The Krater - An artistic experiment

The two rows of figured scenes on the Krater display more freeform shapes and figures in contrast to the rest of the Krater and its usage of geometric designs like meanders and checkerboard patterns. Although these geometric designs had existed for a couple centuries, these figured scenes were a recent innovation, challenging traditional Greek art. These scenes added a central humanistic focus to kraters, and so now the geometric designs served to supplement these elaborate paintings rather than permeate the whole krater’s design. And so, the centuries-long ubiquity of geometric designs did not last, as more and more people began to abandon the principles of the Geometric period in the time period when this krater was built.

These artistic innovations pushed the boundaries of what could be classified as Geometric art. In the span of a few decades, the Geometric period of art in Ancient Greece came to an end as Greek pottery adjusted to new trends. Geometric art had encompassed so many different styles that it was naturally going to give way to some new artistic movement. The inevitability of artistic experimentation became evident in my own experience studying and drawing this Krater. This Krater was able to draw upon the historical geometric patterns and meld them with these new figured scenes. With centuries of artistic experimentation having gone by, this Krater may have evoked this same desire within its potter to try new ways to illustrate these classic themes of death and war.