Red-Figure Pottery in Greek Art

By N.S. Gill, About.com Guide

Near the end of the sixth century B.C., a revolution took place in vase painting techniques in Athens. Instead of painting the figures black (see accompanying photo of pancratists) on orange-red clay, the new vase painters left the figures red and painted the background around the red figures black. Where black-figure artists engraved details through the black to reveal the underlying base reddish color (see the lines delineating muscles in the pancratists photo), this technique would serve no purpose on red figures on pottery, since the underlying material was identically reddish-colored clay. Instead, artists using the new style enhanced their figures with black, white, or truly red lines.

Named for the basic color of the figures, this form of pottery is called red-figure.

The style of painting continued to evolve. Euphronios is one of the most important of the painters from the early red-figure period. Simple style came first, often focusing on Dionysus. It grew more complex as it became more widely used, with techniques spreading throughout the Greek world.

Tip: Of the two, black-figure came first, but if you're looking at a large collection at a museum, it's easy to forget. Remember that whatever color the vase appears, it's still clay, and therefore reddish: clay=red. It is more obvious to paint black figures on a red substrate than it is to paint negative space, so the red figures are more evolved. I usually forget, anyway, so I just check the dates of a couple, and go from there.

For more information, see: "Attic Red-Figured and White-Ground Pottery," Mary B. Moore. The Athenian Agora, Vol. 30 (1997).

Previous

• Introduction to Red-Figure Pottery
• Berlin Painter
• Euphronios Painter
• Pan Painter
• Apulian Eumenides Painter

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