The Terracotta Protomai from Gela: A Discussion of Local Style in Archaic Sicily. By Jaimée P. Uhlenbrock.

Abstract

The Archaic sculpture of western Greeks challenges stylistic categorization. Identification of distinctive local schools in southern Italy and Sicily is hindered by relative paucity and scattered occurrence of monumental sculpture. Moreover, statues and reliefs in baked clay (often quite fragmentary) comprise a sizable portion of corpus of large-scale works. Discussions of Archaic sculpture in West tend consequently to include examples even of small, molded, terracotta figurines-accompanied, of course, by customary caveats about comparing different scales and materials as well as cautionary reminders about problems inherent in assessing value of mass-produced, moldmade objects of minor art for stylistic analysis of monumental sculpture. Uhlenbrock attempts to demonstrate how by focusing on a single class of such moldmade terracottas-female protomes or masks-local sculptural style can indeed be successfully characterized. She bases her study on a corpus of some 1,000 female protomes from Gela and its hinterland in southeastern Sicily. The protomes come from excavations primarily of sanctuaries at Bitalemi, Predio Sola, Feudo Nobile, and on acropolis at Others come from sites further afield, such as Grammichele and Monte Bubbonia. The protomes from Gela lend themselves well to stylistic analysis due to their abundant number, near life-size scale, excellent state of preservation, high quality of workmanship, and their presence in stratigraphic contexts that provide well-defined chronological limits. By tapping this distinctive form of coroplastic sculpture for a discussion of Archaic style, Uhlenbrock's work joins studies by F. Croissant (Les protomes fiminines archaiques, Paris 1983) on protomes of mainland and eastern Greece and by M. Barra Bagnasco (Protomi in terracotta da Locri Epizefiri, Turin 1986) on those of Locri Epizephyrii in southern Italy. In introduction, Uhlenbrock deftly points out strengths, weaknesses, and inconsistencies of previous attempts to define local Siceliot sculptural styles and asserts that trends and traditions can only be illustrated by a plurality of works, sufficiently well preserved that demonstrate consistent and regular traits over a period of time. She holds that protomes from Gela provide just such a body of material; she sets out to show how this rich group of terracottas illustrates existence of a homogeneous local school of coroplastic sculpture, which, in her view, reflects the taste and traditions of monumental aesthetic of artisans at Gela.