Leagros Group
The Leagros Group was a group of
The Leagros Group was the final important group of Attic vase painters in the black-figure style to paint large-format images on vases. Their significance is so great that their time of activity is also known as the Leagros period. About 400 vases are ascribed to the group; most of them are .
Hydriai by the group resemble those by the
Their figural scenes, for the last time, demonstrate the power and complexity of the black-figure style. They include complex scenes with multiple figures, often overlapping. The incisions are forceful and clear, the depiction of anatomic detail is restrained. Additional colours are only used to a limited extent. Garment folds and patterns only occur rarely and in little detail. Thus, the Leagros Group artists demonstrate the strong points of the black-figure style, while the contemporaneous Pioneer Group show the possibilities offered by the newly introduced red-figure technique, veritably indulging in details of anatomy and clothing. The Leagros Group achieved to adopt some of the innovations associated with the new technique within the limits of their style. Muscles and textiles are depicted in a reduced form. The small eyes of their figures are another striking feature. The group's artists profit particularly from innovations in terms of perspective and spatial depictions, although they use them rarely. All figures feature idealised proportions of body and facial expression. Compared to the figures by the Antimenes Painter, they appear quite sturdy. The group does not waste available space; its image fields are usually well filled. That they do not appear crammed is due to the compositional talent of the painters. The compositions are balanced, convincing and full of tension. Sometimes, details extend beyond the margins of the pictorial field proper.
Within the group, several smaller sub-groups and individual painters can be identified, albeit with considerable difficulty, due to the very homogenous styles of the painters. The most significant individual artists are the
Bibliography
- John Beazley: Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters, Oxford 1956, p. 354-391, 695f.
- Paralipomena. Additions to Attic black-figure vase-painters and to Attic red-figure vase-painters. Oxford 1971. p. 160-172
- The Development of Attic Black-figure. Rev. ed. ISBN 0-520-05593-4
- ISBN 3-8053-0233-9, p. 120-122
- Heide Mommsen: Leagros-Gruppe, in: Der Neue PaulyVol. 6 (1999), Col. 1203
External links
- Media related to Leagros Group at Wikimedia Commons