(artist known as the Amasis Painter) (c.540 bc). Dionysos with Maenads [ceramic, black figure style on amphora]. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.

This series of registers approaches objective abstraction in its formatting of shapes and space. Forms conform to a single plane, yet the main register presents a calm contrast of stillness and motion. Design principles are applied beautifully in the sensitivity to negative space, framing patterns and graceful geometric motifs intermingled with figurative forms. 

Value is effectively reduced to two “stops”: Off-black positive/figurative space and amphora negative/background space. Combined with the form-sensitive motifs, depth is effectively flat. Implications of texture are built through consistently-measured and contrasting lines. The motifs and spirals provide the registers with an even sense of motion which is contrasted against the rigidly-incised and defined form edges. 

The extreme formal starkness of this work is softened by the playful tone and heavy use of natural forms to create both the motifs and figures. There seems to be a deliberate effort to create pictorial tension between feminine and masculine forms and subjects. The interaction between the title figures is the clear area of focus, simply based on their embellished overall size and dense formatting. Above this is the “conflict register”, which captures more energy in the interactions of its figure pairs. The curved edges and shapes, which populate about half of the total, have a pleasing variety of meandering, rounded and spiraling directions. 

This is one of only a few works I can think of that blends its tonal pattern with its arrangement of positive and negative space to the point where the two are inseparable. It is a textbook example of how to blend formal choices that create tension and those that harmonize to create professional work. It is also an example of the Athenian development of a Corinthian technique known today as black-figure painting. In this example, a single register subordinates all others, which diminish in size and conceptual importance. Previously, registers were more balanced in terms of size and emphasis. The painter known as Amasis is readily identifiable, mostly by her or his formal style: Of particular note is the starkly contrasting use of bold, almost garish shapes against fine, delicate details only close inspection would reveal.