What was the purpose of black figure pottery?
As opposed to the outline technique of pottery where the painter would denote a figure by leaving the flesh unpainted with a black outline, black figure painting resulted in the entirety of the flesh portrayed in black.
Why was Greek pottery black?
The black-figure and red-figure techniques of ancient Greek vase painting were achieved using slip, not paint. The familiar black color of ancient Greek slip resulted from the natural presence of iron oxide in the clay, which turns black during the firing process.
How did Greeks make black figure pottery?
As the vases were being made, a liquid clay called slip was applied to patch up weak areas or hold pieces together. The slip turned black during firing, and potters began intentionally painting on the slip in distinctive shapes before firing, resulting in black figures.
Who invented black figure pottery?
The Athenians, who began to use the technique at the end of the 7th century bce, retained the Corinthian use of animal friezes for decoration until c. 550 bce, when the great Attic painters, among them Exekias and the Amasis Painter, developed narrative scene decoration and perfected the black-figure style.
Why was Greek pottery black and orange?
The bright colours and deep blacks of Attic red- and black-figure vases were achieved through a process in which the atmosphere inside the kiln went through a cycle of oxidizing, reducing, and reoxidizing. During the oxidizing phase, the ferric oxide inside the Attic clay achieves a bright red-to-orange colour.
How was black-figure ware made?
In black-figure vase painting, figural and ornamental motifs were applied with a slip that turned black during firing, while the background was left the color of the clay. Vase painters articulated individual forms by incising the slip or by adding white and purple enhancements (mixtures of pigment and clay).