Exekias - Background

Background

The works of Exekias are distinguished by their grand compositions, precise draughtsmanship and subtle characterisation, transcending the inherent limitations of the black-figure technique. As one historian of Greek art has said,

"the hallmark of his style is a near statuesque dignity which brings vase painting for the first time close to claiming a place as a major art" (John Boardman, Athenian Black Figure Vases, 1974).

He was an innovative painter and potter, experimenting with new shapes and devising unusual techniques such as a coral-red slip to enhance colour.

Sixteen signed works by Exekias have survived, while many more have been attributed to him by stylistic comparison. His signed pieces provide important insight not only into the work of Exekias himself but also into the way ancient pottery workshops operated. Twelve of the fourteen vessels bearing his name refer to him not as their decorator but as their potter, by adding the word epoiesen to his name. This translates into "Exekias made me" in contrast to egrapsen, which would translate into "decorated me". In two cases (Berlin Antikensammlung 1720 and Vatican Museo Gregoriano Etrusco 16757) the iambic trimeter "Exekias egrapse kapoiese me" (Exekias made and decorated me) was added, suggesting that in these two cases Exekias was responsible for both the making of the vase and its decoration. This fact, of course, leads to the question whether those vessels signed by Exekias "the potter" were decorated by someone else or whether he only chose to sign work he was proud of. Seven of the vessels signed with "Exekias epoiesen" carry too little decoration to compare. Only two vases show decoration similar in style to those two signed with "egrapse kapiese me" while the others can probably attributed to the so called Group E, to which Exekias is closely related. While Exekias's work itself offers a glimpse the culture of ancient pottery, their places of excavation also reveal information about the market in which Exekias positioned himself. For example, many of his pieces have been found in the agora of Athens, the center of the Hellenic world; this suggests that Exekias maintained a clientele in the country that he worked. Pieces attributed to Exekias have also been excavated from the Acropolis, which underscores his prestige as a vase painter. Since the Acropolis functioned as place for religious ceremony, the fact that any of his work would be displayed there demonstrates that Exekias was revered as a painter. Just as he enjoyed a viable market throughout Greece, Exekias also catered to the Italian economy, namely the Etruscans. Aside from Athens, Greece, many of Exekias's other pieces have been found in Etruria, Vulci or Orvieto. Admirers of the Hellenic people, the Etruscans seem to have imported Greek vases. Since Exekias's work has been found in Etruria, it suggests that foreign people also admired his work, so he was able to sell his pieces overseas. In this sense, Exekias maintained a dual economy- one local and one abroad.