Week 5-Unknown art pieces

This week we were given two unknown pieces of art to determine whether they are from the Cycladic, Mycenaean, or Minoan cultures.

First here’s a quick overview of the three cultures art, Cycladic art commonly consisted of figurine sculptures made of marble. The sculptures were mostly made to represent females, that were nude, with folded arms across there chest. It is thought they used bright paints to finish off these pieces. Mycenaean art commonly show hunting themes and battles with warriors. They show people as looking cartoon-like. Mycenaean art is filled with distinct shapes, like pots being small at the bottom and large at the top, and crater shapes to hold liquids. Minoan art consisted of animals, components of nature, flowers and things to show naturalistic designs. They also used vibrant colors and smooth lines.

The first unknown piece is the pot. I believe this pot to be from the Mycenaean culture. The pot starts out very small at the bottom and then gets larger and larger as it goes up to the top. The pot is also wide so it showing the “crater shape,” which they were using for liquids like water. The pot also has a picture on it that shows warriors heading off to battle. Two of the warriors are on a cart being pulled by an animal, and they are painted to look like cartoon characters which is common of the Mycenaean art.

The second unknown piece is a painting of a man holding two bunches of fish. I see this piece fitting best into that of the Minoan art. The piece shows a man that is naked, and this is part of Minoan art because they were demonstrating nature. Also supporting the naturalistic theme is the bunches of fish. The picture also consists of curved lines and linear structure. The picture seems to be of a fisherman and he has caught a great deal of fish, which shows power and strength. The man has greyish hair that could show wisdom and knowledge, justifying why he has caught so many fish. Power and knowledge/strength were also something the Minoan culture showed through their art pieces. And a final factor leading me to believe this piece is from the Minoan culture is that it has strong vibrant colors, the red in the man and the blues of the fish are deep rich colors.