, it breaks
>my heart to imagine the overfired ones that were destroyed.
>
>The red figure pots are extraordinary, but the conventions of style and
>imagery were so disciplined, so defined by that point. Perfect figure
>realism had become representative of the moral and philosophical ideals
>distilled from Homer's Odyssey and Iliad, which were at the foundation of
>Greek civilization. So the degree of realism was a matter of requirement or
>expectation, with little opportunity for abstracting the human figure. In
>too many cases, the images are pretty lifeless, and are often poorly placed
>on the pot. In most cases, the potter and the painter were different
>people, often with no collaboration between them.
>
>With the earlier black figure pots the conventions seem far less rigid, and
>there is a lot more expressive imagery. The degree of realism was not quite
>as refined, which in this case was a good thing. The scenes are more
>immediate, more alive. In the case of Exekias, it is believed that he threw
>some of his pots, and in other cases collaborated with the potter to get the
>shapes he wanted. His imagery is brilliantly placed on the pots, with
>different visual elements working in harmony with the rim, neck, body,
>handles, and foot of the pot.
>
>I didn't really intend to go on at such length about this, but I am sitting
>here comfortably in my sister's dining room in Altadena, CA, and the weather
>outside continues to be cool, foggy, and glum, with a continuous drizzle.
>This has been going on since my arrival on Wednesday, with not a single bit
>of sunshine. What is this, some kind of conspiracy? Tomorrow I will head
>over the mountains for a good hike in the hot sun somewhere in the desert.
>Best wishes -
>- Vince
>
>Vince Pitelka
>Appalachian Center for Craft
>Tennessee Technological University
>1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
>Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
>615/597-5376
>Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
>615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
>http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
>
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>
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>
Geoffrey Gaskell on tue 24 jun 03
Vince
I've been a bit slow off the mark, but I too would like to express my
appreciation for the information you so kindly provided in response to my
question.
In general, I would tend to agree that the black figure ware seems more
expressive in a spontaneous sort of way. As for the red figure ware, I think
the earlier examples from the 5th century BC retain some the the
spontaneity. The decline or rot set in I suppose sometime towards the end of
or just after the Peloponnesian War. Then, during the 4th century BC, the
Greeks were probably too concerned with trying to resist the hegemony of a
certain ruffian from the North (father of the young fellow who went East in
search of glory) and such distractions may have had some effect upon the
quality of output from their artisans.
Geoffrey Gaskell
claybair on tue 24 jun 03
Hey Vince,
Thanks for jogging an ancient memory.
Upon reading your posting I recalled the hours I spent as
a youth in the University Museum in Philadelphia. I was
always drawn to those wonderful Greek vases. It would be
more than 40 years before I tried my hand at clay.
I could see the vases before me as I read your posting.
Dusting off a piece of my past was very nice.
Thanks,
Gayle Bair
Bainbridge Island, WA
http://claybair.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Vince Pitelka
Geoffrey -
I have done a lot of work with terra sigs, but have never really tried to
work with the authentic ancient Greek red- and black-figure styles. But I
have researched the techniques fairly extensively. There is not a lot of
information available, and much of the theory presented by art historians
seems to have been formulated independent of much technical knowledge or
consultation with potters. They persist in referring to the "black glaze"
and the "red glaze" on ancient Greek pots, but of course it is just terra
sig.
Snip>
- Vince
Geoffrey Gaskell on sun 29 jun 03
Vince, right on both counts: I was thinking of Philip II of Macedonia &
Alexander. The history of the Bronze Age Aegean, Classical, Hellenistic,
Etruscan & Roman periods and the various arts of the times are particularly
interesting areas of study, though the separate historical disciplines of
Late Antiquity & the early medieval "Dark Ages" (which are not quite as dark
in terms of available source material as the Greek "Dark Age" about 1000 to
1500 years previous) also have a certain fascination for me.
In terms of pottery, I find the various forms of vessels, vases & assorted
pots rather inspiring, regardless of decoration or lack thereof. Naturally
there is much to admire in the forms developed in other cultures located in
other times and places, but it would be too easy to become bloated on the
extensive smorgasbord of inspiration, if one tried even the tiniest morsel
of "absolutely everything". Sometimes, as it is, I feel that I am all
fingers and thumbs, but I think worrying about big or little TOEs is an
additional burden best left to certain types of Physicists, specialising in
such arcane things as particles & cyclotrons, chaos, QED & astrophysics.
Geoffrey Gaskell
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