Overall
this is a well-composed and graceful rendering. The devices used to frame the
scene are a particular strength, if a little overdone, and bind the work well.
It’s state of preservation is better than expected too. For me personally, the
association of the bull to Aegean culture is running the risk of
becoming a platitude. |
Forms are simplified to slender, sharp shapes which elevates the action of the figures. This work indicates the importance the bull had on Minoan culture. The specific event is not certain, but it clearly shows a civic or cultural event that involved vigorous physical activity in a public display. This wall painting clearly communicates movement and leaping grace.
Planar shapes and abstracted textures carry this work. Edges are line-defined, and their curved treatment implies this work’s characteristic lateral motion more than any other elemental combination. Next, pattern is heavily used with the circular motif installed in the thick framework and this pattern repeats the colors, values and textures used in the central work.
Spatial depth is considered through one measure: Elemental overlap. This arrangement and the planar nature of shapes result in a work that conforms to the media it’s rendered on. It nearly reflects horizontally. Pictorial energy moves from left to right in the scene and is counter-balanced by the slower right to left movement of the framing motif.
Line is used to both harmonize and build tension. Dense, rigidly-repeated lines are used to provide a buffer within the enriched framework. Contrasted against this mechanical formatting are curved, rounded, narrow, long lines used to define shapes and textures. Shapes, too, provide harmony and variety. They are natural in character, but within this quality split between somewhat mechanical (embedded in the framework) and nearly calligraphic (to define figures). Color treatment, again, follows the binding/variety pattern, through temperature (warm and cool) and a complementary color scheme.
Strong lateral movement energizes the “canvas”; layering reasons establish this, but the single strongest in my opinion is the cell-like, acrobatic dance of the athletes. To me, the scene visually describes an athlete flipping over an airborne bull, but this is not the case. The figures are without a doubt three separate people. Lines of force work equally from both left-to-right and right-to-left.
Figures are reduced to shapes and those shapes completely conform to the surface of the medium. This is one of the more embellished frames extant in any era of art, and necessarily so for its binding qualities. Both scene and framework are oriented for a straight-on viewing.
The state of preservation is largely due to excavators and experts reconstructing the work. This included restoring lost parts with portions that are duller in color and less contrasting in value. The rigidly-aligned tiny narrow blocks that define the “framework of the framework” are interesting because the remind me of a sort of “proto-dentil”, a design that can be found on many Greek cornices during the height of the golden age of Greek artistic achievement. In my opinion, this work is one of the earliest examples in existence of structured ambiguity used to supportive effect. This is based on the cross-directional lateral lines of eye movement created by the figures.
Forms are simplified to slender, sharp shapes which elevates the action of the figures. This work indicates the importance the bull had on Minoan culture. The specific event is not certain, but it clearly shows a civic or cultural event that involved vigorous physical activity in a public display. This wall painting clearly communicates movement and leaping grace.
Planar shapes and abstracted textures carry this work. Edges are line-defined, and their curved treatment implies this work’s characteristic lateral motion more than any other elemental combination. Next, pattern is heavily used with the circular motif installed in the thick framework and this pattern repeats the colors, values and textures used in the central work.
Spatial depth is considered through one measure: Elemental overlap. This arrangement and the planar nature of shapes result in a work that conforms to the media it’s rendered on. It nearly reflects horizontally. Pictorial energy moves from left to right in the scene and is counter-balanced by the slower right to left movement of the framing motif.
Line is used to both harmonize and build tension. Dense, rigidly-repeated lines are used to provide a buffer within the enriched framework. Contrasted against this mechanical formatting are curved, rounded, narrow, long lines used to define shapes and textures. Shapes, too, provide harmony and variety. They are natural in character, but within this quality split between somewhat mechanical (embedded in the framework) and nearly calligraphic (to define figures). Color treatment, again, follows the binding/variety pattern, through temperature (warm and cool) and a complementary color scheme.
Strong lateral movement energizes the “canvas”; layering reasons establish this, but the single strongest in my opinion is the cell-like, acrobatic dance of the athletes. To me, the scene visually describes an athlete flipping over an airborne bull, but this is not the case. The figures are without a doubt three separate people. Lines of force work equally from both left-to-right and right-to-left.
Figures are reduced to shapes and those shapes completely conform to the surface of the medium. This is one of the more embellished frames extant in any era of art, and necessarily so for its binding qualities. Both scene and framework are oriented for a straight-on viewing.
The state of preservation is largely due to excavators and experts reconstructing the work. This included restoring lost parts with portions that are duller in color and less contrasting in value. The rigidly-aligned tiny narrow blocks that define the “framework of the framework” are interesting because the remind me of a sort of “proto-dentil”, a design that can be found on many Greek cornices during the height of the golden age of Greek artistic achievement. In my opinion, this work is one of the earliest examples in existence of structured ambiguity used to supportive effect. This is based on the cross-directional lateral lines of eye movement created by the figures.
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