Prehistoric Art. Key Notions. -Hand, negative/positive -In the round (ronde-bosse) -Low-relief (bas-relief) -Parietal -Twisted perspective -Venus

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1 Key Notions -Hand, negative/positive -In the round (ronde-bosse) -Low-relief (bas-relief) -Parietal -Twisted perspective -Venus Prehistoric Art

2 c BCE - Upper Paleolithic BCE c BCE Spotted Horses BCE - Last Ice Age c BCE Scene of the Well BCE c BCE Farming in Europe c BCE - Domestication of horses c BCE - Invention of Writing c BCE - Stonehenge Timeline Prehistoric Europe and Near East Michel Lorblanchet Original works of art are defined as imprints of the human spirit on nature. These works surpass the immediate need to survive to express a care of an aesthetic order linked to playful or symbolic behavior. Lion sculpture, c , mammoth ivory, 9,2 cm

3 Social Function of Art in Traditional Societies Aesthetic -To demonstrate beauty -As a means of identification of a group or individual Ostentatious -To present and glorify an important virtue -To decorate the body Religious -To communicate with supernatural forces Source: 7 Prehistory: the Birth of art Australopithecus Homo erectus Homo neanderthalensis Homo sapiens sapiens Art of the Venuses Parietal art Source: 2 Waterworn pebble, c. 3,000,000, South Africa, jasperite, 7,6 cm wide Lucy: reconstruction Man-faced pebble?! Lucy: skeletal remains Source: 2 Australopithecus Erectus Neanderthal Sapiens

4 Collected fossiles Source: 7 Australopithecus Erectus Neanderthal Sapiens Woman?, Israel, c BCE, Volcano rock, 3,65 cm high Source: 7 Australopithecus Erectus Neanderthal Sapiens Block of Ocher, Blombos Cave, c BCE, 5 cm long Source: 10 Australopithecus Erectus Neanderthal Sapiens

5 Mask Indre-et-Loire, Silex with bone, c BCE, Musée du Grand Pressigny, France Source: 7 Australopithecus Erectus Neanderthal Sapiens Symmetrical tools (biface) Abberville-Saint-Acheul, c BCE, Silex, Musée des Antiquités nationales, St-Germainen-Laye Source: 6 Australopithecus Erectus Neanderthal Sapiens Human with feline head, c BC, ivory, 30 cm high Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany, Ulmer Museum, Ulm Australopithecus Erectus Neanderthal Sapiens

6 Signs, La Croze, Dordogne, c BCE Source: 7 Australopithecus Erectus Neanderthal Sapiens Breaststick, Dolni Vestonice, Moravia, c BCE, Ivory, 8,6 cm high, Moravske Museum, Brno Venus of Dolni Vestonice, Moravia, c BCE, Ceramic, 11,1 cm high, Moravske Museum, Brno & 7 Venus of Willendorf, Austria, c BC, Limestone, 10,8 cm high, Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna

7 Venus of Lespugue, Haute-Garonne, c BCE, Ivory, 14,7 cm high, Musée de l homme, Paris Source: 6 Woman with bison horn Laussel, c BCE, Limestone, 45,7 cm high, Musée d Aquitaine, Bordeaux Code for the Venuses

8 Venus of Brassempouy France, c BCE, Ivory, 3,65 cm high, Musée des Antiquités nationales, St-Germainen-Laye Source: 7 Spotted horses and negative hand imprints, wall painting in the cave at Pech-Merle, France, c BCE, 340 cm long Bison Altamira, Spain, c BCE Source: 4

9 Lamp, Lascaux, Stone, Musée d'archéologie nationale, St-Germain-en-Layee Some Cave Painting Tools Scaffolding Red ochre Manganese dioxide Source: 1 & 9 Plan of Lascaux, Dordogne Source: 8 Bull and horses Lascaux, c BCE Source: 6

10 Hall of the Bulls Lascaux, Dordogne, c. 15,000 BCE Source: 4 Hall of the Bulls Lascaux, Dordogne, c. 15,000 BCE Horse Lascaux, c BCE Source: 4

11 Scene of the Well Lascaux, Dordogne, c BCE, Bison 111,8 cm long Animals 72% Images Represented Signs 21% Humans 7% Rhinoceroses, Lions Chauvet, Ardèche, c BCE Source: 6

12 Aurochs, Horses, Rhinoceroses Chauvet, Ardèche, c. 30,000 BC Bison, Ibex, Horses Niaux, c BCE Source: 6 Painted pebbles Mas-d Azil, Ariège, c BCE, 10 cm long, Musée des Antiquités nationales, St-Germainen-Laye Source: 6

13 Harpoons de La Vache, Ariège, c BCE, Reindeer antler, 11 cm high, Musée des Antiquités nationales, St-Germain-en-Laye Source: 6 Arrowheads Warluis, France, c BCE, Silex, 2 cm high, Musée de l homme, Paris Source: 6 Human Figure Ain Ghazal, Jordan, c BCE, Plaster inlaid with shell and bitumen, 10,1 cm high, Louvre, Paris

14 Landscape with volcano, wall painting, Çatal Hüyük, c BCE Çatal Hüyük, c BCE Source: 11 and 10 Review Art appears near the end of the Paleolithic era, as humans experiment group life, and first serves to entreat the protection and benefit of shamanic forces Art will evolve at the start of the Neolithic era as human social ties become more complex and pursue more decorative and architectural concerns Art can thus be seen as intertwined with the process leading to civilization

15 Conclusion Man has believed very early on that images held power; by creating certain types of images, entities could be enticed to protect him, with others, the hunt became more productive, and others still, women more fertile By painting images on walls, man hoped that these would be imbued with the cave s mysterious powers; then, by aesthetically altering small objects, he could carry part of this power around with him