B A 1 st year History of Western

B. A. 1 st year History of Western Art Dr. O. P. Parameswaran, Assistant Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Post Graduate Govt. College for Girls, Sector-11, Chandigarh

Pre-Historic Art n n n Wounded Bison (Altamira Cave) Spain 15000 -10, 000 BC.

Wounded Bison (Altamira Cave) Spain 15000 -10, 000 BC. n n Introduction: IT is during the last stage of the Paleolithic (relating to early part of stone age) which began about 35000 years ago, that we meet the earliest works of art known to us. But these already show an assurance and refinement far removed from any humble beginnings. We must assume that they were preceded by thousands of years of slow growth about which we know nothing at all.

Wounded Bison (Altamira Cave) Spain 15000 -10, 000 BC. n n Wounded Bison, Cave painting The most striking works of Paleolithic art are the images of animals, incised, painted or sculptured, on the rock surfaces of caves, such as the wonderful Wounded Bison from cave at Altamira in northern Spain.

Wounded Bison (Altamira Cave) Spain 15000 -10, 000 BC. n n Wounded Bison, Cave painting The most striking works of Paleolithic art are the images of animals, incised, painted or sculptured, on the rock surfaces of caves, such as the wonderful Wounded Bison from cave at Altamira in northern Spain.

Wounded Bison (Altamira Cave) Spain 15000 -10, 000 BC. n The dying animal has collapsed on the ground, its legs no longer able to carry the weight of the body, its head lowered in defense. What a vivid, lifelike picture it is! We are amazed not only by the keen observation, the assured, vigorous outlines, the subtly controlled shading that lends bulk and roundness to the forms, but even more perhaps by the power and dignity of this creature in its final agony.

Wounded Bison (Altamira Cave) Spain 15000 -10, 000 BC. These art works were survived to the present day due to some definite reason. First of all these pictures never occur near the mouth of a cave, where they would be open to easy view (and destruction) but only in the darkest recesses, as far from the entrance as possible. Some can be reached only by crawling on hands and knees, and the path is so intricate that one would soon be lost without an expert guide.

Wounded Bison (Altamira Cave) Spain 15000 -10, 000 BC. n n Purpose of art works: Hidden away as they are in the bowls of the earth, to protect them from the casual intruder, these images must have served a purpose far more serious than mere decoration.

Wounded Bison (Altamira Cave) Spain 15000 -10, 000 BC. n n There can be little doubt, in fact, that they were produced as a part of a magic ritual, perhaps to ensure a successful hunt. We gather this not only from their secret location and from the lines meant to represent spears and darts that are sometimes found pointing at the animals, but also from the peculiar, disorderly way the images are superimposed on one another

Apparently, people of the Old Stone Age made no clear distinction between image and reality; by making a picture of an animal they meant to bring the animal itself within their grasp, and in “killing” the image they thought they had killed the animal’s vital spirit. Hence a “dead” image lost its potency after the killing ritual had been performed, and could be disregarded when the spell had to be renewed.

The magic worked, too, we may be sure; hunters whose courage was thus fortified were bound to be more successful when slaying these formidable beasts with their primitive weapons.

Nor has the emotional basis of this kind of magic been lost even today. We carry snapshots of those we love in our wallets because this gives us a sense of their presence, and people have been known to tear up the photograph of someone they have come to hate.