Geometric Style

Geometric style, style of ancient Greek art, primarily of vase painting, that began about 900 bc and represents the last purely Mycenaean-Greek art form that originated before the influx of foreign inspiration by about 800 bc. Athens was its centre, and the growing moneyed population of new Greek cities was its market.

Vases decorated in Geometric style exhibit painted horizontal bands filled with patterns, much like the vases of the preceding Proto-Geometric style. Geometric-style bands, however, are more numerous, covering the entire vase, with triple lines dividing patterned zones at regular intervals. The old Proto-Geometric design elements, the circle and arc, lost favour with the Geometric artist, while the zigzag and triangle remained and were incorporated along with some new elements, the meander and swastika. The overall visual effect of the regularly spaced horizontal bands filled with sharply angular patterns in dark paint upon light ground is one of undulating rhythm, closely akin to basketry.

In addition to using abstract motifs, artists working in the Geometric style began using figures of humans and animals, seeing both as the sum of geometrized parts—bodies becoming triangles, legs and arms becoming line segments. First used just as patterns, they later developed into more complex groupings, usually narrative—funeral scenes, sea battles, dances, boxing matches, and exploits of popular heroes.

Representative objects of this period include vases, small bronze and clay figurines, elaborately decorated safety-pin-like clasps, or fibulae, and limestone seals. Artisans also made gold bands impressed with animal and human figures, which were put on the head of a deceased person, often in a way that would keep the mouth closed. Although the Geometric style gave way to the Classical style, its patterns remained popular and influenced much later Grecian art.