Group E (or E Group) was a group of Attic vase painters of the

black-figure style Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic ( grc, , }), is one of the styles of Ancient Greek vase painting, painting on pottery of ancient Greece, antique Greek vases. It was especially common bet ...

. They were active between 560 and 540 BC. Group E – the ''E'' stands for ''Exekias'' is stylistically quite homogenous. It is the ''fertile ground from which the art of

Exekias Exekias ( grc, Ἐξηκίας, ''Exēkías'') was an ancient Greek vase painter and potter who was active in Athens between roughly 545 BC and 530 BC. Exekias worked mainly in the black-figure technique, which involved the painting of scen ...

grew''.John Boardman: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen'', p. 62 Chronologically, the group is somewhat earlier than most of Exekias' work. Although most Group E vases were painted by the same painter, several artists belonged to it. Group E is considered the most significant anonymous group of Attic vase painters, because it created high-quality works on the one hand, and on the other abandoned the artistic tradition established by

Lydos Lydos (Greek: Λυδός, ''the Lydian'') was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style. Active between about 560 and 540 BC, he was the main representative of the '’’Lydos Group’’’. His signature, ό Λυδός, ho Lydos ("the ...

and associated painters, exploring new avenues of expression. The main vase shape painted by the group E artists was the

belly amphora An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...

of type ''A''. Older shapes were abandoned totally (e.g. ovoid

neck amphora An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...

e) or mostly (e.g.

column krater A krater or crater ( grc-gre, , ''kratēr'', literally "mixing vessel") was a large two-handled shape of vase in Ancient Greek pottery and metalwork, mostly used for the mixing of wine with water. Form and function At a Greek symposium, krat ...

s). The group painted nearly no small vessel types. It introduced a neck amphora with ornamented handles. Before he became visibly active as a painter in his own right, Exekias potted two of the surviving vessels painted by the group. They are the only E group vessels to bear a potter's signature. The drawings by the group lack the monumentality of earlier work by Lydos or later vases by Exekias. The animal frieze had been abandoned completely. In terms of content, the same themes occurred repeatedly:

Herakles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive ...

with the Nemean Lion or with Geryon,

Theseus Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. The myths surrounding Theseus his journeys, exploits, and friends have provided material for fiction throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes describ ...

with the Minotaur. The E group style became increasingly dominant during the second half of the 6th century BC. Another important innovations were the

Kalos inscription A ''kalos'' inscription (''καλός'') is a form of epigraph found on Attic vases and graffiti in antiquity, mainly during the Classical period from 550 to 450 BC. The word ''kalos'' (καλός) means "beautiful", and in the inscriptions it ...

s, first introduced by the E Group. The first

Ephebe ''Ephebe'' (from the Greek ''ephebos'' ἔφηβος (plural: ''epheboi'' ἔφηβοι), anglicised as ephebe (plural: ephebes), or Latinate ''ephebus'' (plural: ''ephebi'') is the term for an adolescent male. In ancient Greek society and myth ...

thus honoured was a certain ''Stesias''.

Bibliography

John Beazley Sir John Davidson Beazley, (; 13 September 1885 – 6 May 1970) was a British classical archaeologist and art historian, known for his classification of Attic vases by artistic style. He was Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at the Un ...

: ''Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters'', Oxford 1956, p. 133-143. * John Boardman: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch'', Mainz 1977, , p. 62 * Heide Mommsen: ''E-Gruppe'', in Der Neue Pauly Vol. 3, Stuttgart 1997, Col. 859f.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:E, Group Anonymous artists of antiquity Ancient Greek vase painters