Athenian Vase Painting: Black- and Red-Figure Techniques

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Timelines (2)

• • Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• • Italian Peninsula, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Thematic Essays (34)

• • Africans in Ancient Greek Art
• • Ancient Greek Bronze Vessels
• • Ancient Greek Dress
• • The Art of Classical Greece (ca. 480–323 B.C.)
• • Athletics in Ancient Greece
• • The Cesnola Collection at The Metropolian Museum
• • The Chiton, Peplos, and Himation in Modern Dress
• • Classical Antiquity in the Middle Ages
• • Classical Art and Modern Dress
• • Classicism in Modern Dress
• • Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece
• • Etruscan Art
• • Geometric and Archaic Cyprus
• • Greek Art in the Archaic Period
• • Greek Gods and Religious Practices
• • Greek Hydriai (Water Jars) and their Artistic Decoration
• • The Kithara in Ancient Greece
• • The Labors of Herakles
• • List of Rulers: The Ancient Greek World
• • Music in Ancient Greece
• • Mycenaean Civilization
• • Mythic Details: The Greek Key, Laurels, and the Attributes of Goddesses
• • Neoclassicism
• • Nudity and Classical Themes in Byzantine Art
• • The Praenestine Cistae
• • Prehistoric Cypriot Art and Culture
• • Scenes of Everyday Life in Ancient Greece
• • Southern Italian Vase Painting
• • The Symposium in Ancient Greece
• • The Technique of Bronze Statuary in Ancient Greece
• • Theater in Ancient Greece
• • Time of Day on Painted Athenian Vases
• • Warfare in Ancient Greece
• • Women in Classical Greece

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• • Europe Map, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• • World Map, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Index Terms (16)

Artist

• • Amasis Painter (Greek, ca. 560–515 B.C.)
• • Andokides (Greek, active 530–510 B.C.)
• • Andokides Painter (Greek, ca. 530–515 B.C.)
• • Exekias (Greek, active 540–520 B.C.)
• • Lydos (Greek, active ca. 565–535 B.C.)
• • Nearchos (Greek)
• • Psiax (Greek, ca. 530–500 B.C.)

Geography/Place

• • Ceramic, organized by culture, Europe
• • Ceramic, organized by culture, Europe, Balkan Peninsula (including Greece)
• • Europe, organized by geography, Balkan Peninsula (including Greece)
• • Vessel, organized by culture, Europe
• • Vessel, organized by culture, Europe, Balkan Peninsula (including Greece)

Material and Technique

• • Ceramic, Painted
• • Ceramic, Painted, Europe
• • Vessel, Tall (Vase, Pitcher, Bottle)
• • Vessel, Tall, Europe

Between the beginning of the sixth and the end of the fourth centuries B.C., black- and red-figure techniques were used in Athens to decorate fine pottery while simpler, undecorated wares fulfilled everyday household purposes. With both techniques, the potter first shaped the vessel on a wheel. Most sizeable pots were made in sections; sometimes the neck and body were thrown separately, and the foot was often attached later. Once these sections had dried to a leather hardness, the potter assembled them and luted the joints with a slip (clay in a more liquid form). Lastly, he added the handles. In black-figure vase painting, figural and ornamental motifs were applied with a slip that turned black during firing, while the background was left the color of the clay. Vase painters articulated individual forms by incising the slip or by adding white and purple enhancements (mixtures of pigment and clay). In contrast, the decorative motifs on red-figure vases remained the color of the clay; the background, filled in with a slip, turned black. Figures could be articulated with glaze lines or dilute washes of glaze applied with a brush. The red-figure technique was invented around 530 B.C., quite possibly by the potter Andokides and his workshop. It gradually replaced the black-figure technique as innovators recognized the possibilities that came with drawing forms, rather than laboriously delineating them with incisions. The use of a brush in red-figure technique was better suited to the naturalistic representation of anatomy, garments, and emotions.

The firing process of both red- and black-figure vessels consisted of three stages. During the first, oxidizing stage, air was allowed into the kiln, turning the whole vase the color of the clay. In the subsequent stage, green wood was introduced into the chamber and the oxygen supply was reduced, causing the object to turn black in the smoky environment. In the third stage, air was reintroduced into the kiln; the reserved portions turned back to orange while the glossed areas remained black.

Painted vases were often made in specific shapes for specific daily uses—storing and transporting wine and foodstuffs (amphora), drawing water (hydria), drinking wine or water (kantharos or kylix), and so on—and for special, often ritual occasions, such as pouring libations (lekythos) or carrying water for the bridal bath (loutrophoros). Their pictorial decorations provide insights into many aspects of Athenian life, and complement the literary texts and inscriptions from the Archaic and, especially, Classical periods.

Citation for this page

Department of Greek and Roman Art. "Athenian Vase Painting: Black- and Red-Figure Techniques". In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vase/hd_vase.htm (October 2002)

Suggested Further Reading(s) Find these publications in a library

Beazley, John D. Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
Beazley, John D. The Development of Attic Black-Figure. Rev. ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
Cook, R. M. . Greek Painted Pottery. 3d ed. New York: Routledge, 1996.
Noble, Joseph Veach. The Techniques of Painted Attic Pottery. Rev. ed. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1988.
Norris, Michael. Greek Art from Prehistoric to Classical: A Resource for Educators. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.
Robertson, Martin. The Art of Vase-Painting in Classical Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

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