Figure and Space in Vase Painting and in Architectural Sculpture: On the (Ir-)Relevance of the Medium

Abstract

The present article explores the relevance of medium in the study of Ancient Greek art by a parallel analysis of the relationship of figure and space in Attic vase painting and architectural sculpture. While innovative recent scholarship on Greek art tends to emphasize the incommensurability of different media of pictorial representation, this article shows essential analogies. The figures found in both pictorial media prove to comprise more than the physical body definition. Instead, no clear border can be drawn between the physical body and its “extensions”-armor, clothing, attributes, in some cases even elements of the figure’s spatial context as e.g., “landscape.” While such (presumed) surrounding space can be an intrinsic part of the figure, the idea of a pictorial space dissociated from the material frame is absent from both vase painting and architectural sculpture. Instead, the figures’ space is identical with their material frame, be it the picture field on a vase, or the pediment of a temple. This common trait among the two pictorial media is finally interpreted as an anthropological predisposition regarding what made for an image in Ancient Greece, pointing to the image’s power of presentification, as opposed to the modern concept of pictorial illusion. In doing so, this article advocates for further adoption of cross-media perspectives on Ancient Greek art-not as an alternative, but as an intellectually productive supplement to the newly increased awareness for differences of pictorial media.

Key-words:
vase painting; architectural sculpture; depiction of space