Exekias

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Pottery signature of Exekias, Dionysus bowl, Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 8729

Exekias ( Greek  Ἐξηκίας , Ἐχσεκιας) was a Greek potter and vase painter of the black-figure style who lived around 550-530 BC. Was active in Athens .

Life, style and work

Exekias is one of the most important and innovative artists of the black-figure style. Unlike many other vase painters, Exekias began his career as a potter. His first signed work, two amphorae, he created for painters of the group E . Exekias also emerged from group E. A total of 15 vases are known today, which are provided with the pottery signature of Exekias. He redesigned or redesigned several vase forms ( neck amphorae , type A abdominal amphorae , eye cups , calyx craters ), probably inspired by Eastern Greek ceramic forms. His pottery work had a lasting influence on the potters of the following generations.

However, Exekias is even better known as a vase painter. Four vases made by him also bear his painter's signature. About 30 other works can be assigned to him on the basis of stylistic analyzes. It can only be assumed that Exekias' creative phase as a painter was brief, as the Kalos name Onetorides is indicated on both early and late vases and Ephebe and Onetorides were only honored in this way for a limited time. His painting work dates back to the third quarter of the 6th century BC. Dated. As a painter, too, he seems to have been influenced by representatives of Group E, although a greater influence of Nearchus is believed.

Belly amphora, Vatican 16757, Aias and Achilles at the board game

As a painter, he gave decisive impulses to black-figure vase painting. The arrangement of the decorations as well as the choice and execution of the ornaments should help shape the black-figure style to its end. Its spiral patterns under the handles are particularly delicate. He and Amasis also created the first important picture field amphoras, each of which has a narrative picture on both sides. With his artistry, Exekias opened up completely new possibilities for expression despite the restriction of the black-figure style. He succeeded in doing this partly through new picture ideas, but above all through the method of representation, which breathed a completely new life into the characters for the drawing style. He is the first vase painter who does not first show the result of an action with the pictures, but shows the way to it. His figures attain a particular depth that until now only poets have been able to portray it in Greek art. For example, on an amphora, which is now in Boulogne-sur-Mer, depicting the suicide of Aias, he shows the hero of the Trojan War preparing for the deed, and not, as before, only after it was carried out. Exekias manages to express the feelings and determination of the Aias. Exekias manages to give the figures dignity in his works. Where the older vase painters could only depict people as puppets and the Amasis painter already managed to show them as people, Exekias managed to show people divinely and thus anticipate classical art . Boardman sees Exekias as the first artist of European-Western culture.

Dionysus bowl, Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 8729

On his well-known eye bowl , the Dionysus bowl (Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 8729), he depicts the god Dionysus , who lies like a reveler on a ship. The attribute depicting him as a divine figure is a vine tendril growing along the ship's mast, the symbol of the god. Another picture motif invented by Exekias is that of Aias and Achilles playing a board game (Bauchamphora Vatikan 16757). There is no literary basis for this scene; it only sprang from the painter's creativity. In general, he has a special interest in the Trojan War and especially in the hero Aias. A motif that he also encountered for the first time is the reversing chariot.

His works are technically very clean and seem to be based on the sculptors of his time. Since his works are all of high quality - John Boardman speaks of Exekias as a "perfectionist" - it is difficult to understand a style development. Exekias must also have been highly regarded as a craftsman during his lifetime, there is hardly any other explanation for the fact that he painted a set of at least 15 grave pinakes for a wealthy Athenian , the fragments of which are now in the Berlin Collection of Antiquities . Here, too, he opened up new ways of looking at things. In the overall conception, the grave tablets of Exekias are on a par with the simultaneous panel painting . The "inventor" of red-figure vase painting , the Andokides painter , was probably a student of Exekias and also painted in the new style in the manner of his teacher.

Locations

Works of Exekias have been found on the one hand in Athens ( Acropolis , Sanctuary of the Nymph , Kerameikos ) and on the other hand in Italy. A few fragments come from southern Italy (the sanctuary of Persephone in Mannella near Lokroi Epizephyrioi , the sanctuary of Aphrodite in Satyrion ), but the majority of his works come from the necropolises of Etruria ( Cerveteri , Chiusi Orvieto , Tarquinia , Vulci ). Fragments also come from two Celtic oppida in southern France ( Montlaurès and La Monédière near Bessan).

