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Paleolithic Art in Western Europe and Africa

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Paleolithic Art in Western Europe and Africa Paleolithic Art in Western Europe and Africa • Explore why art must be intentional and representational in order to be called art. • Explore why subject matter was depicted a particular way (stylistic innovation) during the Paleolithic period. • Describe the roles of animals and human figures in Paleolithic art. 1 Goals • Understand the origins of art in terms of time period, human development, and human activity. • Explore origins of creativity, representation, and stylistic innovation in the Paleolithic period. • Describe the role of human and animal figures in Paleolithic art. • Examine the materials and techniques of the earliest art making in the Paleolithic period. • Illustrate differences between the Paleolithic and Neolithic art as a result of social and environmental changes. • Understand and evaluate the types of art prevalent in the Neolithic period. 2 PALEOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC ART YEARS 40,000 BCE - 2300 BCE Map of prehistoric Europe and the ancient Mediterranean Hand stencils from El Castillo Cave https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdlQxISNpwY STONE AGE ART INTRODUCTION Hand stencils, from El Castillo Cave, Cantabria, Spain, c. 37,300 BCE Chapter 3.1 The Prehistoric and Ancient Mediterranean PART 3 HISTORY AND CONTEXT El Castillo Cave, Spain . Earliest paintings in the world: at least 40,000 years old . Made by blowing pigment (red ocher) through a reed or from the hand, and using hand as a stencil . Same method was used later to create images of animals they hunted, such as bison Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Second Edition, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, and M. Kathryn Shields Left wall of the Hall of the Bulls in the cave at Lascaux, France, ca. 16,000-14,000 BCE. Largest bull 11’ 6” long. 7 Figure 1-4 Nude woman (Venus of Willendorf), from Willendorf, Austria, ca. 28,000– 25,000 BCE. Limestone, 4 1/4” high. Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna. 8 Figure 1-5 Woman holding a bison horn, from Laussel, France, ca. 25,000–20,000 BCE. Painted limestone, approx. 1’ 6” high. Musée d’Aquitaine, Bordeaux. 9 Chapter 3.1 The Prehistoric and Ancient Mediterranean PART 3 HISTORY AND CONTEXT Venus of Laussel . “Fertility figure”: most common type of prehistoric art . Woman holds a horn-shaped object with 13 short carved lines . Scholars have differing opinions: ritual for hunting, musical instrument, phallic symbol, fertility Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Second Edition, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, and M. Kathryn Shields Animals in Art Mammoth from Vogelherd Cave, Germany c.25,000 BC Figure 1-3 Human with feline (lion?) head, from Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany, ca. 40,000- 35,000 BCE. Wooly mammoth ivory, 11 5/8” high. Ulmer Museum, Ulm. ‘’ Mostly shown in profile to capture the essence of the animal. In paintings, Gave the most information about the animal. 12 Figure 1-6 Two bison, reliefs in cave at Le Tuc d’Audoubert, France, ca. 15,000–10,000 BCE. Clay, each 2’ long. 13 Bison licking its flank, fragmentary spearthrower, from La Madeleine, France, ca. 12,000 BCE. Reindeer horn, 4” long. 14 Bison, detail of a painted ceiling in the cave at Altamira, Spain, ca. 13,000–11,000 BCE. Each bison 5’2 ½” long. 15 Spotted horses and negative hand imprints, wall painting in the cave at Pech-Merle, France, ca. 22,000 BCE. 11’ 2” long. 16 “Chinese horse,” detail of the left wall in the Axial Gallery of the cave at Lascaux, France, ca. 15,000–13,000 BCE. Horse, 4’ 11” long. 17 Rhinoceros, wounded man, and disemboweled bison, painting in the well of the cave at Lascaux, France ca. 16,000 – 14,000 BCE. Bison 3’ 4 ½ ” long. