of pottery decoration throughout the Greek world and beyond. Although Corinth dominated the overall market, regional markets and centers of production did develop. Initially, Athens copied the Corinthian style, but it gradually came to rival and overcome the dominance of Corinth. Attic artists developed the style to an unprecedented quality, reaching the apex of their creative possibilities in the second third of the 6th century BCE. Exekias, active around 530 BCE, can be seen as the most important representative of the black-figure style. In the 5th century BCE Attic fine pottery, now predominantly red-figure, maintained its dominance in the markets. Attic pottery was exported to Magna Graecia and even Etruria. The preference for Attic vases led to the development of local South Italian and Etrurian workshops or "schools", strongly influenced by Attic style, but producing exclusively for local markets. Beginnings The first red-figure vases were produced around 530 BCE. The invention of the technique normally is accredited to the Andokides Painter. He, and other early representatives of the style, e.g. Psiax, initially painted vases in both styles, with black-figure scenes on one side, and red-figure on the other. Such vases, e.g. the Belly Amphora by the Andokides Painter (Munich 2301), are called bilingual vases. Although they display major advances against the black-figure style, the figures still appear somewhat stilted and seldom overlap. Compositions and techniques of the older style remained in use. Thus incised lines are quite common, as is the additional application of red paint ("added red") to cover large areas. Pioneering phase The artists of the so-called "Pioneer Group" made the step towards a full exploitation of the possibilities of the red-figure technique. They were active between circa 520 and 500 BCE. Important representatives include Euphronios, Euthymides and Phintias. This group, recognised and defined by twentieth-century scholarship, experimented with the different possibilities offered by the new style. Thus figures appeared in new perspectives, such as frontal or rear views, and there were experiments with perspective foreshortening and more dynamic compositions. As a technical innovation Euphronios introduced the "relief line". At the same time new vase shapes were invented, a development favored by the fact that many of the pioneer group painters were also active as potters. New shapes include the psykter and the pelike. Large krater and amphorae became popular at this time. Although there is no indication that the painters understood themselves as a group in the