The Pioneer Group were a number of red-figure vase painters working in Kerameikos or the potters' quarter of Athens around the beginning of the 5th century BCE. Characterized by John Boardman as perhaps the first conscious art movement in the western tradition, the group comprised the painters Euphronios, Euthymides, Smikros, Hypsias, the 'Dikaios Painter' and Phintias. We can credit John Beazley with first identifying these artists as a coherent group though no documentary evidence remains of them, everything we know about them consists of their work itself. Death of Sarpedon, painted by Euphronios Euphronios was a Greek painter and potter of red-figure vases, active in Athens between 520 and 470 BC, the time of the Persian Wars. ... Red-figure pottery is a style of Greek pottery in which the figure outlines, details and the background are painted black, while the figure itself is not painted. ... The Kerameikos is the name of the deme or part of Athens to the northwest of the Acropolis and includes an extensive area both within and outside of the city walls. ... Sir John Boardman Kt FBA HonRA (b. ... An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a restricted period of time, or, at least, with the heyday of the movement more or less strictly so restricted (usually a few months, years or... Death of Sarpedon, painted by Euphronios Euphronios was a Greek painter and potter of red-figure vases, active in Athens between 520 and 470 BC, the time of the Persian Wars. ... Euthymides was an Athenian potter and painter of vases, primarily active between 515 and 500 BC. He was a member of the Greek art movement later to be known as The Pioneers for their exploration of the new decorative style known as red-figure pottery. ... Phintias was a Greek vase painter; along with Euphronios and Euthymides, he was one of the most important representatives of the Pioneer Group of Athenian red-figure vase painters. ... Sir John Davidson Beazley (1885 - 1970) was an English Classical scholar. ...

The pioneer group were not innovators of the red-figure technique but rather late adopters of the practice developed by such bilingual painters as Andokides and Psiax. Coming some 10 years after the earliest work in the technique Euphronios's first works are thought to have been produced circa 520 BCE. As a group their work makes frequent reference to one another, often in a playful competitive spirit; Euthymides boasts on one of his signed pots "hos oudepote Euphronios" – "as never Euphronios". Their work is distinctive for its simple rendering of dress, bold handling of anatomy, experimental use of foreshortening and a thematic preference for representations of symposia. The Andokides Painter was a Greek vase painter who lived Athens towards the end of the 6th Century BCE., active from 535 to approximately 515. ... Foreshortening refers to the visual effect or optical illusion that an object or distance is shorter than it actually is because it is angled toward the viewer. ... Originally, the term symposium referred to a drinking party; the Greek verb sympotein means to drink together. The term has since come to refer to any academic conference, irrespective of drinking. ...

References

• R.T. Neer: Styles and Politics in Athenian Vase Painting, the Craft of Democracy circa 530 to 470 BCE, CUP 2002
• John Boardman: Athenian Red Figure Vases, The Archaic Period - handbook, Thames and Hudson 1975