The History of Black And Red Vase Painting


Red Figure Painting
 
Bell-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water) , ca. 440 B.C.; Red-figure, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

Around 530 BC, Athenian potters were more and more frustrated by the black-figure way of vase-painting. They wanted to paint figures that overlapped, which was very difficult to do in black figure without the whole thing looking like just a big black blob.

So somebody had an idea: instead of painting the people black, why not paint the background black and leave the people red? This is harder because you have to carefully paint all around the people in the picture, but it makes the people look much more real.

-From Kidipedia
Carr, Karen. "Red Figure Painting" Kidipede - History for Kids. 2007. January 19, 2008.
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/art/pottery/redfigure.htm


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