List of works

The numbering follows John D. Beazley , pieces with an x ​​were not yet known to Beazley or were not ascribed to Exekias by him.

Neck amphorae

  • 1. Berlin, Antikensammlung , F 1729 , A: Herakles with the Nemean lion; B: Akamas and Demophon as horse guides
  • 1 to. Basel, Herbert A. Cahn Collection 300, four fragments, A: harnessing a car; B: Horse with companion
  • 2. Narbonne, Musée Archéologique 04.1.1.1-8 Fragments from Montlaurès, Apollo, Artemis and Leto
  • 3. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 17.230.14, A and B: Exit with Quadriga
  • 4. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts 89.273, A and B: harnessing a car
  • 5. Berlin, Antikensammlung F 1718 (war loss). A: Warrior carrying a dead warrior (Aias with the corpse of Achilles?); B: Warrior's farewell
  • 6. Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 1470, A and B: Warrior carrying a dead warrior (Aias with the corpse of Achilles?)
  • 7. London, British Museum 1836.2-24.127 (B 210), A: Achilles and Penthesileia ; B: Dionysus and Oinopion
  • 8. London, British Museum 1849.5-18.10 (B 209), A: Achilles and Penthesilea (?); B: Memnon and his African squires
  • Budapest, Szépművészeti Múzeum 50.189, A: Warrior with Quadriga; B: Dionysus with satyrs and maenads
  • Reggio di Calabria, Museo Archeologico Nazionale o. No. and 26996 fragments from Lokroi Epizephyrioi, A: Dionysus and woman with child; B: Gigantomachy (?)

Panathenaic price amphora

Abdominal amphorae

  • 9. Orvieto, Museo Etrusco Claudio Faina 2748 (78), A: Assembly of the gods with Heracles; B: Heracles and Kerberos
  • 10. Orvieto, Museo Etrusco Claudio Faina 2747 (77), A: Warrior's farewell with Quadriga; B: Exit with Quadriga
  • 11. Orvieto, Museo Etrusco Claudio Faina 2745 (187), A: Athena with Quadriga, Heracles, deities; B: Exit with Quadriga
  • 12 Paris, Louvre F 206, A: fight scene with falling horse; B: Exit with Quadriga
  • 13. Vatican, Vatican Museums 16757 (Albizatti 344), A: Achilles and Aias playing a board game; B: Dioscuri, Tyndareus and Leda
  • 14. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology MS 3442, A: battle scene over the dead Achilles; B: Fight over the dead Antilochus
  • 15. Leipzig, Antikenmuseum der Universität Leipzig T 355a – c and T 391, fragments (war losses), A: Achilles and Aias playing a board game (?)
  • 16. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology MS 4873 A and B, A: Warrior with grazing horse; B: archer with grazing horse
  • 17. Lund, Lund University, Historical Museum LA 655 (from the Sam Wide collection ), fragment, upper body of Theseus
  • 18. Boulogne-sur-Mer, Musée 558, A: Aias' suicide; B: Exit with Quadriga
  • 18bis. Cambridge, Museum of Classical Archeology UP 114, fragment, B: Young man with dog
  • Berlin, Antikensammlung F 1699 (loss of war), A and B: animal frieze on the mouth
  • Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum 78.AE.305, Akamas fragment
  • x Nissan-les-Ensérune , Musée d'Église Saint-Saturnin, Collection Giry, fragments from La Monédière near Bessan, A: Heracles with the Nemic lion; B: Dionysus, woman with two children, maenad, satyrs
  • x Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology MS 3497, A: Heracles with the Nemean lion; B: Dionysus and wife with two children, satyr and maenad
  • formerly Prague, Wilhelm Klein collection (lost), mouth fragment with part of the signature
  • Reggio di Calabria, Museo Archeologico Nazionale 12886, fragments from Lokroi Epizephyrioi, A: Aineas with Anchises ; B: hoplite
  • x Switzerland, private collection, A: harnessing a quadriga; B: Warrior's farewell with horse
  • x Switzerland, private collection, A: fight scene with quadriga and falling horse; B: A young man's exit with a quadriga
  • x Tarent, Museo Archeologico Nazionale 179196, from Satyrion, fragments with painter and potter's signature, A and B: pages Heracles and Triton

Hydria

  • x Athens, Acropolis Museum NA 1959 NAK 162, fragment from the sanctuary of the nymph in Athens, horse with inscription

Calyx crater

  • (19.) Athens, Agora Museum AP 1044, A: Quadriga of Athena with Heracles, gods; B: Fight for the corpse of patroclus

Colonette Crater

  • x Athens, National Museum Akr. I 649c-d + Akr. I 650a + AP 1224, fragments, Herakles and Triton on the handle palms , outside lion and bull, animal frieze

Dinosaurs

  • 20. Rome, Villa Giulia 50599. Only the edge of the dinosaur with signature, inside the edge depictions of ships.

