Black-Figure Pottery Throughout the Ages as Demonstrated by Four Vases from the Detroit Institute of Arts

Abstract

In this paper, I will discuss Ancient Greek black-figure pottery throughout its stages by looking at examples from the Detroit Institute of Arts. I interned at the DIA this summer and looked at the vases carefully; this is why I am discussing these vases rather than better-known works from the same time period. I will do this by describing the time period of the vase, and then write about its iconography and why the painter was depicting this subject. First, I will contextualize the importance of iconography. I will then start with the earliest form of black-figure, Corinthian pottery, and define black-figure and discuss the orientalizing movement. I will describe Detroit 24.119, which is an example of this style, and discuss the iconography, subject matter, and why it is unique. All of the Detroit vases will be analyzed according to these three topics. Next, I will discuss Archaic pottery and describe and discuss Detroit 76.22 and 64.148, two pots with Herakles' labors as the subject. The last topic I discuss will be Panathenaic vases, the only vases that take black-figure into the third century BC, by describing and examining Detroit 50.193. I am discussing these topics in order to get a better sense of how black-figure pottery changed over the centuries, with iconography and subject matter being a very important feature of this. I would also like to write about the features that make these four vases individual.

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