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYhmq3vo7aY 18 Aurochs, horses, and rhinoceroses, wall painting in Chauvet Cave, Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, France, ca. 30,000–28,000 or ca. 15,000–13,000 BCE. Right rhinoceros 3’ 4” long. 19 Neolithic Art Compare and contrast artistic development as a result of differences between the Paleolithic and Neolithic society and environment. The first “communities” started in the Turkey Mesopotamian and Middle Eastern areas Domesticated animals, farming, fixed dwelling. The arts of weaving, pottery, metalworking A type of currency based system is developing Most buried their dead in/under their homes Still rendering the “CONCEPT” or essence of humans or animals 20 MORE COMPLEX BURIAL RITES WERE BEING PERFORMED WITH VOTIVES AND TRINKETS SPECIFIC TO THE DEAD BURIED WITH THEM. SOME HEADS HAVE BEEN COVERED WITH CLAY AND DECORATED USED IN RITUALS. DEAD WERE BOUND TIGHTLY THEN ENTOMBED IN THE HOME. THESE HEADS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN OTHER REGIONS OF THE WORLD AT THIS TIME A FORM OF ANCESTOR WORSHIP Figure 1-14 Human figure, from Ain Ghazal, Jordan, ca. 6750–6250 BCE. Plaster, painted and inlaid with bitumen, 3’ 5 3/8” high. Louvre, Paris. 21 Restored view of a section of Level VI, Çatal Höyük, Turkey, ca. 6000–5900 BCE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2xbeGgNKos 22 Found in a grain storage vessel. She is flanked by two feline animals, believed to be leopards. Fertility figure and mother goddess of both birth and crops. Many more female deities are found at this time and place than male counterparts. Seated Goddess of Catal Hoyuk 6000 BCE Clay 16.5 cm 24 Bulls Heads found at Catal Hoyuk 5000-7000 BCE Found in many homes plastered into the walls. Only wild animals were honored this way. Bulls are a recurring theme in art of this period from all over the world. Deer hunt, detail of a wall painting from Level III, Çatal Höyük, Turkey, ca. 5750 BCE. Museum of Anatolian Civilization, Ankara. 26 Landscape with volcano eruption, wall painting Landscape with volcano eruption, detail of watercolor copy of a wall painting from Level VII, Çatalhöyük, Turkey, c. 6150 BCE. Wall painting: Ankara Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Turkey. Watercolor copy: Private collection Chapter 3.1 The Prehistoric and Ancient Mediterranean PART 3 HISTORY AND CONTEXT Landscape with volcano eruption, wall painting . From Çatalhöyük, Turkey . Re-creates the design of the town . Rectangular houses are closely aligned . A volcano in the background appears to be erupting . World’s first known landscape image-6100 BCE. Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Second Edition, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, and M. Kathryn Shields Monumental Architecture • Examine megaliths and henges along with the Western European cultures that developed monumental architecture. • Discover hypotheses about the purposes of such structures. • Define architectural support techniques such as the corbelled vault and post-and-lintel system and identify the usage of these techniques in Neolithic architectural structures. • Megalith a large stone that forms a prehistoric monument or part of one (e.g., a stone circle or chamber tomb). A Henge is a prehistoric circular monument consisting of a circle of stone or wooden uprights. • The IDEA of COMMUNAL MONUMENT 29 Post-and-lintel construction 30 Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England, ca. 2550–1600 BCE. Circle is 97' in diameter The smaller Bluestones were transported from far away. 1000 henges were constructed. Trilathons are the three rock gated-like structures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0CaumQmOCo 31 A corbel arch is constructed by offsetting successive courses of stone (or brick) at the starting of the walls so that they project towards the archway's center from each supporting side, until the courses meet at the apex of the archway (often, the last gap is bridged with a flat stone). Although an improvement in load-bearing efficiency over the post and lintel design, corbeled arches are not entirely self-supporting structures Corbel arches and vaults require significantly thickened walls and a counterpoint of another stone or fill to counteract the effects of gravity and weight, which otherwise would tend to collapse each side of the archway inwards. 32 Newgrange Ireland (Bru na Boinne) 3200 BCE 97 Kerbstones, 450 megalith stones, covered in white quartz, Newgrange Ireland 3000 BCE-First corbel system documented https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6XAFJ_FdOA 34 .
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