Eye cup

  • 21. Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 8729 (formerly 2044), Dionysus bowl

Pinakes

  • 22. Berlin, Antikensammlung F 1811 – F 1826 + Athens, National Museum 20061, grave tablets of Exekias
  • 23. Athens, National Museum 2414–2417

  • Belly amphora, Berlin F 1720

  • Belly amphora, Boulogne-sur-Mer 558

  • Neck amphora, New York, Metropolitan Museum 17.230.14

  • Abdominal amphora Orvieto 2745 (187)

  • Grabpinax Berlin

exhibition

From November 9, 2018 to March 31, 2019, the work of Exekias will be honored in the exhibition “Exekias painted and pottered me” in the Archaeological Collection of the University of Zurich .

literature

Web links

Commons : Exekias  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c d e Heide Mommsen: Exekias. In: The New Pauly. Volume 4, Col. 340.
  2. ^ Heide Mommsen: Observations on the Exekias signatures. In: Metis. Volume 33, 1998, pp. 44–46 Fig. 7–8: Paris, Louvre F 53 ( entry in the museum database) and Toledo (Ohio), Toledo Museum of Art 1980.1022 ( entry in the museum database ).
  3. ↑ Including six bowls which are certainly not painted by him, Heide Mommsen: Observations on the Exekias signatures. In: Metis. Volume 33, 1998, pp. 46-49 Figs. 9-14; Peter Heesen: Athenian Little-Master Cups . Amsterdam 2009, pp. 89–95: Kleinmeister-Schalen : Paris, Louvre F 54 ( entry in the museum database ); Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2125; Civitavecchia, Museo Archeologico Nazionale 4861; Geneva, Musée d'art et d'histoire A 2003-0038 (loan); formerly Basel and London, art trade. Siana Bowl : Athens, National Museum 1104 (CC 692).
  4. ↑ Halsamphora Berlin F 1720 ; Halsamphora London, British Museum B 210; Abdominal amphora Vatican 16757 and amphora fragments Taranto 179196.
  5. ^ A b c d e John Boardman: Black-figure vases from Athens. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1977, p. 63.
  6. ↑ On the sites of discovery in detail Christoph Reusser: Sites and Findings of Vases des Exekias. In: Christoph Reusser, Martin Bürge (ed.): "Exekias painted and made pottery for me". Exhibition in the Archaeological Collection of the University of Zurich, November 9, 2018 to March 31, 2019 . Archaeological Collection of the University of Zurich, Zurich 2018, ISBN 978-3-905099-34-8 , pp. 73–92.
  7. ↑ See Christoph Reusser: Works of Exekias. Catalog raisonné. In: Christoph Reusser, Martin Bürge (ed.): "Exekias painted and made pottery for me". Exhibition in the Archaeological Collection of the University of Zurich, November 9, 2018 to March 31, 2019 . Archaeological Collection of the University of Zurich, Zurich 2018, ISBN 978-3-905099-34-8 , pp. 331–334.
  8. ↑ Entry in the museum database .
  9. ^ Entry in the museum database .
  10. ^ Entry in the museum database .
  11. ^ Entry in the museum database .
  12. ↑ Paralipomena 61; Entry in the museum database .
  13. ↑ Paralipomena 61.
  14. ^ Entry in the museum database .
  15. ^ Entry in the museum database .
  16. ↑ M 355a – c belong to the front of vase no. 18bis; T 391 adapts to No. 18bis. E. Anne Mackay: Tradition and Originality: A Study of Exekias (= British Archaeological Reports International Series 2092). Archaeopress, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-1-4073-0568-4 , pp. 311-314 No. 30, plate 73.
  17. ^ A , B, entries in the museum database , plus another small fragment MS 4873 C entry in the museum database .
  18. ↑ Back of vase no.15, fits Leipzig T 391. E. Anne Mackay: Tradition and Originality: A Study of Exekias (= British Archaeological Reports International Series 2092). Archaeopress, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-1-4073-0568-4 , pp. 311-314 No. 30, plate 73.
  19. ↑ Only the mouth frieze is from Exekias, both sides of the picture A: Birth of Athena; B: Theseus and Minotaur are by a painter from Group E; ABV 136, 53.
