Stella's Art Blog

Examples of sculpted masks: Examples of painted masks Greek Masks Greek masks were often sculpted to show emotion or portray a character. Most had exaggerated facial expressions. Masks like these were commonly used during Greek theatre for a character to play their part. 

Laocoan is a Greek story about a Trojan priest.  He was killed along with his sons by two sea serpents as punishment for warning his people about the Trojan horse. Because him and his sons were killed, the Trojans interpreted this as the god's disapproval of Laocoan's warning, and they took the Trojan horse in. However, Laocoan was right, as the Trojan horse was filled with Greeks who attacked Troy. There is a famous marble statue of it, displaying Laocoan and his two sons being murdered. It's beautifully carved, displaying the struggle of the three men trying to escape the serpents.

In ancient Greek theater, costumes played a huge role in productions. Actors often wore elaborate masks to get into character. They were created to show a character's age, gender, and social class. These attributes couldn't have been shown through actors, because all ancient Greek actors were adult men. Props and backdrops were created to assist during shows. Prop makers, called skeuopoios, designed and supplied these for actors. Huge backdrops were painted to help set the scene during a performance. They could be used as literal objects, or to symbolize bigger ideas. For example, actors playing Agamemnon usually walked down a red carpet to symbolize the people he killed in Troy. Theater and drama played a huge role in ancient Greek society. Plays were huge events that attracted large crowds. Greek drama was originally created to honor the gods, another reason for it to be popular. However, they gained popularity on their own, as they created interesting wor...