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• 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.
Paleolithic Art in Western Europe and Africa
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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.
Hand stencilsfromEl Castillo Cavehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdlQxISNpwYSTONE AGE ART INTRODUCTION
Hand stencils, from El Castillo Cave, Cantabria,
Spain, c. 37,300 BCE
Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Second Edition, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, and M. Kathryn Shields
PART 3
HISTORY AND CONTEXT
Chapter 3.1 The Prehistoric and Ancient Mediterranean
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
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.
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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.
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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.
Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Second Edition, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, and M. Kathryn Shields
PART 3
HISTORY AND CONTEXT
Chapter 3.1 The Prehistoric and Ancient Mediterranean
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
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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.
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Figure 1-6 Two bison, reliefs in cave at Le Tuc d’Audoubert, France, ca. 15,000–10,000 BCE. Clay, each 2’long.
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Bison licking its flank, fragmentary spearthrower, from La Madeleine, France, ca. 12,000 BCE.
Reindeer horn, 4” long.
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Bison, detail of a painted ceiling
in the cave at Altamira, Spain,
ca. 13,000–11,000 BCE. Each
bison 5’2 ½” long.
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Spotted horses and negative hand imprints, wall painting in the cave at Pech-Merle,
France, ca. 22,000 BCE. 11’ 2” long.
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“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.
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
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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.
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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
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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.
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
Restored view of a section of Level VI, Çatal Höyük, Turkey, ca. 6000–5900
BCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2xbeGgNKos
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Seated Goddess of Catal
Hoyuk 6000 BCE
Clay 16.5 cm
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.
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.
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Deer hunt, detail of a wall painting from Level III, Çatal Höyük, Turkey, ca. 5750 BCE. Museum of
Anatolian Civilization, Ankara.
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
Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Second Edition, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, and M. Kathryn Shields
PART 3
HISTORY AND CONTEXT
Chapter 3.1 The Prehistoric and Ancient Mediterranean
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.
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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
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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
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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.
97 Kerbstones, 450 megalith stones, covered in white quartz,
Newgrange Ireland (Bru na Boinne) 3200 BCE
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Newgrange Ireland 3000 BCE-First corbel system
documented
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6XAFJ_FdOA