Saturday, September 07, 2013 Course Outline

Transcription

1 Saturday, September 07, 2013 Course Outline A look at prehistoric art Prehistory: the birth of art Venuses: women and fertility Parietal art Portable art Key Notions -Hand, negative/positive -In the round (ronde-bosse) -Low-relief (bas-relief) -Parietal -Twisted perspective -Venus

2 Prehistoric Europe and Near East Source: 3 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. 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

3 Prehistory The birth of art Prehistory: the Birth of art Australopithecus Homo erectus Homo neanderthalensis Homo sapiens sapiens The birth of art 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-Germain-en-Laye Source: 6 Australopithecus Erectus Neanderthal Sapiens Human with feline head, c BC, ivory, 30 cm high, Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany, Ulmer Museum, Ulm Source: 3 Australopithecus Erectus Neanderthal Sapiens

6 Signs, La Croze, Dordogne, c BCE, Source: 7 Australopithecus Erectus Neanderthal Sapiens Venuses Women and fertility 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 Source: 3 & 7

7 Venus of Willendorf, Austria, c BC, Limestone, 10,8 cm high, Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna Source: 3 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 Source: 3

8 Code for the Venuses Venus of Brassempouy France, c BCE, Ivory, 3,65 cm high, Musée des Antiquités nationales, St-Germain-en-Laye Source: 7 Parietal Art Painting on cave walls

9 Spotted horses and negative hand imprints, wall painting in the cave at Pech-Merle, France, c BCE, 340 cm long Source: 3 Bison Altamira, Spain, c BCE Source: 4 Some Cave Painting Tools Lamp, Lascaux, Stone, Musée d'archéologie nationale, St-Germain-en- Layee Scaffolding Red ochre Manganese dioxide Source: 1 & 9

10 Plan of Lascaux, Dordogne Source: 8 Bull and horses Lascaux, c BCE Source: 6 Hall of the Bulls Lascaux, Dordogne, c. 15,000 BCE Source: 4

11 Hall of the Bulls, Lascaux, Dordogne, c. 15,000 BCE Horse Lascaux, c BCE Source: 4 Scene of the Well Lascaux, Dordogne, c BCE, Bison 111,8 cm long Source: 3

12 Images Represented Animals 72% Signs 21% Humans 7% Rhinoceroses, Lions, Chauvet, Ardèche, c BCE Source: 6 Bison, Ibex, Horses Niaux, c BCE Source: 6

13 Aurochs, Horses, Rhinoceroses Chauvet, Ardèche, c. 30,000 BC Source: 3 Portable Art Hunting and identification Harpoons de La Vache, Ariège, c BCE, Reindeer antler, 11 cm high, Musée des Antiquités nationales, St- Germain-en-Laye Source: 6

14 Painted pebbles Mas-d Azil, Ariège, c BCE, 10 cm long, Musée des Antiquités nationales, St-Germain-en-Laye Source: 6 The Neolithic Passage Or, sedentary life Human Figure Ain Ghazal, Jordan, c BCE, Plaster inlaid with shell and bitumen, 10,1 cm high, Louvre, Paris Source: 3

15 Landscape with volcano, wall painting, Çatal Hüyük, c BCE Source: 3 Conclusion -Art appears near the end of the Paleolithic era as humans experiment group life -Art will evolve at the start of the Neolithic era as human social ties become more complex -Art can thus be seen as part of the process leading to civilization Suggested readings -Gombrich, The Story of Art, p Fiero, The Humanistic Tradition, vol. 1. p Gombrich, The Story of Art, p ; Kleiner, Gardner s Art through the Ages, p Rogers, Art, a World History, p

16 Bibliography and Sources 1. Brommer, Discovering Art History 2. Fiero, The Humanistic Tradition, vol Kleiner, Gardner s Art through the Ages 4. Gombrich, The Story of Art 5. Rogers, Art, a World History 6. Schnapp, Préhistoire et antiquité 7. University Laval Course Notes 8. Davies, Janson s Basic History of Western Art