black figure painting

Examples of black figure painting in the following topics:

• Ceramics in the Greek Archaic Period

  • Archaic black- and red-figure painting began to depict more naturalistic bodies by conveying form and movement.
  • Black-figure painting, which derives its name from the black figures painted on red backgrounds, was developed by the Corinthians in the seventh century BCE and became popular throughout the Greek world during the Archaic period.
  • The technique is similar to black-figure painting but with key differences.
  • Instead of painting a figure with black slip and using a burin to scrape away the slip to create details, red-figure painting has the background painted black and the figures left the red color of the terra cotta.
  • Black slip was painted with a brush to add detail.

• Etruscan Ceramics

  • The Etruscans are known for their production of impasto and bucchero pottery, as well as local versions of black- and red-figure vase painting.
  • Initially, Etruscan vases followed examples of black-figure vase painting from Corinth and East Greece.
  • The black-figure style ended about 480 BCE.
  • As on some early Attic vases, this was achieved by covering the whole vase body in black shiny slip, then adding figures on top, using paints that would oxidize into red or white during firing.
  • In pseudo-red-figure painting, internal details were marked by incision, similar to the usual practice in black-figure vase painting, rather than painted on, as in true red-figure.

• Ceramics in the Greek Early Classical Period

  • The Classical period witnessed the continuation of red- and black-figure painting techniques on ceramic objects.
  • While artists continued to produce black-figure-paintings into the second century BCE, the technique became increasingly rare, overtaken about 520 BCE by red-figure painting.
  • Their main characteristic is that they maintained features of black-figure vase painting in the red-figure technique.
  • Because the style is less durable than black- and red-figure painting, it was often used for votives and as grave offerings.
  • Attic white-ground black-figure lekythos.

• Vase Painting in the Orientalizing Period

  • During the Orientalizing period in Corinth, human figures were rarely seen on vases.
  • This oriental black figure style originated in the city of Corinth, spread to Athens, and was exported throughout Greece.
  • The Corinthians developed the technique of black figure painting during this period.
  • Black figure pottery was carefully constructed and fired three different times to produce the unique red and black colors on each vase.
  • The black color came from a slip painted onto the vessel, after which incised lines were drawn on to outline and detail the figures.

• Painting during the Tang Dynasty

  • The Tang Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese civilization, and Chinese figure painting developed dramatically during this time.
  • Buddhist painting and court painting—including paintings of the Buddha, monks, nobles, etc.
  • Figure painting eventually reached the height of elegant realism in the art of the court of Southern Tang (937-975).
  • Most of the Tang artists outlined figures with fine black lines and used brilliant colors and elaborate detail.
  • However, Wu Daozi used only black ink and freely painted brushstrokes to create ink paintings that were so exciting, crowds gathered to watch him work.

• Painting of the Early Dynastic Period

  • Their main colors were red, blue, black, gold, and green.
  • The main figures in reliefs adhere to the same figure convention as in painting, with parted legs (where not seated) and head shown from the side, but the torso from the front, and a standard set of proportions making up the figure, using 18 "fists" to go from the ground to the hair-line on the forehead.
  • Small figures of deities, or their animal personifications, are commonly found in popular materials such as pottery.
  • There were also large numbers of small carved objects, from figures of the gods to toys and carved utensils.
  • The main colors used were red, blue, black, gold, and green.

• Paleolithic Cave Paintings

  • The pigments used appear to be red and yellow ochre, manganese or carbon for black, and china clay for white.
  • Discovered in 1940, the cave contains nearly two thousand figures, which can be grouped into three main categories—animals, human figures, and abstract signs.
  • As is typical of most cave art, there are no paintings of complete human figures in Chauvet.
  • Similarly, a three-dimensional quality and the suggestion of movement are achieved by incising or etching around the outlines of certain figures.
  • Altamira's famous Upper Paleolithic cave paintings feature drawings and polychrome rock paintings of wild mammals and human hands.

• Minoan Painting

  • Black and vivid blue are also used.
  • While the different skin color of the figures may differentiate male (dark) and female (light) figures, the similarity of their clothing and body shapes (lean with few curves) suggest that the figures may all be male.
  • The figures participate in activity known as bull-leaping.
  • Similar earth-tone colors are used, including black, white, brown, red, and blue.
  • Kamares ware, a distinctive type of pottery painted in white, red, and blue over a black backdrop, is created from a fine clay.

• Sienna: Painting

  • In spite of the many challenges during the period, including the ongoing ravages of the Black Plague, these city-states were relatively stable and prosperous homes for new experimentations in art.
  • Byzantine styles in painting focused on formal composition with little relationship between figures, and with little sense of perspective.
  • Painters in the Proto-Renaissance period returned to an interest in classical forms, with a looser composition but with a greater attention to relationships between figures, and an affinity for recreating a sense of depth in paintings.
  • The Sienese School embraced a renewed focus on giving life to the figures within the painting, and paid attention to the arrangements between the figures as well as their place within the architecture.
  • One planel of Duccio's multi-painting altarpiece in Sienna, an important example of the Sienese school of painting.

• Art of the Middle Kingdom

  • Traditional painting involves essentially the same techniques as calligraphy; it is done with a brush dipped in black or colored ink and painted on paper or silk.
  • Artists from the Han (202 BCE) to the Tang (618–906 CE) dynasties primarily painted the human figure.
  • Much of what is known of early Chinese figure painting comes from burial sites, where paintings were preserved on silk banners, lacquered objects, and tomb walls.
  • In the north, artists such as Jing Hao, Li Cheng , Fan Kuan, and Guo Xi painted pictures of towering mountains, using strong black lines, ink wash, and sharp, dotted brushstrokes to suggest rough stone.
  • Smaller figures in pottery or wood were placed in tombs for many centuries afterwards, reaching a peak of quality in the Tang Dynasty.