PreHistoric Art Before History When and Where Did

Pre-Historic Art Before History

When and Where Did Art Begin?

Paleolithic Art Overview The Old Stone Age, Paleolithic Art 30, 000 – 9, 000 BCE – Humans invented the concept of recording the world around them in picture around 30, 000 BCE – Paleolithic artworks range from shell necklaces, to human and animal forms carved in ivory, clay and stone, to monumental paintings, and relief sculptures covering the walls of caves – During this time the human mind went from recognizing human and animal forms to the representation of human and animal forms – We can observe the artwork and hypothesize about it’s meaning and purpose but because there is no written record from this time period we cannot understand it within it’s historical context. Therefore it remains an enigma

What are the facts? (F) Artist: Unknown Title: Venus of Willendorf* Date: 28, 000 – 25, 000 BCE Size: 4 ½” Location / findspot: Willendorf, Austria What is the medium and technique? (M) Sculpture carved out of Limestone.

What is the artworks content / subject matter? (SM) Depictions of women were far more common during the Old Stone Age than depictions of men How is the subject matter visually represented? (FA) - Anatomical exaggeration - Simple, Round or bulbous form - No attention given to facial features

Why was it created? (CA) - The name is misleading because it has a modern name assigned to it - The the focus on large breasts and round proportions suggests it might be a fertility statue. - The lack of facial features indicates that it represents the concept or form of woman not a specific woman

What are the facts? (F) Artist: Unknown Title: Woman Holding Bison Horn Date: 25, 000 – 20, 000 BCE Size: 1’ 6” Location / findspot: Laussel, France What is the medium and technique? (M) Stone relief sculpture

What is the artworks content / subject matter? (SM) How is the subject matter visually represented? (FA) - Originally painted red ochre - Bulbous and exaggerated form - No facial features - Arms draw attention to the bison horn and pubic area

Paleolithic Cave Painting • Africa, France, Spain • Motifs include: Animals, Humans, hand prints and simple patterns consisting of lines and dots • Differences in style and technique suggests that different painters added to the walls over time • Animals seen in profile: head, body, tail and all four legs

What are the facts? (F) Artist: Unknown Title: Hall of Bulls Date: 30, 000 – 13, 000 BCE Size: 1’ 6” Location / findspot: Lascaux, France What is the medium and technique? (M) Painting: Red and Yellow Ochre Pigments mixed with minerals.

What is the artworks content / subject matter? (SM) How is the subject matter visually represented? (FA) - Multiple styles Profile = Pictorial definition Separate images, sense of motion built over time No environment Complete and informative representations Horns = twisted perspective Large Scale

Why was it created? (CA) - In dark, mysterious place with good acoustics = Rituals? - Hunting Images? Bulls and horses were not diet staples.

Neolithic Art in Mesopotamia • • 9, 000 ice melts, climate warms Birth of Agriculture and organized settlements Changed from hunters to herders Themes of ritual, the spiritual world and portraiture appear in art

What are the facts? (F) Artist: Unknown Title: Human skull with restored features Date: 7, 000 – 6, 700 BCE Size: Life-size Location / findspot: Jericho What is the medium and technique? (M) Plaster covered human skull What is the artworks content / subject matter? (SM) Dead Ancestor

Why was it created? (CA) - They detached their skulls before burial and sculpted the features of their ancestors out of plaster. - Ritual: The dead were buried under the floors of their houses. The sculpture received separate burial - How is the subject matter visually represented? (FA) Life-like, Shells for eyes, painted hair and details What is the Meaning / FUNCTION? (MF) - This was to perhaps honor or worship their ancestors. - Sacrifice to the powerful dead

Neolithic Architecture in Western Europe What are the facts? (F) Artist: Unknown Title: Stonehenge` Date: 2, 550 – 16, 000 BCE Size: Life-size Location / findspot: Salisbury Plain, England What is the medium and technique? (M) Megalithic Sandstone and Volcanic Rock

What is the structures content / subject matter? (SM) - Non-pictorial. - Content is a henge: arrangement of megalithic stones arranged in a circle often surrounded by a ditch

How is the subject matter visually represented? (FA) Megaliths Trilithon Post and Lintel Post Lintel

Why was it created? (CA) - Theories: Perhaps originally a funerary site where Neolithic people cremated their dead - A center for healing that attracted the sick and dying What is the known meaning / FUNCTION? (FM) - An astronomical observatory and solar calendar Testament to growing intellectual and scientific capacities during the Neolithic Period and Human Physical Effort

Identify the culture that produced the figure and describe the sculpture's function. Discuss the characteristics that place the work in its culture.