  20. ↑ Entry in the museum database ; E. Anne Mackay: Tradition and Originality: A Study of Exekias (= British Archaeological Reports International Series 2092). Archaeopress, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-1-4073-0568-4 , pp. 309–310 No. 29 plate 72 B.
  21. ↑ Entry in the museum database ; Paralipomena 318: recalls Exekian and the Lysippides Painter; Christoph Reusser, Martin Bürge (ed.): "Exekias painted and made pottery for me". Exhibition in the Archaeological Collection of the University of Zurich, November 9, 2018 to March 31, 2019 . Archaeological Collection of the University of Zurich, Zurich 2018, ISBN 978-3-905099-34-8 , pp. 284–291 No. 17.
  22. ↑ ABV 146, 1; Wilhelm Klein: The Greek vases with master's signatures . Vienna 1887, p. 40 No. 6 ( digitized version ).
  23. ↑ Paralipomena 61.
  24. ↑ ABV 147, 3: Manner of Exekias; Christoph Reusser, Martin Bürge (ed.): "Exekias painted and made pottery for me". Exhibition in the Archaeological Collection of the University of Zurich, November 9, 2018 to March 31, 2019 . Archaeological Collection of the University of Zurich, Zurich 2018, ISBN 978-3-905099-34-8 , pp. 254–271 No. 14.
  25. ↑ ABV 147, 4-5: Manner of Exekias; Christoph Reusser, Martin Bürge (ed.): "Exekias painted and made pottery for me". Exhibition in the Archaeological Collection of the University of Zurich, November 9, 2018 to March 31, 2019 . Archaeological Collection of the University of Zurich, Zurich 2018, ISBN 978-3-905099-34-8 , pp. 229–253 No. 13.
  26. ^ E. Anne Mackay: Tradition and Originality: A Study of Exekias (= British Archaeological Reports International Series 2092). Archaeopress, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-1-4073-0568-4 , pp. 135-143, No. 12, plates 33-34.
  27. ^ E. Anne Mackay: Tradition and Originality: A Study of Exekias (= British Archaeological Reports International Series 2092). Archaeopress, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-1-4073-0568-4 , pp. 309–310 No. 29 plate 72 B.
  28. ^ Entry in the museum database . By E. Anne Mackay: Tradition and Originality: A Study of Exekias (= British Archaeological Reports International Series 2092). Archaeopress, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-1-4073-0568-4 , pp. 354–357 plate 81 with detailed justification removed from the work of Exekias, possibly by the Mastos painter .
  29. ↑ ABV 137, 67 group E; E. Anne Mackay: Tradition and Originality: A Study of Exekias (= British Archaeological Reports International Series 2092). Archaeopress, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-1-4073-0568-4 , pp. 47–53, No. 4, plate 10.
  30. ↑ Heide Mommsen: Exekias I: Die Grabtafeln (= research on ancient ceramics, series II: Kerameus . Volume 11). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-8053-2033-7 .
  31. ↑ These pieces were originally assigned to the Berlin cycle. However, due to the different locations and the different heights of the headband, John Boardman was able to prove that these are pieces from a different series. John Boardman: Painted Funerary Plaques and Some Remarks on Prothesis. In: The Annual of the British School at Athens. Volume 50, 1955, pp. 59, No. 10, pp. 63-64; Heide Mommsen: Exekias I. The grave tablets (= research on ancient ceramics, series II: Kerameus . Volume 11). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-8053-2033-7 , pp. 4–5. 62–63 Appendix A – B.
  32. ^ Review by Mary B. Moore , Bryn Mawr Classical Review 08/34/2010.
personal data
SURNAME Exekias
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ἐξηκίας (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek potter and vase painter
DATE OF BIRTH before 550 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 530 BC Chr.